Recycling is a simple and creative way for children to let loose their imagination – Nandini P.

In the age of rising pollution, climate change and global warming, the mantra for promoting eco-friendly and sustainable living is recycling waste. This involves reusing and recycling materials/waste generated at home so that you reduce the amount of trash your household generates.

Pen Stand/Flower Vase
Materials
• Newspaper
• Thin wooden stick (skewer stick) or stiff plastic straw
• Craft glue
• Flat brush
• Wood primer (optional)
• Acrylic paints (optional)
• Varnish (optional)

Method
– Cut a sheet of newspaper in half.
– Place the stick on it, and start rolling the paper inwards.
– As the stick disappears, keep pulling it out and continue rolling till the end.
– Pull out the stick and paste the edge to form a neat roll.
– Prepare about 30 rolls.

In fact, recycling is a simple and creative way for children to use their imagination! You can re-use/recycle newspapers, cardboard cartons, magazines, empty bottles, etc.

Heres how you can make a pen stand (it can also be a flower vase!) using ordinary newspaper.

Making the base
– Take one roll, flatten it, and apply paste to one side. Roll it tightly into a coil.
– Take another roll and continue to make the coil bigger by pasting this one where the other one ends. Do this, until you have a good base, about the size of a coaster.

Making the sides
– Stick the rolls against the side of the coaster firmly. When about ten are stuck, hold them in place for a few minutes till they are well stuck, then place them against a wall or object, and allow to dry.
– Then make more rolls until the glue is completely dry (about 15 minutes).
– Then paste the remaining rolls. You can place a bottle or similar object in the middle to give the rolls support until dry.
– After it is dry, flatten two rolls to paste around the container.
– Check the size and cut the rolls to fit.
– Paste one near the top and one near the bottom to strengthen the container. Let it dry.
– If you want to keep the container as it is, you can. If you want to create a different finish, proceed as outlined below.

Colorful finish
– If you want to make the container hardier, mix three tablespoons of craft glue with one teacup of water and blend well.
– Coat the container with this mixture using a big, flat brush.
– After it is dry, coat with wood primer, then paint with acrylic colours and decorate as you like.
– Finally, coat with varnish and your pen stand/flower vase is ready to use!
– Incidentally, it makes a wonderful, handmade, personalised gift too.

The article was published in the print version of ParentsWorld February 2018 issue.

Also read: Conserving Mother Earth