Cover Image: 100 Things to Recycle and Make

100 Things to Recycle and Make

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Member Reviews

100 Things to Recycle and Make by Fiona Hayes gives so many wonderful ideas for the crafty family and teacher. While there was not time to try them all, several caught my interest. I liked the explicit detailed instructions along with a picture of the final project. No doubt when children do these the results may be a bit different but that is okay. I gathered the goal of the book was to give projects that children could actually do themselves with limited adult help, such as help cutting boxes, drilling holes, etc.

As a former kindergarten teacher, I could see many of the box, plates and tube projects being able to be used with students. Now as a grandmother who often wants to have ideas on hand for the grandchildren, the summer projects are the ones we will try first, such as sailboat, hot air balloon and several of the nature crafts. I could see the finished sailboats being played with in a small kiddie pool. The nature crafts would be suitable for a rustic fairy garden. I especially like the shell mushrooms which we will try. This is a craft I have not seen on Pinterest, usually those involve a more complex approach. I really liked the simplicity of these.

I had thought this would be a great reference for those who don’t have time to search out projects n Pinterest. Here they would be in one easy to use book. Now I think it has even more value than that. I was impressed with the variety of items used along with the ease of the projects. This would definitely be a useful reference book for anyone who spend time with children.

The publisher through Net Galley provided a digital ARC. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts.

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Do your kids like to keep cereal boxes? Straws? Milk cartons? This book offers lots of ideas on how to recycle materials in a creative way.

The graphics, unfortunately, look a bit basic, however the ideas are great.

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Super cute! This book has lots of great ideas (100, to be exact!) and they all seem reasonably easy to execute with accessible materials. My favorite crafts were the ones made out of materials from nature, like pine cones and sticks. This book is be very well timed for the summer, great for keeping kids busy and reusing materials thy already have. I think it would also be a fantastic source of ideas for birthday party.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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The book begins with a list of Basic Equipment. This includes such things as white glue, ruler, felt-tip pens, etc. Most of these simple supplies families would have on hand.

The next lists are of the crafts that require

Cardboard Boxes,
Paper Plates,
Cardboard Tubes,
Nature Craft (such as coral reef and fish, birds, dinosaur, etc.),
and Egg Cartons.

So many craft books look wonderful until you realize how expensive the supplies are. I was impressed that this book gives the necessary supplies up-front for all of the crafts. Then as each craft is introduced a list is provided of all the necessary items for that particular craft. This Supply List is followed by numbered, detailed instructions complete with colored pictures. Occasionally there is a yellow box containing a Handy Hint at the end of the craft instructions.

What Concerned Me:

Absolutely nothing.

What I Liked Most:

The STEAM, not STEM activities (STEM represents science, technology, engineering and maths. “STEAM” represents STEM plus the arts – humanities, language arts, dance, drama, music, visual arts, design, and new media.) will be great for classrooms, building parent and child relationships, and for allowing older kids to construct by themselves.

I like the fact that, while not all crafts will appeal to the reader, with 100 to choose from there will still be lots and lots to choose from.

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With a British summer well and truly set in just in time for your little ones to take a break from school, this might be the book that will keep you all happy and sane.
Think of it as a compendium of crafts that Blue Peter *should* have done all those years ago. Little ones may need a little help, but older children should Eve able to do many independently. It’s a perfect book to entertain, recycle and keep those little hands busy this summer.

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100 Things to Recycle and Make is an easy how-to craft book that will be great fun for kids. There are illustrations of each step and full photos of the complete project. I really enjoyed seeing ways to use the plethora of cereal boxes and toilet and paper towel roles in fun and creative ways.

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arta e cartone, piatti in plastica, colla forbici e colori: gli ingredienti per decine di progetti creativi da affidare ai nanerottoli di casa, per intrattenerli e divertirli.

Sopratutto, progetti che riciclano materiali di scarto della vita quotidiana, che finirebbero inevitabilmente nella differenziata, e che così guadagnano un altro scopo e qualche giorno in più di vita.

E che presentano lavoretti dai risultati graziosissimi, contrariamente ad altri manuali che ho visto e che mi hanno fatto sanguinare le cornee per l'orrore dei risultati proposti. >.<

Un volume da sfruttare in ogni pagina, godendosi poi i coloratissimi risultati.

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This book of things to make - mostly with scrap cardboard - depends to some extent on having paint and plastic eyes to achieve the effects. Later in the book you will find a suggestion for making eyes from beans, but in the case of most others I would suggest just painting on the eyes rather than adding plastic to the world.

The first section uses boxes to make fun storage, play masks, toys. Then we move on to cardboard tubes. The later section, which I liked best, uses natural materials like pinecones, stones, acorns, shells. But if these are not available when the kids are bored because it's raining, there should certainly be cardboard they can use instead of just putting it in the recycling bin. This really is the best kind of recycling - re-using even for a short time the cereal box, tissue box, kitchen roll tube, and egg boxes - the last part.

We tended not to need books about making playthings when we were small, but now this kind of guide might be needed because kids have so many shiny toys and screens. Unleash their creativity, refine their dexterity and stop the boredom. The crafts suit kids under eight.

I downloaded a copy from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

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100 Things to Recycle and Make is a tutorial book aimed at kids and their caregivers. Anyone who has ever been around kids at any gift-giving holiday knows that kids generally spend much less time playing with and enjoying their presents than time spent playing with the packaging/boxes/wrappers. This book uses everyday repurposed and found objects in creative play to make fun playthings.

Due out 18th June 2019 from Quarto on their QEB imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardback format. It's unclear from the publishing info if this book will be available in ebook format, but I will add that the eARC which was provided for review purposes had a very handy interactive table of contents and hyperlinks.

There are (by my count) 100 step by step illustrated tutorials arranged in 5 sections of 20 tutorials each. The base structures used in each of the tutorial sections are arranged around: cardboard boxes, paper plates, cardboard tubes, nature crafts, and egg cartons.

The introduction is a half page sidebar with a list of general items (glue, tape, ruler, scissors etc) which are used in the tutorials. It should be noted that the book doesn't contain very many actual photographs, but it does have colorful line drawn illustrations of the step-by-step tutorials (and a photograph of each completed project).

This would make a wonderful library book, homeschooling art unit book, make-it-take-it workshop, summer vacation book etc. Really fun and colorful vibrant homemade toys. I can see this book being a go-to favorite for babysitters and beleaguered parents during summer vacation. Start saving empty cereal boxes, egg cartons, and gift wrap tubes now.

Five stars. There are a lot of good ideas here.

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i work the psychiatric departament for kids and teenagers in a hospital in Switzerland.
i really appreciate your book..... the acticities you are proposing is fantastic and very funny to do. In these last two days i tried the crocodiles, mushrooms and cars.....
they came out well, the ony advise i give you is to add ( if possible) little more help step by step in the captions... it is not always clear what to do next....
Overall this is a book i will buy immediately if i could find it out on the market! thank you for this advanced copy!

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I flicked through this book yesterday and as my toddler was up at a ridiculous time this morning I made an aeroplane out of toilet rolls and cereal boxes, it doesn’t quite look like the picture but with a bit of practice I’m sure I’ll improve.

Easy to follow instructions and things to make with minimal fuss.

A great book

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