Top 12 'Kitchen-Scrap-to-Keepsake' Craft Supplies to learn with kids for a magical rainy-day project - Goh Ling Yong
There’s a certain kind of magic that descends upon a house during a downpour. The world outside slows to a pitter-patter rhythm, inviting us to turn inward. But for parents with energetic kids, a rainy day can quickly lose its charm, echoing with the familiar chorus of "I'm bored!" Before you reach for the screens or a brand-new toy, take a peek into your kitchen recycling bin. You might be surprised to find it’s not just trash—it's a treasure trove of creative potential.
Welcome to the wonderful world of "Kitchen-Scrap-to-Keepsake" crafting. This is where forgotten packaging and leftover bits transform into whimsical puppets, fantastical creatures, and beautiful art. It’s more than just a way to pass the time; it’s a hands-on lesson in resourcefulness, imagination, and sustainability. It teaches our children that a cardboard tube isn’t just a tube; it’s a rocket ship waiting for a countdown, a spyglass searching for pirates, or the trunk of a magical, pasta-leafed tree.
So, let's roll up our sleeves, embrace the delightful mess, and turn this rainy day into an adventure. Here are 12 of the best kitchen-scrap craft supplies that will help you and your little ones conjure up some truly magical keepsakes from the everyday items you were about to throw away.
1. The Humble Egg Carton
Don't you dare toss that lumpy, bumpy cardboard carton! Its unique, pre-formed cups are a goldmine for 3D art projects. Sturdy, paintable, and easy to cut with a good pair of scissors, egg cartons are arguably the MVP of the upcycled craft world. They provide a ready-made structure that sparks immediate ideas in young minds.
Before you begin, make sure the carton is clean and dry. From there, you can use the individual cups, the pointy cones that separate them, or even the flat lid as a canvas. A splash of paint, a dab of glue, and a few googly eyes are all it takes to bring these simple shapes to life in the most surprising ways.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Dragon's Head: Cut a section of four cups. Paint it a scaly green or fiery red, add paper flames shooting from the front "nostril" cups, and use the pointy cones as horns.
- Bouquet of Everlasting Flowers: Snip individual cups and trim the edges to create petal shapes. Paint them vibrant colours, poke a green pipe cleaner through the bottom for a stem, and arrange them in a painted glass jar (we’ll get to those later!).
- Wacky Animal Noses: A single cup attached to a piece of elastic makes an instant pig snout, bird beak, or alien proboscis for an afternoon of imaginative play.
2. The Versatile Cardboard Tube
The cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels or toilet paper is the ultimate blank slate. It’s a cylinder of pure potential. Strong enough to build with yet easy enough for little hands to cut, paint, and decorate, these tubes are the foundation for countless rainy-day projects.
Start a collection in a basket in your craft corner. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they accumulate and how often you’ll reach for one. They can be flattened, cut into rings, or used whole. Their cylindrical shape makes them perfect for creating bodies, towers, and wheels.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Enchanted Forest Creatures: Paint a tube brown for a fox, grey for a raccoon, or orange for a bear. Add folded paper ears, a fluffy pom-pom tail, and draw on a sweet face.
- Confetti-Popper Rockets: Cover one end of a tube with a balloon, secure it with tape, and fill the tube from the other end with homemade paper confetti. Pull back the balloon and let it snap to launch the confetti into the air!
- Marble Run Mania: Tape several tubes together at different angles inside a large cardboard box to create a fantastic, sprawling marble run. It's part engineering, part art!
3. Plastic Bottles & Their Colourful Caps
Every plastic bottle, from a large soda bottle to a small water bottle, holds the promise of a new creation. The clear plastic is fantastic for projects that involve light or containment, while the bottle caps are like little plastic jewels, perfect for mosaics and details.
Always give your bottles a thorough rinse and let them dry completely before crafting. For any projects requiring sharp cuts, an adult should handle the craft knife. The beauty of plastic bottles is their durability, making them ideal for projects that might live in the garden or be played with enthusiastically.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Bottle Cap Mosaics: Glue colourful bottle caps onto a sturdy piece of cardboard to create vibrant pictures of flowers, fish, or abstract patterns.
- Self-Watering Planters: An adult can carefully cut a bottle in half. Invert the top half (the one with the spout) and place it inside the bottom half. A string running through the cap into the water reservoir below will wick moisture up to the soil—a great little science experiment!
- Jet Pack Adventure: Tape two large soda bottles together, decorate them with silver paint and red and orange tissue paper "flames," and add straps made from ribbon or old belts. Instant astronaut!
4. Wonderful Wine Corks
Whether they’re natural cork or synthetic, these little stoppers are fantastic for crafting. They are lightweight, easy to glue, and have a wonderful texture. Plus, they make the absolute best stamps when you carve a simple shape into the end.
Collecting corks can be a fun activity in itself (for the adults, of course!). Their small size makes them perfect for creating miniature figures and tiny details. They absorb paint well and can be easily embellished with markers, pins, and fabric scraps.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Cork-Stamped Art: An adult can carefully carve a simple shape—a star, a heart, a leaf—into the flat end of a cork. Kids can then dip it in paint and stamp away to create custom wrapping paper, cards, or wall art.
- Tiny Floating Boats: Slice a cork in half lengthwise to create the hull of a boat. Add a toothpick for a mast and a small triangle of paper for a sail. See if they float in the sink or a puddle!
- Whimsical Gnomes & Figures: Stand a cork upright and use a felt-tip pen to draw a face. A small circle of felt can be twisted into a cone for a pointy hat, and a wisp of cotton makes a perfect beard.
5. Vegetable & Fruit Scraps
Who knew the end of a celery stalk or a leftover potato could be a world-class art tool? Using vegetable scraps for stamping is a classic, eco-friendly craft that connects kids to the food they eat in a new and exciting way. The natural patterns and shapes found in produce are often surprisingly beautiful.
Potatoes are great for carving custom shapes, while celery bottoms create a perfect rose print. Bell pepper rings make lovely clover-like shapes, and an apple cut in half reveals a star at its core. Just pat the cut surface dry, dip it in paint, and press it firmly onto paper.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Celery Rose Garden: Dip the flat, cut end of a bunch of celery into pink or red paint to create a field of beautiful rose prints. Use a fork or a green-painted fingerprint for the leaves.
- Potato Print Characters: An adult can cut a potato in half and carve a simple shape. Make a circle for a head, a triangle for a body, and let your kids stamp their own family of "potato people."
- Okra Starry Night: The inside of a cut piece of okra has a stunning, star-like pattern. Use it with yellow or white paint on dark blue paper to create a beautiful galaxy scene.
6. Dried Pasta & Beans
A wander down the pasta aisle becomes an art supply run when you look at the shapes and textures with a creative eye. From rigatoni tubes and farfalle butterflies to tiny orzo and wagon wheels, pasta is a fantastic medium for creating texture and patterns. Add some dried lentils, kidney beans, or split peas for colour and variety.
This is a wonderful sensory activity for toddlers and a great mosaic material for older kids. All you need is a sturdy base (cardboard or thick paper) and some PVA glue. Let them arrange the pieces to their heart's content.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Pasta Skeleton: On black paper, use different pasta shapes to create a spooky-fun skeleton. Wagon wheels for vertebrae, penne for arm and leg bones, and a large shell for the head!
- Textured Rainbow Collage: Draw the arches of a rainbow and have your child fill in each arc with a different type of bean or pasta (red lentils, black beans, green split peas, etc.).
- Macaroni Masterpiece Frame: Glue macaroni elbows or other small pasta shapes all around a simple cardboard picture frame. Once dry, spray paint it gold or silver for a surprisingly elegant finish.
7. Gleaming Glass Jars
Before you recycle that empty jam jar or pickle jar, give it a good wash. Glass jars are the perfect vessels for holding light, liquids, or treasures. They can be transformed with a bit of paint, tissue paper, or even just some twine wrapped around the rim. Here at the Goh Ling Yong blog, we love how a simple jar can become a magical, functional piece of art.
For safety, ensure there are no chips or cracks in the glass. While many paints work on glass, specialty glass paints or even a mix of PVA glue and food colouring can create a beautiful, translucent stained-glass effect.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Magical Fairy Lantern: Coat the outside of the jar with a thin layer of watered-down PVA glue. Stick on pieces of coloured tissue paper, overlapping them slightly. Once dry, add another coat of glue to seal it and pop a battery-operated tea light inside for a magical glow.
- Galaxy Calm-Down Jar: Fill a jar most of the way with water. Add a few drops of dark food colouring, a generous amount of glitter, and a big squeeze of clear glitter glue. Seal the lid tightly (glue it shut for safety!) and shake to watch the swirling galaxy.
- Painted Pen & Brush Holder: Simply let your child paint the outside of the jar with acrylic paints to create a custom-designed holder for their desk.
8. Tin Cans
A friendly reminder: Tin cans can have sharp edges after being opened, so this is a craft that requires adult preparation and supervision. An adult should file down or cover the sharp inner rim with a thick layer of hot glue or electrical tape before any crafting begins.
Once made safe, tin cans are wonderfully sturdy. Their metallic surface is great for painting, and their cylindrical shape is perfect for a variety of projects. They can be turned into musical instruments, organizers, or even the body of a friendly robot.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Tin Can Windsock: After preparing the can, have kids paint it. Punch a few holes in the bottom (adult job!) and let kids thread and tie long, colourful ribbons through them. Add a string to the top to hang it and watch the ribbons dance in the breeze.
- Robotic Desk Buddy: Glue a few cans of different sizes together to create a robot's body and head. Use nuts, bolts, and bottle caps for the eyes, nose, and control buttons.
- Outdoor Drum Kit: Collect several cans of different sizes and turn them upside down to create a fun, rustic drum kit for the garden. Use sticks found on a walk as drumsticks.
9. Coffee Grounds & Tea Bags
Think your morning brew's journey is over once you've had your cup? Think again! Used coffee grounds and tea bags are fantastic for adding colour and texture to art projects. They provide a beautifully natural, earthy element.
Dried, used coffee grounds can be mixed with glue to create a "mud" or "sand" texture in paintings. The contents of a used tea bag, or the bag itself, can be used to "age" paper, giving it a vintage, treasure-map-like appearance. Just steep the used tea bag in a little warm water and "paint" it onto your paper.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Antique Treasure Map: Have your child draw a map of their bedroom or a fantasy land on a piece of white paper using a black marker. Then, let them gently dab the entire paper with a damp, used tea bag. Crinkle it up carefully while it’s still damp and then flatten it to dry for an authentically aged look.
- Textured Landscape Art: Draw a simple landscape with a beach and some hills. Let your child spread glue on the "hill" area and sprinkle it with dried tea leaves for grass, and spread glue on the "beach" area and cover it with coffee grounds for sand.
- Scented Playdough: Add cooled, dried coffee grounds or a sprinkle of chai tea mix to your favorite homemade playdough recipe for a wonderfully scented sensory experience.
10. Citrus Peels
The vibrant peels from oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are a treat for the senses and a surprisingly versatile craft supply. Their bright colours and amazing scents can add a new dimension to your creative time.
The easiest way to use them is as bird feeders—simply halve an orange, scoop out the fruit, and you have a perfect little bowl to fill with birdseed. For other crafts, you can use cookie cutters to press shapes out of larger pieces of peel, which can then be dried and used in other projects.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Orange Peel Bird Feeder: After scooping out the orange flesh, poke three evenly spaced holes around the rim of the peel-half. Thread twine through them, tie them together at the top, and fill your new hanging bowl with birdseed.
- Dried Peel Garlands: Use small cookie cutters to cut shapes from orange or lemon peel. Use a skewer to poke a hole in each shape, then let them dry on a baking sheet for a few days until they harden. String them onto twine to create a beautiful, fragrant garland.
- Scented Stamping: The bumpy texture of a citrus peel makes a great stamp. Just cut a wedge, dip the peel side in paint, and see what cool patterns you can make.
11. Mesh Produce Bags
Those net bags that hold your onions, avocados, or oranges are crafting gold! They can be used as a stencil, a texturing tool, or even a material for weaving. Their flexible, grid-like structure is full of artistic possibilities.
Cut the bags open so they lie flat. You can use them whole or cut them into smaller pieces. They are lightweight and easy to glue onto surfaces, adding an instant layer of industrial-chic or fish-scale-like texture.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Fish Scale Painting: Lay the mesh flat over a piece of paper where you’ve drawn a fish. Have your child use a sponge to dab blue and green paint over the mesh. When you lift the mesh, you’ll be left with a perfect scale pattern!
- Woven Coasters: Cut a circle from a sturdy piece of cardboard and make small snips around the edge. Use the cardboard as a loom and weave strips of the mesh bag (and other fabric scraps) in and out of the notches to create a colourful coaster.
- Textured Vase: Coat a glass jar or tin can in glue and wrap the mesh bag tightly around it for an instant textural upgrade.
12. Yogurt Pots & Food Trays
Cleaned single-serving yogurt pots and Styrofoam food trays (the kind from mushrooms or produce) are brilliant for building and printmaking. The pots are great for stacking and creating structures, while the flat trays are a dream for beginner-friendly printmaking.
Make sure any food trays are thoroughly washed and sanitized before use. The soft surface of a Styrofoam tray is easy to "draw" on with a blunt pencil, creating an indented design that can be used for printing over and over again.
Magical Project Ideas:
- Styrofoam Printmaking: Have your child draw a simple design onto a clean Styrofoam tray with a blunt pencil, pressing down firmly to create grooves. Roll a thin layer of paint over the entire surface with a small roller or sponge brush. Press a piece of paper firmly onto the tray, rub all over, and peel it back to reveal your print!
- Yogurt Pot Totem Pole: Collect and decorate a variety of yogurt pots. Stack them on top of each other, gluing them in place, to create a colourful and collaborative family totem pole.
- Shaker Instruments: Fill a yogurt pot with a spoonful of dried beans or rice. Place another pot on top, rim to rim, and tape them securely together. Decorate your new musical shaker!
The next time a rainy day keeps you indoors, see it as an opportunity. The most magical art supplies aren’t always the ones that come in fancy packaging, but the ones that carry a story of a meal shared or a morning coffee enjoyed. Crafting with kitchen scraps is a beautiful reminder, for us and for our kids, that creativity can be found everywhere. It's about looking at the world with fresh eyes and seeing the possibility in the overlooked.
As we always say on the Goh Ling Yong blog, the goal is not perfection, but connection and creation. So go ahead, open that recycling bin, and discover the masterpiece waiting inside.
What are your family's favourite "Kitchen-Scrap-to-Keepsake" projects? Share your ideas and creations in the comments below—we would absolutely love to see the magic you’re making
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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