Recycle Bin Project

Many years ago, we created this recycle bin project, using materials found in our recycle bin. You could create practically anything from our recycled crafts list using items that are going to be thrown away or recycled. The benefit is that these items are free and they develop all of the skills that kids crafting does. As a therapy tool this is great for building fine motor skills, visual motor skills, and more.

Let’s see what we made…

Recycle Bin Project

We used a few items from the recycle bin:

• Empty cereal box
• Paper tube
• Empty cracker boxes

We also used a few items from our craft supplies: masking tape and markers

The nice thing about a recycle bin project is that the sky is the limit! All you need is the items in the recycling container and your imagination.

Develop Skills with a Recycling Bin Project

Just look at the skills kids develop with an activity as simple as building with cardboard and tape.

• Hand eye coordination
• Bilateral coordination
• Pinch strength
• Arch development
• Intrinsic hand strength
• Separation of the sides of the hand
• Open thumb web space
• Shoulder and forearm stability
• Precision and refined grasp
• Proprioceptive input
• Motor planning

Multi-step planning, Handwriting, Cutting, Coloring, Painting, Taping, Tearing, Creativity, Imagination…this one’s got it all 🙂

Big Sister and I had a couple of hours to ourselves when the other kids were napping one afternoon. We went on a hunt for crafting materials in an interesting place…the recycle bin!

I pulled the boxes out and Big Sister used her imagination to decide what to make with them. She came up with a plan…a castle for barbie!

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.