During half term (yes I know - it seems like a distant memory now), we went to the library and they had a craft session on celebrating Chinese New Year.
They gave the kids some snakes to decorate, including some foam type ones, with sticky bits to decorate them with. I was mentally tutting to myself, thinking that the craft wasn't particularly eco-friendly as they came in plastic wrapping and I wasn't sure what to do with them once we have finished with them.
I have to admit though they did look nice and it was also a very thrifty (i.e. free) way to spend the morning. The kids really enjoyed it and we came home with these snakes. They wanted to play with them, but I knew that after 5 minutes of 'playing' with them, the snakes would be in pieces and the kids would be in tears about their broken snakes, which in my mind would have been a total waste and another unnecessary thing in landfill!
So I thought about framing them, or sticking them to a cupboard door, but then I decided they would make lovely fridge magnets. We have quite a few flat magnets with pictures of animals stuck to our fridge and one of them was completely ruined, with the picture having been ripped off. I took the magnet, chopped it into strips and getting my children to help stuck the strips with double sided sticky tape to the back of the snakes.
Tip: half way through chopping up the magnet, I realised it would be much easier to put the double sided sticky tape on to the non-magnetic side of the magnet first. This way when you chop up the magnet, you also cut the sticky tape to the perfect size.
Ta da - free Chinese New Year snake magnets that my kids and I can enjoy looking at all year round!
I think they look great! If we get to a point when we no longer want them, I will donate them to a charity shop, so they can be used again!
Other things I do with my children's artwork includes using it as wrapping paper, displaying it on a notice board, sticking it to kitchen cupboards and putting it in frames to display on their bedroom walls.
What do you do with your children's artwork? Please let me know your ideas in the comments below!
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This post has been shared at Waste Not Wednesday and Seasonal Celebration Wednesday.
This post has been shared at Waste Not Wednesday and Seasonal Celebration Wednesday.
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