by Sarah K
If you eat a lot of yogurt, you may notice that the cups are just the right size for doing some sort of craft. However, knowing they are useful and knowing how to use them are two different things. Here are a few ideas for reusing them.
Each year our Art teacher sends home a request for items for her class. Small yogurt cups are just the right size for paints and glue. The students each get a cup of paint or glue to themselves. These are perfect because they are easy to clean and are no expense to the school; plus we are reusing items that might otherwise end up in a landfill.
At home you can wash out the empty cups and reuse them for snack bowls for the children. Use them to teach youngsters to sort items. They make good little Play-Doh utensils. Attach them together with ribbon or chenille stems to make a shape like an egg carton. Then use them to sort small toys like the tiny Lego sets or beads for necklace making.
Another use for the small or even the pint size yogurt cups is to make buckets. Our school’s main theme is to be “Bucket Fillers.” This theme is meant to encourage students to be kind and considerate of others, thereby filling each other’s bucket. When they are unkind, of course, they are dipping into others’ buckets. The craft is a way to reinforce the concept. Talking to the class while they are making the buckets reminds them to consider their actions. Now to the project, prior to taking the buckets to class you will want to spray paint them. We used metallic silver paint, but you can choose any color. Next you will need to use a hole-punch to make holes in the top for a handle to be attached. Use a chenille stem or pipe cleaner. Since our school is near the beach, we decorated our buckets with self-adhesive foam sea creatures. The children really loved the craft. They asked, “May we keep these forever?” These buckets can be used by the children as a small gift container, as well.
One other idea is to use the containers as small plant pots. Punch a few small holes in the bottom for drainage. Fill the pots with potting soil. Sprinkle in a few seeds; water; place in a sunny window. These will make good little starters for herbs or marigolds. Alternatively, the pots could be used as an option for Mother’s Day flowers. Paint pots and decorate as above. Then put in some potting soil. Use daisies purchased from the store and let the children plant in their custom pots.
Image Credit: Dannon