Projects and Ideas- milk jug lid upcycle into memory game or pretend coins

Milk jug lids become pretend coins, poker chips or a memory game- practice counting, play memory  or matching games, sort by color or types of stickers (animals, numbers, cars, etc). 

Collect your old difficult-to-recycle milk jug lids and upcycle them!  Using a sturdy pair of scissors or shears, carefully cut off the threaded edges of the lid, leaving the top coin-shaped piece.  Sand the edges to smooth them out, then add stickers, or draw on numbers or letters with a permanent marker.  Watch young children closely as these small pieces present a choking hazard! 

Projects and Ideas- towel holder using bulk packaging loops

I hate throwing away plastic, especially plastic loops.  Maybe I'm having flasbacks to all those media images from the 80s and 90s showing poor birds and marine animals with soda loops stuck around their necks.  Our local recycling program is very limited, so I've been really trying to reuse as much as I can.  I finally figured out a way to reuse the thick plastic loops that come on the bulk packages I purchase.  Unfortunately this only keeps one out of landfills (unless you give them to all of your friends), but it is a start.  Now the kids can dry their hands and my kitchen towels don't end up on the floor!  Hooray!

Projects and Ideas- NO SEW old cotton t-shirt into a cute toddler skirt

This one speaks for itself...
I really needed to figure out a way to use all the t-shirt tops left over from making my upcycled t-shirt scarves (www.etsy.com/shop/utilitarianmom) and came up with this.  PERFECT for 1-3 year olds in men's sizes large to XXL, but obviously the waist size will vary with the neck size of the shirt.  Be sure to pick one without any logos or writing- they don't turn out as well.  You can easily add elastic to the neck/waist if you want, but you probably won't need it if you put them on over onesies (and then you don't have to worry about diaper covers or bloomers!
Have fun with this one and feel free to send me pics of your creations and variations (utilitarianmom@hotmail.com).  I'm excited to see what people will come up with- bleach prints, tie dye, permanent marker designs- anything is possible!