Children are fantastic when it comes to using their imagination. They’re also pretty great about the three Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Put those two ideas together and your children will have a ton of fun. Heres how to get them started.

Plastic Bottles: These containers are perfect for creating shaker globes or in this shaker bottles. Buy some clear oil and fill half your bottle, then fill the rest with water. Add some creative items according to a specific theme like a water theme. Add blue food coloring, animal shapes and even glitter. Then let your child shake away for hours of fun.

Cardboard Tubes: Rain sticks are a fantastic and fun way to spend rainy afternoons indoors. Not that you’d want to conjure up more rain! Supplies include:

Masking tape, Paper towel tubes, Tempera paint, Elmers glue or other white craft glue, Rice, lentils, or small beans.

Paint the tubes first and allow to dry. Poke several very small holes, toothpick sized, into the tube. Cover one end of the tube with tape and place a small handful of rice or beans into the tube. Cover other end of the tube with tape and let them at it. Different materials, rice, beans, or lentils make different sounds. Encourage your children to make several and experiment with sounds.

Crafting with your kids is as easy as rummaging the house for hidden recyclable treasures. Tulips can be made from empty egg cartons, old newspapers are excellent for paper mache crafts, baby food jars can be used to make snow globes and tin cans are perfect for growing an herb or flower garden.

Children are very adaptable and you would be in awe at what their minds can think of in terms of creativity. Try fostering their imagination by challenging them to create multiple crafts out of one main product like paper bags, coffee cans and plastic containers.