Each year, families spend quite a bit of money dressing up the gifts they have made or purchased for loved ones and friends.
For families who embrace the reuse, renew and recycle motto for life, the holiday season provides a great opportunity to teach children how they can practically live out that motto.
Here are five things most people have in their homes that can be used to make creative, eco-friendly gift wrap:
1. Outdated maps and calendars. Children will love learning about how the world has changed or how the days of the month can fall on different days each year as they explore the maps and calendars.
2. Brown paper bags. Children will hone their artistic skills cutting open the bags (if age appropriate) and coloring, stamping or painting on them.
3. Fabric, scarves or cloth napkins. Children will enjoy learning about different textures of materials and how they can be used to “hide” the gift.
4. Wallpaper. Children can practice lining up patterns as they wrap their gifts or experience coloring over different textures of papers.
5. Your child’s art work. Children can use pages they’ve colored from their coloring books or drawings they’ve created to wrap their most special gifts.
Making your own gift wrap not only saves you money, it’s provides a fun outlet for teaching children how they can personally help the environment and make a difference.