Recycling Bin Rocket Ship

By Lisa Workman of Two Bears Farm

Every year I get pretty excited about trying to do some crafts out of supplies that would normally go in the recycling bin. I have Kleenex boxes around the house that would be perfect for this challenge. In fact, I feel kind of guilty about how many we’ve amassed in the past year—do we really use that many tissues?! I wanted to use as many as I could in a craft, to clear some space in my hall closet. Since Pierce’s biggest passion right now is space, we decided to create a rocket ship.

Materials:

tissue boxes (We had eight! You need three for the base, and the rest is up to you, depending on how tall you want your rocket.)
2-liter plastic bottle
glue or tape

paint
markers, construction paper or craft foam (optional)
passengers! (optional)

Instructions

Glue (or tape) together the tissue boxes. Make sure that you have three tissue boxes taped together in a flat, triangular formation as a base. Then stack the rest of the boxes one on top of the other, as high as you please/can reach, to make the column of the ship.

Cut off the bottom of a 2-liter soda bottle and glue or tape it on the top of the top tissue box to make the nose of the rocket ship.

Paint the rocket your color of choice—we chose silver.

Cut out letters from the foam (i.e. "USA") to glue on the side. Depending on what color paint you use, drawing these letters with a marker might work. Construction paper is another good substitute.

The best part of this craft? All your little friends can take a ride in the rocket ship! The boys had fun filling it with some of their favorite stuffed animals.

Lisa Workman is a blogger and mother to three boys. She writes about rural life and outdoor adventures on their farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and loves to share her fun ideas featuring creative cooking for kids on her blog, Two Bears Farm.