As a crafty mom, I try to keep basic craft supplies on hand–paints, glue, beads, yarn–and love to upcycle items that would have otherwise gone to a landfill. If you are looking for a few crafts to add to your spring plans, here are a few of our ideas.

Painted Rocks
Flat river rocks are an easy canvas to create Kindness Rocks. These are typically painted with an inspirational message or uplifting graphic. They are then shared with others by leaving them on well-traveled paths for others to pick up and collect. Another creative way to use river rocks is to incorporate them in a picture by using the rocks to create body parts for people or animals and then drawing in the arms, legs, and tails.

Spring Door Wreath
A simple wreath craft requires a Styrofoam or metal wreath, colorful yarn, wooden shapes, and a little paint. Start by wrapping the entire wreath in a summer yarn color like green or yellow. Decorate painted wooden shapes, flowers or ribbons, and hot glue them into place. Let the kids hang their masterpieces with a removable hook on their bedroom doors.

Foraging or Farmers Market Bag
Every spring, my family goes through the closets to see what no longer fits. Some things, like well-worn t-shirts, are worn past the point of donation. You can repurpose those t-shirts into summertime bags by cutting off the sleeves and widening the necks to create the bag handles. To make a non-sew bag, cut the bottom of the shirt into 1” strips that are about 3” long. Tie up the strips to close the bottom of the t-shirt. You can decorate it with bling or leave it as is.

Pool Noodle Sailboats
The spring rain leaves plenty of opportunity to play in the water as it collects in neighborhood streams and large puddles. To make sailboats, cut 1” off a pool noodle and lay it flat like a donut. Use scissors to make a hole for a plastic straw mast that measures about 4”. For the sail, cut thin foam sheets into 4” triangles, poking holes through them for the straw to fit through.

Glue Sun Catcher
This is a craft you may prefer to do outside. You will need a few plastic dairy lids from yogurt and sour cream tubs, food coloring, toothpicks, and white glue. Pour glue to fill only the surface of the dairy lids. Too much glue requires a lot of drying time. Squeeze two to five drops of glue inside the lids and stretch the color around with a toothpick. Allow drying for several days before removing from the lid. Make a small hole near the top of one side and add a fishing wire to hang from the window.

Yard Art
Spring sports practice always requires more bottled water. There are two fun ways to use empty bottles to decorate your yard. The first involves the lids. Hot glue the lids in the shape of a flower by placing one cap in the middle and six caps around the outside. When the flower shape dries, you can hot glue a wooden dowel on the back so you can stake it in the ground. Paint or decorate as desired.

The second way to use up empty water bottles is by creating a wind spiral. Use colorful permanent markers to color the outside of the four or five water bottles. Cut off the bottom ½ inch and discard. Cut the rest of the bottle in a one-piece spiral up to an inch before the bottom of the water bottle spout. Now, take a small dead branch or dowel rod and place it through the water bottle spouts. Add yarn or floral wire on the ends of the stick so it can hang from a nearby tree and blow in the wind.