Corrugated Castle. Fancy Foil Fish Mobile. Paper Bead Bangles. Braided Rag Coasters. Old Shoe Flower Pots. Puppy Dog Sock Puppet. With a little imagination, just about anything we think of as trash can be transformed into an art project good enough to give as a gift or to keep and treasure yourself.

In her first Storey Kids book, Nature's Art Box, master crafter Laura C. Martin showed kids how pebbles, twigs, seedpods, and shells can be turned into things of beauty. Now, in Recycled Crafts Box, she uses as her art supplies the paper, plastic, metal, and cloth we usually consign to the recycling bin or the garbage can.

The way Martin sees it, just about everything around us holds artistic possibilities. Plastic picnic plates can be cut up to make a bouquet of flowers that will never wilt (and don't need watering). Roll leftover gift wrap into tight tubes and cut it into small sections to make one of- a-kind beads. Decorate the sides of old paint cans with acrylic paint and tie sturdy rope to the handles to make a pair of stilts.

Along the way, Martin offers sidebars on the history of rubbish and profiles of artists whose medium is junk. She passes along important lessons about being a good steward of the Earth. But the lessons are light and fun--never preachy.

Fun for kids, perfect for involved and homeschooling parents, and ideal for schoolteachers who have seen their art supply budgets slashed, Recycled Crafts Box shows budding artists how to make something beautiful and save the planet at the same time.

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