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Many of the activities on these pages may require adult supervision.
Be sure to tell a grown-up about what you're planning and ask for permission before getting started.

Pencil Holder

Wash out and dry an empty orange-juice can. Using white glue, glue scraps of fabric to the can to make a pretty, colorful, wraparound collage. Stick colored tape around the top. Paint a slightly larger lid from another can.
Last, glue the can to the lid. The lid serves as a base to steady the can. Fill with pencils.

Piggy-bank Cottage

Wash out a small milk carton, the size used for school lunch. Dry. Cover with Con-Tact paper. You can buy Con-Tact paper in housewares departments. It is like shelf paper with an adhesive side. Some Con-Tact paper looks like wood, an effect you might like. With a marker, draw a door and windows on your cottage. Cut a small slot for coins. Give to your friend with instructions that the bank can be ripped open only when it's full.

Bean Sprout Jar

You need a quart-size canning jar with the kind of lid that has a flat circle and a ring. You also need nylon netting or cheesecloth. Trace the circle lid on the cheesecloth. Now widen it all around about 2 inches. Cut out the widened circle with scissors. Put the cheesecloth circle on the jar and screw on the ring. Presto! You have a dandy sprouting jar. Write instructions for making bean sprouts on a piece of paper and put it inside. Give the inside flat circle along with the jar too. When the sprouts are done, they can be stored in the refrigerator with the regular cap on the jar.

Sprinkling Bottle

This is a gift for someone with cotton shirts that need to be dampened before they are ironed. In a housewares department buy a sprinkling top that fits on any soda bottle. Clean and dry a soda bottle. Paint it with enamel paints any way you like. Put the sprinkling top on it to complete your gift.

Yarn Holder

Paint or tape paper around a clean, empty circular oatmeal or cornmeal box. Trim and decorate the top too. Punch a hole in the top with a thick nail. The hole should be large enough for yarn to pass through easily. Trim the hole smooth with nail scissors, enlarging it if necessary. Put a ball of yarn in the box, pull a strand through the hole, and put the top on the box.

Easter Basket

Cut away the top half of a thoroughly rinsed-out bleach bottle, as shown in the picture. Bend the handles together and staple. Tape them smooth. You can decorate with colored markers. Fill with fake grass or tissue paper and colored eggs.

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