Recycled Magazine Beads

With Earth Day just around the corner, you are probably looking for some fun ways to teach your kids about recycling.

If you have any old magazines laying around in your bathroom, this is a great project to give them a second life and teach your kids about recycling at the same time.

We had a stack of magazines piled up in my craft room that we needed to do something with so this was the perfect project and my kids had a blast doing it.

These recycled magazine beads can be made from just about any paper you have on hand. We used magazines but you could recycle newspaper, junk mail, even your grocery store mailer!

You can even customize the size of your beads by winding them tighter or looser. Since I was making this with my preschool-aged daughter, we went for big chunky beads that she could thread on the necklace on her own.

Materials Needed

• Old magazines, newspapers, paper scraps, etc.
• White glue mixed with a bit of water to create a thick paste
• Paintbrush
• Yarn or string

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Instructions

Cut long skinny triangles out of your paper scraps.

Longer triangles will give you more paper to work with. Shorter triangles will make looser beads.

You will need something to roll your bead up with. I used a second paintbrush. A pencil, nail, or straw would work as well. The diameter of your bead will change based on what you roll it up with.

Paint the back of your paper with your water/glue mixture. Leave about 1/2 inch at the beginning glue-free.

Roll your bead starting at the wide end of the triangle.

After rolling your bead, paint the entire outside with a thin layer of your glue mixture to seal the outside.

Allow the bead to dry completely.

Once dry, string your beads on a piece of yarn, ribbon, or string. You have a super easy DIY project using recycled materials!

Do you have any fun ideas for DIY projects using recycled materials for Earth Day? Share them with us in the comments. 

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