With children spending more time at home and many hours to fill with activities, these gardening craft ideas are a brilliant way to entertain them.
You only need a few items which you can easily find and reuse from around the home to make biodegradable and recycled plant pots and seed trays.
Biodegradable & Recycled Plant Pots
These DIY plant (or seed) pots are not only recycled but also biodegradable and can easily be planted in your garden once they are ready. Children can learn about how the newspaper breaks down once planted in the soil. Taking only minutes and one sheet of newspaper to make, these little pots are an ingenious way to utilise your garden, the sunshine and the spring season.
Here is our step by step guide to making your own plant pots from newspaper.
What you'll need
- Black and white newspaper (avoid shiny or coloured paper as it may contain materials that could contaminate the soil and harm your plants)
- A plastic cup or a glass jar
Method
Take one full sheet of broadsheet newspaper and lay it flat. Fold it in half lengthwise twice to form a long narrow strip. Grab your plastic cup and make sure you pick one that is not too tall, about half of the length of the narrow side of your folded paper. Lay the cup on its side so that half of the strip of paper overlaps the open end and place it on one end of the strip of paper. Roll the newspaper around the cup to cover it completely. Use up the full length of the newspaper. Push the ends of the paper into the open end of the cup. Don't worry about doing this in a neat and tidy way; just stuff the overlapping newspaper into the jar any way you can. Then pull your plastic cup out of the newspaper pocket so you have the newspaper pot in your hand. Push the bottom of the plastic cup into the newspaper cup, squashing the folded bottom to flatten. This step will seal the bottom of your pot so that once is has been filled with soil, the bottom of your plant pot will be secure. Pull the jar out and ta-da, you have your very own finished recycled biodegradable newspaper plant pot!
Egg Carton Seed Trays
Alternatively you could find egg cartons that you have lying around the home and make them in to seed trays. Fill them with compost and seeds and then place on a window sill. Your children can delight in watering them and watching them sprout.
