Make It!

Book review time again.

"Make it!" by Jane Bull

This is a Dorling Kindersley book from 2008.  It's a children's book (I found it in the children's non-fiction section of the library while looking for books for Little C), full of fantastic ideas of things to make from rubbish.  The book is divided into an introduction about recycling and the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and a bit about different materials, then into chapters for each material type.

The ideas are brilliant - creative and fun, yet also practical and very achievable.

Here are some of them:

Paper - origami baskets, scrap paper pots (I've made a couple of frog pots from these instructions, which worked really well and will be on a blog post later), junk mail mache, and scrap-paper portraits.

Plastic - rainbow frames, plastic bottle items, bottle top badges, bubble wrap cushion and more.

Metal - magnet fun, mobiles and models.

Fabric - toys from old gloves and hats, rag mats, purses and bags from old trousers, and cushions from jeans.

The items to make here are quirky, fun, have good instructions but loads of scope to improvise, clear pictures and little factoids.  I'm going to borrow this book from the library again, and it's definitely one I would like to have on the family bookcase, and one that I would buy for nephews and nieces, combining caring for the planet and reducing use of precious resources with crafts - can't go wrong!