Recyclable items are everywhere in your home, look around at what you routinely recycle or throw out. Toilet paper rolls can be collected and turned into puppets. If you are not the artistic type, don't fret-a quick marker-drawn face on one end of a toilet paper roll and instantly you have a Superhero! Kids love to pretend, so with just some encouragement from you, and that "artistic handicap" of yours will help them exercise their imaginations. Have your little ones insert their fingers in the center-and your puppet comes alive for the cost of the ink! Gather your recyclables and do a little brainstorming!

I collected lids from milk and juice bottles, disinfected them, and tossed them aside in a Clear Plastic Boxes on my counter. Within a few weeks, I had an interesting collection that were great for learning patterns, an important pre-reading and pre-math skill. Look for plain-colored plastic lids vs. the ones with writing on them. Collect ones that match in size and color, and also collect a variety of sizes for sorting. Add a few plastic bowls and you can play endless sorting games! "Going Green" never was such fun!Ideas will abound when you check-out your recycling bins. Margarine tubs with lids can be slit at the top, and "Presto" you have a cash register for playing money games. Egg cartons can be transformed into boxes for you child's collections. Newspaper taped together can be morphed into large sheets of drawing paper. Kids love to color to "themselves" after having their whole bodies outlined with fat markers on a large sheet of paper.

Old magazines can be treasure troves for photographs to decorate your creations. We glued magazine, cut-out photos to paper plates, tied them together on one side with yarn and made instant "books". This is a fun way to allow your child to practice her "writing" skills. I still have a motorcycle-themed book in my son's keepsake box! Include your child in this discovery process. You can ask him, "How can we use these plastic lids for school?" You will be amazed at the suggestions you will get!Once you start on the adventure of making your own preschool supplies you will never look at a box the same way again! Shoeboxes can be transformed into panoramas with glued-in miniature toys and crayon-colored backgrounds. Appliance boxes decorated by your preschool artist and with windows cut-out (by an adult); can become a cozy "Reading Room". Just add a light source through the "ceiling" and throw some pillows inside.

I'm not saying throw out every whirling, buzzing, manufactured gizmo that overflows from you child's bedroom, but I am encouraging you to move toward the fun and simplicity of homemade toys and games. You will never regret it! It's Green and it's cheap--good for the environment and your bank account!

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