How to Make a Crayon Carousel Using Recycled Materials

Teaching your kids to clean up after their coloring time just got a whole lot easier, and a lot more fun!

This crayon carousel not only provides organized storage, it gives you the opportunity to watch in amazement as the kids take their turn at cleaning up when they have finished their favorite coloring pages.

Kids enjoy spinning the carousel to find the proper color container in which to place their crayons.

This is a simple project that will provide the kids a colorful place to store their clickable crayons. It's also a colorful decoration for their bedroom, or favorite crafting nook.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 empty water bottle for each color of crayon in the package you have selected
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Scotch tape or school glue
• 1 plastic kitchen carousel
• 1-4 packages of clickable crayons

1. 
   Supplies

   * You will cover the bottles with a piece of construction paper to match each of the crayons in your package. The paper will be cut in half lengthwise, so each piece of paper can cover two bottles.

2. 

   * Cut the top off of each of the bottles.

3. 
   Emtpy water bottles

   * You can cut the bottles shorter if you want to use your carousel for regular crayons. (I will show you a picture of that carousel in an update, so be sure to visit this article again soon!)

4. 
   Cut the paper

   * Cut the paper in half lengthwise, and cut it to fit around the diameter of each bottle. Be sure to provide adult supervision when kids are using sharp scissors, please!

5. 
   Attach the covers

   * Tape the paper around each bottle, or if you prefer; you may choose to use school glue.

6. 
   Glue together

   * Label the containers with the matching color.

7. 
   Label

   * For added stability, you will glue the bottles to each other before gluing them to the carousel.

8. 
   Filled carousel

   * Glue the bottoms of the bottles to the carousel. I set the covered bottles on the carousel, and arranged the colors before I glued the bottles to each other. I glued them to the carousel once I liked the way they were arranged.

9. 
   Front view

   * All that's left now is to fill the containers with your crayons, and let the coloring fun begin!

10. 
    Green carousel front

    * Colorful organizers are fun to make, inexpensive, and good for the environment. This carousel is made with a variety of recycled materials.

11. 
    Green carousel back

    * Metal cans and plastic containers are versatile, and the different shapes are perfect for storing a variety of basic crafting supplies. That's it, now all that's left is to head out to the kitchen, and assemble the supplies to create your very own, crafty crayon carousels!
    
    Thanks for crafting with me again today, I hope you enjoy your project!
    ~Connie~

Tips & Warnings

• I used a hot glue gun to attach the bottles to each other, making certain to use the low temperature glue.
• Label the bottles before you attach them to the bottles. (Yes, I really did forget, so I had to write the names on them after they were attached!)
• You may also use the low temp glue gun to attach the bottles to the carousel, but this is a job for grown-ups!
• I recommend using an industrial glue if you prefer not to use hot glue. E6000 is my glue of choice for projects like this, but again; the kids need adult supervision because the glue can be toxic if ingested!
• Provide adequate ventilation if you choose to use industrial strength glues.

Resources

• Purchase Kitchen Carousel
• Purchase Clickable Crayons
• Introduction To Crafting With Kids

[askapeach]

on 10/25/2009 Very creative and a great way to get children to clean up. This was always a problem in my classroom, getting the proper colors back together. Thanks for the pictures too!

[mikeg21v]

on 10/5/2009 My friend who teaches preschool will love this! Thanks. 5* and rec