Activity Tray for Childrens Craft Kits

Thank you to "Irish Attic" for sharing this next idea which is great for use with childrens craft kits and travel games. If you haven't heard of "Irish Attic", check it out. It's a great blog with lots of recycled craft ideas.

I found this to be a great babysitting tip. I have a stack of old cookie trays that are too grungy for baking that I use for messy crafts like making beeswax candles and arts and crafts painting. One day while babysitting, I was using a tray for a magnetic kids game (to keep all the pieces from getting spread out all over the floor) and it occurred to me that I could at least make the tray pretty by covering it with some left over contact paper. All I had was plain white contact paper which after covering one side of the tray with it I accidentally discovered that the white contact paper worked great with dry erase markers. The kids could write directly on the contact paper, wipe it off and start all over with a new design. This opened up a whole new idea for me - Kids Crafts Trays!

Then I remembered that I had some chalkboard paint leftover from a home office project, which I then used to paint the other side of the cookie tray. I've since discovered that there is also a chalkboard contact paper that you can use if you don't want to bother with painting on the chalkboard surface. Now I had a tray that I could take along when babysitting that the kids could use with dry erase markers on one side and chalk on the other side, and of course the tray itself works great to take along in the car, on the plane, in hotel rooms for childrens craft kits, craft projects, magnetic games, etc.

If you're looking for more eco-friendly green crafts projects using recycled cardboard then click on over to Craft Stick Luminaries. This kids craft project is not only easy but made with almost 100% recycled materials, so it's a green craft project. Green AND easy, ya gotta love that!