Crafts from Junk Mail | Repurposed Craft | Ganz Parent Club

Junk Mail Crafts

Make something out of your junk mail

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Stuff you can make with junk mailAfter moving into our new home, my husband and I received more junk mail than ever before. People wanted to sell us blinds and curtains, redo our driveway in cobblestone, and sell the very home we had just moved into! With a little creative thinking, I saved some of the junk mail from the recycle bin and got crafty.

Make a Magnet: Because we had so many real estate agents offering to sell our house, we received a ton of tiny fridge calendars. Each of these had a nice magnet on the back. I started cutting the magnets off and using them to make my own pretty magnets. I simply used some scrapbooking paper and some stickers to make them gorgeous!

Paper Beads: This is an old craft – one my mom taught me when I was just a kid (and one she did when she was a kid!). You can use any paper for paper beads, but colorful flyers work especially well. Just cut them into long isosceles triangles (about an inch at the base) and start rolling them up from the thick end to the thin end. Use glue as you roll to secure the paper. When you’re done, you’ll have an oblong bead!

Collage: If you’ve got some flyers with interesting pictures, have your child cut them up and create their own unique work of art.

A Delicious Menu (or a grocery list): Grocery store flyers have lots of great food pictures. You can have your child cut out the pictures of things they’d like to eat and make their dream dinner menu. You can also have them cut out pictures of things you need to buy when you go grocery shopping. Bring along a pencil or crayon and let your child check off the items as they go into the cart.

Colorful Shapes or Letters: Cut your flyers and ads into all kinds of fun shapes or letters and keep them handy for your next crafting project!

Make a Fan – If the weather outside is getting kind of warm, fold your flyers accordion-style and tape at the bottom. It’s an easy way to keep cool!

Writing Challenge – Have a beginning reader? Challenge your child to go through the flyers and find items that begin with a particular letter (for example: B things could be bread, banana, berries). Have your child cut them out and glue them to a piece of paper. For an extra challenge, encourage your child to write the letter (or words) on the paper.

Scrunched Paper Art – You’d be amazed at what you can make from scrunched supermarket flyers and masking tape! It’s a terrific base for sculptures (which you can then decoupage or decorate with tissue paper).

Next time you get junk mail, don’t get annoyed – just get crafty!

About The Author

Jessica Boyd
Jessica was pretty sure she was going to be a teacher, but after graduating she decided to become a writer. She heard about a little site called Webkinz World that hadn’t yet launched, and the rest (as they say) is history. Jessica has written the W Tales, created loveable characters like Plumpy the Hippo, written for Webkinz Newz and been the creative lead for Webkinz Jr. She is thrilled to bring her love of books, crafts, play, and baking to the Ganz Parent Club. When Jess isn’t writing, she’s busy being an auntie and ‘fairy godmother’ to the wonderful kids in her life.
  1. aI can’t believe I missed such a great article.. I do have a beginning reader and a child who is sixteen who

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