Teen Upcycled Crafts

Room Decor

• Help your teen craft new room decor to help personalize his space. If he's outgrown one of his favorite T-shirts, don't toss it in the trash; turn it into a pillow. Cut off the sleeves and cut a straight line below the neck. Sew the cut edges together, leaving the bottom hem open, and then slide a pillow inside. He can turn some empty glass jars into decorative LED candle holders by decorating the glass with puffy paint and then placing mini battery-operated lights inside. If your teen is a fan of boating or rowing, make a curtain rod from an old boat oar. Sand it down, stain or paint it and hang it up. He can liven up a tired-looking desk by transforming the top into a dry erase or chalkboard with dry erase or chalkboard paint so he can jot down important notes and phone numbers easily.

T-shirt Fashion

• If your teen has outgrown some of her favorite shirts, have her upcycle them to keep them around. She can transform her favorite old T-shirt into a new bag for gym clothes, beach gear or school supplies. Cut off the shirt below the arms and sew the bottom hem together. Cut and braid leftover strips of T-shirt and sew the ends to the bag to make a strap. If she loves the braided strap, make a matching necklace or bracelet by braiding strips from another trash-destined shirt. She can make a new fabric headband from a strip of T-shirt, too, with the ends tied or sewn together. A T-shirt skateboard sling is easy to make; cut a loop from an old, oversize T-shirt and then cut off the sleeves. Sew the sleeves to the loop of T-shirt so she can sling the loop over her shoulder and use the sleeve loops to hold the skateboard wheels in place.

Upcycled Gifts

• Help dad never loses his keys again with a tennis ball. Just glue on a pair of silly googly eyes and make a 1 1/2-inch slit for a mouth. Squeeze on either side of the mouth to make it open, place a key chain in the mouth; it will close and grasp the key chain tightly. Have dad screw the holder to the wall by opening the mouth and screwing through the back of the ball. Make grandma a creative photo gift from a piece of scrap wood by gluing a photo to one side with polyvinyl acetate. Coat the photo with another layer of polyvinyl acetate when it dries. If your teen is feeling particularly generous, he can make creative wall decor for a younger sibling. Just sand and paint some scrap pieces of scrap wood, and cover a few discarded animal figurines with glittering spray paint. When all the pieces have dried, attach one animal to each piece of wood with a hot glue gun and hang the wooden art on the wall.

Upcycled Locker Style

• Your teen can organize her locker in style with some creative upcycling crafts. She can transform a coffee can into a magnetic container to hold pens and pencils in her locker. Wash it, glue colorful straws around three quarters of the can and glue a magnet to the empty section. If your teen prefers, cover the can with construction paper or spray paint it instead. She can transform the back pockets of an old pair of jeans into magnetic locker pockets to keep loose change, erasers and paper notes organized. Cut out the pocket area from the jeans as close to the seam as possible, and use hot glue to attach a magnet to the back of each one. She can also turn an old picture frame into a dry erase board or chalkboard to hang in her locker. Have her paint the frame any color she likes, paint the glass with dry erase or chalkboard paint and glue magnets to the back.