Recycled Plastic “I Spy” Jar

I am an environmental science teacher and a tennis coach. I go through a lot of tennis string, which is mostly plastic. I wanted to come up with a way to recycle that plastic. I also wanted to make something my kids could play with. This also doubles as a “sensory” bin as long as you don’t let littles eat it seeing as it looks like sprinkles.

What you see is the clipped string for about 25 rackets. I string over 120 a year. You can use other substitutes as long as you can chop them up easy into small pieces, like straws.

Have fun!

Whatever you are going to use, make sure you can get a lot of it. I picked tennis strings cause I can get a lot of them. I used small clippers (spring loaded works best) but you can use scissors too depending on how hard your plastic is.

I clipped it in a larger bag so the pieces wouldn’t fly everywhere. I clipped them “sprinkle size” length.

Like I said in the intro, I like to recycle. I chose an old water bottle. Make sure your container is clear and not too large (or you’ll give up before you clip enough). I lot of old excercise plastic bottles work good too.

I just roll up a paper and use it as a makeshift funnel. I pour it straight from the bag.

My wife loves Christmas so she picked out a bunch to make a Christmas Jar. You can order any type of small buttons or charms from a major online retailer or get some at your local craft store. Maybe you’ve got some around the house you can reuse.

Add your “I Spy” pieces to the jar and screw the lid back on. If you want it permanent, super or hot glue it on. I also use the materials as a sensory bin for my kids.