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How to Make Recyclable Plush Animals

If you're looking for a stuffed toy to give as a present or keep for yourself, don't go to the store. Instead, create an environmentally-friendly plush animal at home using recyclable materials. Scour your trash, closet and scrap bins for materials that can be reused to create a toy, and then later recycled. Assemble the stuffed animal as a surprise, or invite a youngster to help in the process to teach her about the importance of recycling and helping the environment.

Things You'll Need

  • Cereal box
  • Scissors
  • Fabric
  • Chalk
  • Pins
  • Needle
  • Thread
  • Paper or fabric scraps
  • Plastic bottle
  • Ribbon or string
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut open an empty cereal box and flip it over so the plain cardstock side is facing up. Sketch the silhouetted outline of an animal you want to make into a stuffed animal. For example, draw a whale's profile with a rounded head and waving tail or a cat with pointed ears and a tail. Don't make these drawings too detailed, instead focus on the general shape of the animal's outline. Cut out the shape with scissors.

    • 2

      Select a piece of old or discarded fabric that you can turn into the exterior of the plush animal. This can be a sweater, shirt, pillowcase, blanket, towel or tablecloth. Almost any fabric material will work for this project. Just ensure the material is large enough to make the front and back of the stuffed toy.

    • 3

      Lay the material on a flat surface, with its decorated side facing down. Trace the cutout animal outline onto the fabric using a piece of chalk. Flip over the pattern and trace it again on another section of the fabric. Cut out the shapes along the marked lines.

    • 4

      Place the two fabric cutouts on top of each other, both with the decorated sides facing the center. Ensure the animal shapes are mirroring each other and the sides are lined up evenly. Pin the fabric in place. Use a needle and thread to sew along the perimeter of the shape. Leave a 1 or 2-inch section unsewn along the seam. Remove the pins. Turn the material right-side out.

    • 5

      Stuff the animal with any recyclable filling you desire. Use crumpled tissue paper to fill the creature or scraps of fabric. Shredded newspaper or balled office paper can also be used to stuff the toy. Fill the fabric until it is plush. Sew the remaining opening closed.

    • 6

      Adorn the plush animal with other recyclable accessories. For example, cut two circles from a plastic bottle, poke two holes in the center of each one and sew them on the stuffed animal like a button as eyes. Or tie a bow around the animal's neck with a scrap of ribbon or string.


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