With parenthood, comes a house full of random plastic items! Instead of throwing away unused or broken toys, spare buttons and any other colourful odds and ends, unleash your imagination and turn them into a wonderful craft project!

You can buy canvases quite cheaply from local craft and stationary stores. They're great to keep in the house for a rainy day as whether it's for painting, crayoning or for creating this wonderful bits 'n' bobs canvas, it's bound to keep the children busy for a couple of hours.

Age group: You can make this crafty canvas with children 4 and up. Younger children will need more supervision and we'd recommend you handling the glue gun for anyone under 6.

What you will need

  • An assortment of plastic pieces from old toys or bottle lids.
  • A canvas or piece of sturdy card, as a base.
  • Pipe cleaners (optional)
  • Paint (Your favourite colour)
  • A brush
  • A glue gun

Step 1

Paint your canvas and leave it to dry. Your next job is to send your little helpers hunting around the house and through their toy boxes for anything they'd like to stick to their colourful canvas. If your house is spick and span and you're in need of some extra objects to include, raid the local charity shop. You can pick up some wonderful things for less than a pound.

Step 2

Get your child to place all the pieces of plastic where he/she would like to be stuck. This way they have time to rearrange if they want to.

Step 3

Using a hot glue gun stick the pieces down one at a time. You can use PVA glue but it takes a long time to dry. Hold the glue gun first so your little ones can see what to do, and then, if they are old enough (6+), you could supervise them having a go themselves.

Step 4

Hang on your wall and enjoy!

Jessica Dady
Food Editor

Jessica Dady is Food Editor at GoodtoKnow and has over 11 years of experience as a digital editor, specialising in all things food, recipes, and SEO. From the must-buy seasonal food hampers and advent calendars for Christmas to the family-friendly air fryers that’ll make dinner time a breeze, Jessica loves trying and testing various food products to find the best of the best for the busy parents among us. Over the years of working with GoodtoKnow, Jessica has had the privilege of working alongside Future’s Test Kitchen to create exclusive videos - as well as writing, testing, and shooting her own recipes. When she’s not embracing the great outdoors with her family at the weekends, Jessica enjoys baking up a storm in the kitchen with her favourite bakes being chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and a tray of gooey chocolate brownies