Plant A Milk Carton Flower Garden

Teaching budding environmentalists about recycling is great, but showing them how to reuse and repurpose objects to create something entirely new, like a pretty flower garden, makes it a fun adventure. Gather empty milk and juice cartons, wash them well, and turn them into beautiful, blooming works of art!

What You'll Need:

• Clean, dry, empty milk or juice cartons
• Scissors
• A large nail
• Fabric, paint, hot glue gun/glue sticks, paint pens, stamps/ink, or other decorations
• Potting mix
• Annual flower plants or seeds (think marigolds, pansies, petunias)

How to Create a Milk Carton Flower Garden:

1.Cut off the top half of each carton. Kids, get an adult's help with this!

2. Use a nail to poke drainage holes in the bottom of each container.

3. Decorate your containers! Cut fabric to wrap around the cartons and use a hot glue gun (again, grown-ups should help here) to attach the material, or paint them pretty colors. Add decorations like fabric flowers, handprints, names—whatever you like!

4. Once the glue or paint dries, it's time to plant. If you've chosen a flower plant, fill the container about halfway with soil, remove the plant gently from its pot, place it in the container, then fill in the rest of the soil. Leave about an inch between the soil and the top of the container so it doesn't overflow when watering. Check the plant tag to see how many flowers you have room for in the container. If you're planting flower seeds, fill the container with potting mix to about an inch from the top of the container. Plant a few seeds following the instructions on the seed packet. Cover seeds with a bit of soil and pat gently.

5. Water your plants well, then group them together in a sunny spot to create your very own flower garden!