Recycled Jar Pencil Holder Earth Day Craft

In this Earth Day post, We’ll show you how to make an easy and inexpensive jar pencil holder using an empty glass jar. This will work with any old, empty glass container you have lying around and you’ll have a fun project for your kids or grandkids to help with.  As a bonus, it’ll make a great home made gift for Earth Day!

This project is is an awesome way to teach kids about recycling and the benefits of being environmentally conscious.

It is super easy to make, eco-friendly and will keep all your pencils organized, in the classroom or at home.

This earth-friendly craft is perfect for a kid’s room, playroom, or even a desk accessory for your office, and gives you a way to store away pens and pencils neatly when not in use. It also works as a sustainable earth day gift idea!

How To Make a DIY Recycled Jar Pencil Holder

Supplies

You will need just a few supplies for this recycled craft. Hopefully you can find some these around your house, and save them from being wasted – like the glass jar and tissue paper left over from packaging.

• One empty and clean glass jar
• Coloured tissue paper – blue, green and red
• Mod Podge
• (Optional) Bio Glitter
• Paint brush

We used a glass jar that had been a jar of pasta sauce. To remove the label, just use washing up liquid (dish soap) and a sponge and this should come off completely within five minutes of scrubbing.

The tissue paper was saved from packaging. If you order products and they come wrapped in tissue paper like this, it is always worth recycling these for children’s crafts as there are so many things you can make with colourful tissue paper – suncatchers, scrunched tissue paper crafts, tissue paper butterflies or even use it for papier mache.

The best part is, if you save items from the recycling bin to re-use, these craft supplies are totally free! We love to make crafts and DIY projects from items that would have otherwise ended up in the trash. Let’s reuse, upcycle and keep our carbon footprint down.

How to make a Tissue Paper Glass Jar Pen Pot

This project is suitable for kids of all ages. It can be made by a child as young as two or three years old with supervision, and is simple enough that older children can participate in the process independently. 

Step by Step Tutorial

First, carefully wash and dry the glass jar as mentioned above.

Then, apply the first layer of tissue paper using mod Podge, applied with a paint brush. The first layer should be with blue as we are going to make the jar into an Earth design.

Once the first layer of blue tissue paper and mod Podge has dried, you may want to add another layer for more coverage.

Once you’re happy with the amount of blue tissue paper and it has dried, rip some pieces from the green tissue paper and apply on top of the blue.

This will start to create your Earth affect, of land on top of the water.

You may seen white from the mod Podge but once this fully dries, that will no longer be visible.

Once the blue and green tissue paper has fully dried onto the glass, it’s time to add your red tissue paper heart. You can cut this yourself of use one which has been pre-cut.

The finished earth design with a heart is perfect for all of us who love the Earth, and ideal for an Earth Day craft.

A recycled jar pencil holder will make a great craft for Earth Day, back to school time or any day of the year.

Once the final red heart layer is dry, all you need to do is add your pens and pencils and your recycled pencil pot is ready for use.

Grab your recycled jar pencil holder and have fun crafting this week.

More Earth Day Crafts and Activities for Kids

So, we’ve made a simple recycled jar pencil holder craft. This is a great example of repurposing an old item, and recycling old things is just another way to be green

We hope that this Earth Day project helped you recycle and reuse items in your home. We also hope that you have learned something about recycling today!

How else can you celebrate Earth Day?

Have some sensory fun with these Earth Day sensory play ideas

Make your own eco bead jewellery from upcycled art work

Earth Day Eco Bead Bracelet Craft

Make your own recycling game from a recycled tissue box

Make your own board game from a pizza box

Printable Instructions

If you would like to print out our instructions, you can use the create card below.

Share

Please go ahead and share this idea with friends and family, so that other parents and educators can enjoy this activity with the children. We love to see our ideas shared on Pinterest. Thanks so much for your support 🙂

Happy crafting and happy recycling. Happy Earth Day!