IMG 2394 thumb3

Today we are going to get our “recycle” on and craft some cool postcards out of cereal boxes. We are getting close to Earth Day (April 22nd).  So this week I am going to focus on reducing, reusing and recycling cereal boxes and other cardboard boxes.  They are plentiful, easy to work with and make great postcards!  And what kid wouldn’t want to receive or send one of these in the mail?

IMG_2394

Today is a really simple craft.  So go to your recycling bin and grab some boxes.  Look for fun, bright patterns. Simply cut cardboard down into small rectangles and use them as postcards. The fun designs make the perfect mailbox treasure.

Supplies:

Cereal boxes or other packaged goods

Paper cutter or Exacto knife

Ruler

Permanent Marker

Optional: Corner Punch

 

1.  Using a paper cutter or Exacto knife with ruler cut your postcards down to 4” x 6” rectangles.

cereal box craft

IMG_2388

2. Optional: Round the corners with a corner punch.  I think this adds a nice little finishing touch.

cerealboxpostcard

3.  Flip the card over and use a ruler and fine permanent marker to draw lines on it for the address and also to separate the address from the words.

IMG_2390

4.  Kids loving receiving and sending mail.  Have them send a “recycled” postcard in honor of Earth Day to Grandma and Grandpa.  Or tie a pack of them with some ribbon or twine to give as a gift.

cereal box postcards

Here are some of my favorites…

“Amazingly Smooth” Dr. Pepper Postcard

Dr. pepper postcard

“Honey Bunches” Postcard

honey bunches of oats postcard

“Mr. Pringles” Postcard

IMG_2392

For more Cereal Box Crafts…

Click here for Cereal Box Crafts: Notepads

Click here for Cereal Box Crafts: Kid’s Art Display

Similar Posts

68 Comments

  1. Fantastic idea~! I have done this before too! I save every package or box that comes through the front door!

  2. I love this! I have a question: When is the modge podge, paint brush, paint stir sticks and binder clips used? It’s in the list of items needed; but, I don’t see where it’s used. I’m an idiot when it comes to crafts like these! Please let me know what I’m missing. Thanks!

  3. Tee hee…I am the moron. That is the tutorial for tomorrow. I changed it. Man I seriously need someone to edit my posts. Gah!

  4. LOVE this idea! My husband always grunts that we have cardboard over flow that he always has to take to the recycling bin… If I use a few to make postcards, it’s just that many less he has to take! 😉 TFS!

  5. I love cereal boxes, the cardboard is perfect for making oversized tags for packages, just cover in pretty paper and decorate. I love this idea 🙂 Too bad the only cereal boxes we ever have are for cheerios, might have to ask the neighbors for some fun ones to try this! Now, who wants to send me some mail, I would love to get home from work to such happy colorful post cards!

  6. I love these because they show a great deal of the box. I saw another idea (maybe your blog? can’t remember) where they cut a thinner / longer piece, then punched a hole at the top and tied with ribbon and it was a bookmark. Fun ideas. Thanks for sharing!

  7. I love this idea. Especially tying them together and giving them as gifts. I am going to start using this a lot more. I have started recycling old books that the kids don’t use anymore as new (modpodged) scrapbooks…I am looking for all kinds of ways to recycle, and always hated throwing these colorful boxes away. This will stick with me forever. I think I might send a bunch to my daughters classroom too so the kids can send letters out.

  8. Great idea! Thank you.
    We already reuse the wax paper on the INSIDE of cereal boxes instead of buying wax paper, but
    this is such a fun idea for the actual box!
    THX

  9. I absolutely love this idea!! I loved it so much when I read it I told my sons preschool teacher….and I have now made over a hundred postcards for the preschool classes. The kids will be using the postcards to send letters/drawings to the troops.

    I had so much fun making these and they are SUPER simple. And with all of my leftover cardboard I think I might whip up some of those cute notepads.

    Such a great week of posts.

  10. Hey thanks for letting me know this. That totally pumps me up that they will go to encourage our troops. I happen to have a sister in Afghanistan right now. That is awesome.

  11. I am a school librarian, and I cut up all my cereal, mac and cheese, soda boxes etc. to use as bookmarks… I go through hundreds of them during the year. The kids love them I also cut up Christmas cards and once I cut up a victoria’s secret bag, and had to stop the girls from taking whole handfuls…

  12. Oh that is awesome. What a great way to recycle and be able to provide something for the kids to take to mark their spot.

  13. I just found these yesterday. I went out, bought the Dew, & made some cards to send to our son who is on a 2yr mission! The kids thought this was such a cool idea! Me too! 🙂 I’ll be making a stack of these to send to my son so he can send out notes instead of letters, he doesn’t always have the time for letters. thank you so much for you site. I spent my day yesterday reading your series of posts Rel & Raw. So sorry you had to go through all that, but just look what God has done for you in the process! You have been “refined as Gold”!
    I hope you don’t mind, I linked this post on my blog
    http://farm-marm-mama.blogspot.com/2011/10/letters-for-jake-more-cardboard.html

  14. Just stopping by to let you know that I’ve featured your craft on Family Fun Crafts! You can see it here:
    http://funfamilycrafts.com/cereal-box-postcards/

    If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them. 🙂 If you would like to display a
    featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.

  15. I checked the USPS regulations for sizes, etc. For postcards and unfortunately you can’t round the corners if you plan to send them by mail.

  16. Interesting…Mine have always gone through fine. But good to know because if you don’t put your return address on, which you usually don’t on postcards you would never know if it didn’t get there.

  17. I just love this, super cute! This is the perfect project to do with my nieces today, they’re visiting from out of town so this will be great to create and send to their parents, they’ll love it! Thanks so much

  18. Toss on a stamp (although he probably can send for free since he’s serving) and return addy to make it easier still. Lovely idea.

  19. Love this! My son is at camp – I am sending him a Cocoa Puffs postcard tomorrow 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *