Children's Activities - Upcycling

On the run up to Christmas our house feels full of decorations, excited children counting down the days, and Christmas music.

In the expectations of new presents the children have been doing a clear out of their rooms and creating a box to go to charity.

This clear out turned up a last year's Beano album full of fun colourful cartoons and it seemed a shame to just discard this; a look over towards a very tatty desk gave me an idea.

Decoupage!  Soon one tatty desk had a really personal touch, full of distraction from tedious hours doing homework!!  

This then led to a literature inspired desk for his brother and a fashion inspired jewellery box for their sister.

Decoupage is a great fun activity suitable for all school age (and above) children.  It is very addictive, once started you may find yourself casting your eyes around looking for more items to personalise.

You'll need

Suitable paper.  Not too thin or too thick.  It could be magazine cut outs, broken books full of great verses, cartoons or even old maps...

Box or table to decorate

PVA glue

Paintbrush

Scissors

Varnish

1. Look over what you want to cover.  Decoupage needs a clean surface, if it is very smooth it may need sanding to create a key.  Also if any background is likely to show at the end you may wish to paint.  
2. Select the images you want to use and cut out.  We used square images to cover the desks and individual fashion items to cover the jewellery box and decide the layout.
3. Once everything is ready add about 20% water to the glue, then mix and spread thoroughly (but not too thickly) over a small section and carefully lay out your images ensuring they lie smooth and all the corners are glued.
4. Once finished leave to dry thoroughly.
5. Cover in several layers of varnish, allowing to dry in-between coats.