Earth Day Craft #2: Toothbrush Bracelets

#1 loves this one!  Make bracelets out of old toothbrushes.  In my case, these were old in that I bought them probably 3 years ago because I got them for $0.25 at the height of my CVS bargain shopping days.  Then, we all switched to electric toothbrushes, so these have been sitting lonely in the cabinet waiting to be used. 

I searched the web looking for something to do with these and found this great craft on Kaboose.  They have a lot of fun stuff for kids, I would highly recommend checking them out.  You can see their original post HERE.

Here is what you need:  An old toothbrush.  Tweezers.  A pan of boiling water.  Tongs.  A coffee mug.

Start by pulling out all the bristles from the toothbrushes.  #1 helped with this, but quickly got frustrated.  It takes about 10 minutes to get them all out.  You are then left with this:

Drop it into the boiling water.

Let boil for 6 minutes.  Remove from water with tongs.

Now Kaboose says to use oven mitts to bend the bracelet into it's shape.  My oven mitts are bulky.  And they have holes, so I figured what was the point?  I just used my hands.  It was not that hot.  (Please note that I have also cut myself with every single sharp object we have in this house, so, maybe you might want to consider using the oven mitts, your call)  So pickup the toothbrush, either with gloves or without if you are throwing caution to the wind, and bend into a circle.

Once you have the shape you want, place it inside a coffee mug to keep it's shape while it cools.

After about 10 minutes, it is cool and ready to be modeled. 

I know all your little girls are going to love these!

One more craft coming at about noon, be sure to check it out!

Hallie