This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tom’s of Maine. All opinions are 100% mine.
Did you know that the average American is responsible for 4.4 pounds of trash a day, that is 1,606 pounds a year. This means that a family of four in the US produces 6,351 pounds of trash each year.
Let that sink in.
That is a lot of waste that goes into our environment. A lot of waste that takes years and years to decompose and that is harming our planet. Every week when we take out our trash I wonder if we could have produces less waste. There are many ways we can reduce our waste and one my one favorite ways is repurpose containers.
Think about it – almost every single product we buy comes in a container and every single one of those containers could be reused for simple things like storage and even to create fun toys for our kids. We recently created a whole mini city using Tom’s of Maine toothpaste boxes because they’re on sale in Target (check out their Cartwheel offer) and I bought several packages to last us through a few months.
A little about Tom’s of Maine
I discovered of Maine a few years ago when I was looking for a fluoride-free toothpaste. It was the only fluoride-free toothpaste in the entire store and still is the only option I can find in stores. I appreciate so much that a brand that is 100% sourced from natural can be easily found in most major stores. This is a big accomplishment for all of us that are looking for safer alternatives for our families.
Tom’s of Maine has a huge variety of products: oral care, body care, baby care and even lip care. Visit Toms of Maine’s website for more information.
Did you know that Tom’s of Maine products:
- are not they tested on animals
- are sourced and derived from nature
- use packaging is recyclable through TerraCycle
- strive to reduce waste through recycled content, recycling, and biodegradability
- gives 10% of their profits to human and environmental goodness
- are completely transparent about the purpose and source of the ingredients – you can even learn more about each ingredients on their site
- are sourced from suppliers and regions which promote basic human rights
Tom’s of Maine DOES NOT use in its products:
- Artificial colors
- Artificial flavors
- Artificial fragrances
- Artificial preservatives, which means they don’t use endocrine disruptors like Parabens.
#LessWasteChallenge
Join me for this amazing challenge. All you have to do is pledge to reduce 1 pound of waste per week. You can do this by repurposing containers or creating fun upcycled DIY projects. Can you do that with me? Make sure you share this initiative with your friends and family and share pictures on social media using the hashtag #LessWasteChallenge. I can’t wait to see all the creations you come up with!
Together we can help to keep waste out of landfills and make the world a better place for future generations. Learn more about this movement!
I can’t ask you to commit to this pledge without showing you one fun way to repurpose your Tom’s of Maine products. Check out this tutorial to create a little city for your kids to play with. They’re going to love it!
Create your own mini-city tutorial:
For this upcycle project I used empty boxes of Tom’s of Maine toothpaste and their Toddler Training Toothpaste.
This is a great project to make with older kids. If you have younger kids they can help you glue the designs to the box and then play with your awesome creation. This is what your final product will look like:
Skyscraper, tunnels and house instructions:
These were all made using the regular size Tom’s of Maine toothpaste.
1 – Print the following files so you can use them to cover your toothpaste boxes: skyscraper, tunnel, houses and rooftop. Make sure when you print that the scale is 100% so they fit the regular toothpaste box correctly.
2 – Cut out each image around the outside lines and fold them so they will wrap around the toothpaste box.
3 – Glue the image onto the toothpaste box. You might want to use some tape on the edges if you want them to last a long time.
4 – To make the houses you’ll need to cut the box in half. First, cut out one house design and glue it onto the box. Then opened both ends of the box and flattened the box a bit. This will make it easier to cut in half. Cut in half and glue the second house design to the other half of the toothpaste box.
5- To cover the top and bottom of the houses, tape the rectangles from the “rooftop” file on the top and bottom of each box.
6 – To make the skyscraper more stable, add a rock inside the box. You could also add dried beans. Now the first part of the mini-city is ready!
Market and Bridge directions:
These were made using Tom’s of Maine Toddler Training toothpaste boxes.
Market directions:
1 – Print out this market file. Cut around the outside of the shape. Fold it on the lines so it will easily wrap around the box.
2 – Put a rock or handful of dried beans inside your empty toddler toothpaste box and tape it up.
3 – Put glue on the cut out of the Market and position it around your box.
Bridge Directions:
1 – Print out this bridge file. Cut the image out and then cut the stone wall pieces off the main road. You will end up with three pieces – two stone walls and one long road.
2 – First cut off the front side off with the logo. Then open the box and flatten it. Cut off all the little rectangles in the corners.
3 – Take the long piece you cut apart first and flip it over and hot glue it onto the bottom of the box. Glue it on so that both sides of the bridge you are making have the longer “on ramp.”
4 – Glue the road picture along the length of the toothpaste box. You might want to tape the inside a bit just to make sure the walls of the bridge stay up.
5 – Glue the stone wall pictures to the outside of the box.
6 – Then flip it over and hot glue your Tom’s Toddler toothpaste caps to the bottom of the bridge.
Now your bridge is ready!
Can you believe that out of toothpaste boxes we made this amazing looking mini-city?
My girls have been playing with it non-stop and absolutely love it. Now all we need is to finish using our toothpaste so we can buy even more boxes to make our city bigger.
I hope you feel inspired to join me and the folks at Tom’s of Maine for this #LessWasteChallenge. Post on social media your creations, you can be as simple as reusing the box as is to store other things or something a little more elaborate like this DIY mini-city.
Let’s all pledge to reduce 1 pound of waste per week and help our environment, for us and for ou future generations. Are you with me?
Joyce @ My Stay At Home Adventures says
Awww I love this!!! This is very creative. Wish I was as creative as you and will be doing this with my boys.
Carolina says
I’m glad you liked it! 🙂 Hope you have fun making it.