Val’s Crafty Corner: Recycled Bead Tray Art Gallery

This recycled-art project idea is brought to you by Melissa & Doug, written by our Blog Ambassador Valerie Deneen.

Have fun exploring art with your kids!   -Val

We love our wooden bead sets from Melissa & Doug! The beads are high quality, and the girls enjoy making bracelets and necklaces. Once the beads are all used up, we’re left with a reusable wooden tray. There are probably 50 gazillion ways to reuse this tray, but here’s one of our absolute favorites: wooden painting canvases!

Invite your child over to paint on the back of the empty tray. My kids adore painting, and they especially love that no matter how they paint, their paintings have an instant professional look with these wooden trays!

I love how these empty bead trays hold up so well to layers and layers of paint! I try to encourage the kids to experiment with texture in their paintings. Many times they will let the paintings dry, and return to them later to continue the painting fun!

Once their paintings are completely dried, I will add some black tape around the outer edges. I highly recommend displaying these in a prominent place in your home! Add a small “plaque” for a nice finishing touch to your child’s at-home art gallery!

Recycling Melissa & Doug wooden trays into art masterpieces!

Right now, my daughter Emily is working on a series of “Fiesta” paintings! I would say they are aptly named, wouldn’t you?

Have fun!!

P.S. Here are some of the Melissa & Doug products that come packaged in these natural-wood trays:
-Beads: Flower Power Wooden Bead Set (also available: Sweet Hearts, Butterfly Friends, Bead Bouquet Deluxe)
-Stamps: Alphabet Stamp Set (also available: Animal, Classroom, Dinosaur, Favorite Phrases, Friendship, Horses, Princess, Vehicles); Baby Farm Animals Mini Stamp Set (also available: Baby Zoo Animals Mini Stamp Set); Deluxe Stamp Set
-For preschoolers: Lacing Beads in a Box (als0 available: Primary Lacing Beads); Lace & Trace Shapes (also available in these themes: Farm, Pets)

Valerie Deneen is the author of  Inner Child Fun, where she inspires parents to spend more quality time with their kids, and less money doing it. Inner Child Fun celebrates simple pleasures for all ages—with more than 1,000 frugal and creative projects sure to bring out the “kid” in you too! Follow Valerie on Twitter or say “Hi” on Facebook.