Recycled Craft: Cereal Box Accordion Album
Done with your cereal box? Then turn it into a recycled craft like an accordion album — a simple handmade book that can be filled with photos, drawings, or a special message for a friend.
In addition to using recycled cereal boxes, this craft is a great way to use up scratch paper, bits of decorative (or recycled wrapping) paper, stickers, leftover ribbon and yarn.
What you need to make a recycled cereal box accordion album:
- Recycled cereal box
- Paper
- White glue
- Ribbon
- Decorative tape
- Scissors
1. Open the recycled cereal box along the flaps and seams until it’s flat.
2. Cut two same-sized rectangles from the box. We cut the side of the box off and used it for our rectangles. These are your book covers.
3. Cut strips of paper that are about 1/2″ narrower than your cereal box book covers. We folded paper at the desired width, and then opened up the paper and cut on the fold.
4. Fan-fold paper strips so that they are small enough to fit inside the cereal box book covers without sticking out. Trim excess paper.
5. To create a longer accordion, glue several strips of paper together.
6. Glue a long ribbon on the inside of one of the cereal box covers.
7. Glue the edge of the paper strip to the inside of one of the cereal box covers. Glue other side to the inside of the other cereal box cover.
8. Decorate or cover the outside covers with paper. When you’re finished, cover the edges of the album with decorative tape.
Fill the accordion album any way you like! Use it as a mini scrapbook, a photo album, a birthday card, or as a tiny journal.
Tie the ribbon around the album to keep it closed.
Heather Mann is the mother of four boys, and is constantly on the lookout for fun games, activities, and recipes to keep her busy boys, well, busy. She designs and shares clever crafts with a frugal twist at her site Dollar Store Crafts and being the best mom ever (on a budget) at Dollar Store Mom.