Celebrate Earth Month with this fun and simple empty toothpaste tube craft idea – make your own adorable mini pouches! This post contains affiliate links, which help to support this site at no extra cost to you.
Guys. It’s Earth Month! And while thinking about the planet should be an everyday kind of thing, it’s a great time to recommit to making positive changes.
Lately I have been trying to think of ways to reduce waste and reuse some of the things around our home that would normally just go in the trash can or recycling bin.
And if I’m working on reusing and recycling, then I’m for sure going to be trying to do that while crafting! I mean, of course I am – that’s what I do! 😂
With all of this in mind, I started eyeing my kids’ empty toothpaste tubes. There has to be something we can do with these, right?? Time for some toothpaste tube crafts!
I came up with the plan for my empty toothpaste tube craft when I was going through my daughter’s hair accessories bin.
We are in the middle of moving right now, and so I have been going through my kids’ rooms organizing and sorting out items that need to be donated or recycled. When I got to this hair accessories basket/bin/mess, I realized we really needed a new system for organizing them.
Right now, she just has a basket full of everything, and all the rubber bands and bobby pins tend to just get into a big tangled mess at the bottom. Boo to that.
Rather than buying some new containers to hold them, I decided to use our empty toothpaste tubes to create some little pouches! Want to make some with me?
DIY Recycled Toothpaste Tube Mini Pouches
This simple recycled craft idea is simple, easy to customize, and super cute, if I do say so myself. Ready to make some little toothpaste tube pouches?
First, you will need just a few supplies.
Toothpaste Tube Pouch Supplies:
- Empty Toothpaste Tubes
- Scissors
- Spray Paint (optional)
- Hook and Loop Closures (aka Velcro)
- Super Glue
- Enamel Dots, Stickers, or other Embellishments (optional)
How to Make Recycled Toothpaste Tube Mini Pouches
This is a really simple little toothpaste tube craft with a lot of room for customizing it and making it your own!
Step One. Cut Toothpaste Tube.
Start by cutting off the top of your tube (near the nozzle – is that what you call that?) and cleaning out any excess toothpaste. Wash it out really well and get it nice and clean.
At this point you should have a nice little open tube with one closed end.
Next, fold down the opening toward the sealed edge of the tube and crease well with your fingers.
Next, we are going to cut the flap portion of the pouch. To do this, clip the sides of your tube down to the fold line you just made.
Then, cut along your fold line on one side of the tube to create the flap on the other side. If you like, you can round off the flap like I did.
Step Two. Decorate.
Next up, decoration time! I decided to color my mini pouches using spray paint.
To cover your pouch with spray paint, you will first want to make sure you have a spray paint that works with plastic. Also, it’s a good idea to give the pouch a light sanding to remove the shine and help the spray paint stick.
You could also use a permanent marker or alcohol inks to color your pouch or simply leave them as is.
After the paint has dried, I added a couple pieces of hook and loop closures to keep the pouch flap closed. I used super glue to attach my Velcro, but you can also get adhesive backed Velcro pieces, which would work great too.
Finally, you can add some decorations! Maybe a vinyl decal on the front?
Or I used adhesive enamel dots on the front, and I’m crazy about them. Don’t they look just like cute little snaps? So fun!
And that’s it! Adorable little toothpaste tube crafts!
These little pouches will be holding some of my daughter’s small hair accessories, but they would also be perfect for holding coins, paper clips, buttons, or any other tiny treasures. Or how about a tooth fairy pillow? Perfect, right?
Aren’t they cute?! I just love them. Make sure you save your toothpaste tubes to make your own cute mini pouches! If you are looking for more Earth Day craft ideas, I have a few more ideas over here.
That’s it for today, friends! Happy Earth Month and Happy Making!
Check out more project ideas:
This is genius!
These would be great for Tooth Fairy money, maybe for kids who aren’t into “cutesy” pillows. Kind of makes sense for the Tooth Fairy to leave cash in a toothpaste tube… no? And over the bedpost, or around the neck of a stuffed animal is a LOT easier than under the pillow!