The Harris Family: Recycled Race Track

This project has been a few months in the making. The first reason is because it's taken us awhile to save up the supplies...and with all the craziness of getting a new house it took us days to complete all the steps. I'm so happy it's done and it turned out better than I thought. I've been trying to teach Brody about recycling and reusing things and how important it is not to waste things. I thought a good way to teach him this was to make something out of materials that can be recycled that he would love using. He's totally obsessed with cars and this idea came to me one day when he was telling me about the cool race track he gets to play with when he's over at Grandma Harris' house. It's of course plastic and it was one that I think Jayson played with as a kid. They just don't make things like they used to and I've never been able to find one that's as cool as the one she has at her house. I came up with a pretty good alternative I think...

We had so much fun doing this little project together and I decided to document all the steps in case anyone else wanted to make this with their kids. It really did turn out great and it was a great way to teach him about recycling and to keep my little busy-body busy. Plus, it was a great way to spend time with each other. I hope some of you make this with your kids...have fun!

Start by saving any toilet paper or paper towel rolls. This took us a couple months to save this many.

Next, gently bend the cardboard roll in half to make slight indents on each side.

Follow the bend marks and cut the paper roll into two pieces. These won't always match up, but don't worry...it won't matter in the end. Just make them as even as possible.

This is what you will end up with...

I kept Brody busy by giving him his own pair of safety scissors and a piece of paper...he loves to practice cutting and using scissors...he's getting good at it. But after cutting a strap on his booster seat, we had a long talk about how we only cut paper and about how we only can use scissors while mommy is supervising.

The next step is to trace each section of toilet paper roll onto cardstock and cut them out.

I had Brody color each piece of cut cardstock. He had so much fun decorating his race track.

This is how the cardstock and roll will match up. I had to bend and mold each piece of paper to match the curve of the toilet paper roll. Do this with each piece before gluing.

Next, use modge podge to glue each piece of cardstock to the toilet paper rolls. I found that gluing them on and letting them dry, then putting a light coat on top was the best method. The layer on top will give it some extra sturdiness and then when you tape the track together the tape comes off really nice without tearing the paper. I used matte finish modge podge.

Here are the finished pieces...

The last step is to tape the pieces together to make your recycled race track. Tape them underneath each other so that the cars don't run into any bumps. Also tape the layers behind so the track doesn't fall apart when the cars race down.