Creative Uses for Empty Berry Containers
Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.
It’s berry season, and that means delicious juicy strawberries and other berries straight from the farmer’s market! Once you finish with this early summer treat, make sure to save those plastic baskets the fruit comes in! You can reuse them for so many things! Here are a few of my favorite ideas for caregivers and busy parents!
A New Way to Paint!
Lay out a big piece of paper and a plate of paint (or two!) and press the bottom of the basket into the paint – then stamp away! Bonus: by holding the basket edges, little hands will stay relatively paint free because they are elevated off the page!
The Perfect Dishwasher Organizer
Pop one or two on the top rack and you have an instant container for all those sippy cup and bottle pieces that are so hard to keep track of!
Get Those Art Supplies in Order.
Berry baskets are perfect for scissors, markers, stickers, stamps and stamp pads, squares of scrap paper, and sticky notes! You can even attach three or four baskets together with pipe cleaners to make your own art caddy!
Go Fishing!
Sprinkle a few small plastic fish or frogs in the tub or pool outside, then use the baskets as “nets” to scoop them up! You can make this into a game by timing them and see who catches the most!
Medicine Cabinet Makeover!
Berry baskets will fit perfectly onto a typical medicine cabinet shelf. I use them to contain all my medicine droppers, small tubes of creams and lotions, and all those free sample packets of cosmetics and toiletries! And if you want it to look especially nice, you can weave colorful ribbons through the sides or pieces of colored paper labeled with the baskets content.
Sift and Sort.
Bring a few different baskets with you to the beach or in the sandbox so your charges can sift and discover the many different sized rocks or shells you can find and keep!