Second Life for Stuff - Fruit and Jello containers

Paint tray is clean with plastic cups

Those plastic containers for Jello, pudding or fruit (such as those packaged by Dole) are really handy for snacks on the go with your children - especially when you buy them on sale.

But I've always felt guilty about all that packaging, even though I've always put them in the recyling bin. So here are some ways to get a Second Life out of these containers before you toss them (hopefully in your recycling!):

1. They work well as seedling pots. Having your child help grow things is a great way to give them hands-on nature experience and even very young kids can put everything together with minimal assistance - giving you a break and your little one confidence. Put a little dirt in each cup, add some seeds and water and then wait. If you maintain the seedling, it will grow large enough to be eventually transplanted. Then use again for planting projects or wash and use for painting (see #2).
2. They make wonderful paint containers for your little artist. I have one of those art easels with the tray for paints but it was always such a pain to clean out the unused paint. Put the paint in these containers and then place them in the tray - or simply use them as paint receptacles - and when you're done, easily rinse out the leftover/dried paint to re-use.
   
3. Use them for cooking projects. I just hosted a cupcake decorating playdate with my 4-year-old daughter's friends and they came in handy for holding the assortment of sprinkles, colored icing and other toppings. Plastic spoons were dipped into the topping of choice and then spread (or dumped) onto the cupcake. Using these containers limited the amount of topping used (ie a kid didn't have the entire sprinkle jar to pour onto a cupcake) and reduced the potential mess. A quick rinse and they're ready to be used again.

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