Hello everyone! 

I am a Scribble Mama, a working professional and someone who is always looking for meaningful ways to keep my daughter engaged. So like all parents we also enrolled our daughters in various activities and classes. While that's adding value in her upbringing, we still felt how best can we engage her at home. So lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we don't always need something new to spark creativity.

In fact, reusing ideas can be even more powerful for our kids’ growth.

 Why Reusing Ideas Is Important

 As parents, we often feel pressured to find fresh activities every day. But when we reuse ideas — in simple, fun ways — we’re actually helping kids in so many important ways:

●       It deepens their understanding. Kids explore more layers when they revisit the same ideas.

●       It boosts problem-solving skills. They find different ways to use the same materials.

●       It encourages independent thinking. Kids begin to add their own twists naturally.

●       It teaches patience and creativity over instant gratification.

Most importantly, it builds resilience. Kids learn that value comes from how they use an idea — not just how "new" or "shiny" it is.

Five Creative - Reuse Ideas

Here are some simple reuse activities we’ve tried — and loved:

1. Amazon Box reuse: 

When I asked my daughter what summer means to you, here's her view of summers -  a lot of colorful butterflies, sunny beaches, a lot of flowers, so she created her Summer Box". This activity took two days and trust me it was an engaging activity for my daughter and for us parents too to spend quality time with kids.

2. Art Corner for all her crafts:

We once cut up Daughters old drawings, paintings to create a beautiful collage mural for her room. This idea comes from an Instagram post about how we can preserve the art work of our kids. 

3. Treasure Box Adventures

Save everyday items like buttons, ribbons, or old puzzle pieces in a "treasure box."

Challenge your child to invent something new using just those items. My daughter also goes out to play in the park or in nature and keeps collecting treasures in her box. 

4. Costume Play

Reuse old Duppattas, Sarees to create fun costumes or dress-up clothes to create totally new characters and put on a homemade play.

Each time you reuse an idea, you're giving your child a chance to think differently, make decisions, and feel proud of their creativity.

5. Christmas can come from Kitchen

We had some Christmas fun by creating a “Mason Jar” out of an old kitchen masala bottle. It was a simple activity which involved painting a plastic bottle red and thereby understanding a little bit about the festival too. I have kept that in my kitchen even now to store cinnamon sticks so now whenever my daughter sees the bottle, she feels so proud. We also created “Christmas bags “from brown paper bags which we get as part of grocery shopping.

It's About More Than Activities

At the heart of reusing ideas is something bigger:

It’s about spending real quality time with our kids.

It’s about building values like imagination, gratitude, patience, and problem-solving — values that will stay with them for life.

When we slow down and explore more with what we already have, we’re showing our kids that the real magic isn’t in "more."

It’s in what we make of what we already have.

Thanks for being here with me on this journey of learning and parenting. 💛

If you try any of these reuse ideas, I’d love to hear how it goes!

By Priyanka Thapliyal