How to make your own bits & bobs canvas

With parenthood, comes a house full of random plastic items! Instead of throwing away unused or broken toys, spare buttons and any other colourful odds and ends, unleash your imagination and turn them into a wonderful craft project!

You can buy canvases quite cheaply from local craft and stationary stores. They're great to keep in the house for a rainy day as whether it's for painting, crayoning or for creating this wonderful bits 'n' bobs canvas, it's bound to keep the children busy for a couple of hours.

Age group: You can make this crafty canvas with children 4 and up. Younger children will need more supervision and we'd recommend you handling the glue gun for anyone under 6.

What you will need

• An assortment of plastic pieces from old toys or bottle lids.
• A canvas or piece of sturdy card, as a base.
• Pipe cleaners (optional)
• Paint (Your favourite colour)
• A brush
• A glue gun

Step 1

Paint your canvas and leave it to dry. Your next job is to send your little helpers hunting around the house and through their toy boxes for anything they'd like to stick to their colourful canvas. If your house is spick and span and you're in need of some extra objects to include, raid the local charity shop. You can pick up some wonderful things for less than a pound.

Step 2

Get your child to place all the pieces of plastic where he/she would like to be stuck. This way they have time to rearrange if they want to.

Step 3

Using a hot glue gun stick the pieces down one at a time. You can use PVA glue but it takes a long time to dry. Hold the glue gun first so your little ones can see what to do, and then, if they are old enough (6+), you could supervise them having a go themselves.

Step 4

Hang on your wall and enjoy!