Make Your Own Reusable Shopping Bags for Earth Day
We are always looking for fun and easy ways to help reduce our impact on the Earth and reuse any resources we can. One of the easiest ways we’ve found to do this is by implementing reusable shopping bags. Taking our own reusable grocery bags to the grocery store helps eliminate the use of plastic shopping bags. As part of our Earth Day celebration this year, the girls have designed their own personal reusable shopping bags.
These reusable shopping bags are the perfect size for a small number of groceries. These totes will also be fantastic for the girls to take shopping at stores like Joann’s, Target, and 5 Below where they like to spend their money earned from our chore chart.
Taking this small step might not seem like it has a great impact on the Earth, but we want to help spread the message that large amounts of small steps are what will help save our planet. I think it’s important to model behaviors for our children. We can talk to them and read to them, but when we show them it makes a more lasting impact!
Supplies to Make a Reusable Shopping Bag
- canvas bags
- acrylic paint
- fabric markers
- paint brushes
- cardboard
- sealant (optional)
To make these kids’ reusable shopping bags, you’ll need blank canvas totes. Our canvas totes are from Wal-Mart, but you can find many other styles, sizes, and colors on Amazon for great prices.
We opted for a package that had a white, black, and gray tote. Although the black seemed like it wasn’t going to be a good option for painting, it actually turned out really well. Be sure that your paints are applied nice and thick if you are using dark-colored bags.
We also used fabric markers and acrylic paint. Although we didn’t seal the paint on our bags you could definitely apply something to be sure your design stays intact and vibrant.
Decorating Your Reusable Shopping Bag
First, we set up our work area. We needed to ensure the totes were flat so we could paint them easily. I put down some drop cloth for the girls to work on.
If your totes or bag were folded in their packaging, you may need to iron them to ensure you have a nice, flat surface to work with.
After our bags were ready, I found some pieces of cardboard to insert into the bags. This ensured the paint didn’t bleed through the tote (I doubt it would have with the thickness of the canvas, but better safe than sorry!). This also helped give the girls a rigid surface to work with.
We began by sketching our design with a pencil on each bag. The canvas allowed the girls to erase easily if needed.
More Earth Day Activities
Here are some of the design ideas we came up with:
- recycling/Earth themed
- a scenery
- inspirational message or words
- abstract colors/designs
Once they had their designs sketched onto the bags, they began painting. We used regular acrylic paints and paintbrushes. You could definitely use paint specifically for fabric but we found the acrylic paint worked just fine.
For some of the designs, we used a fabric marker to outline the designs to make more defined outlines and borders on the lighter-colored bags.
Our final products turned out great and we were very happy with them. If you’re creating your own reusable shopping bag, we would love to see the finished product. Be sure to tag us on Instagram when you share pictures – @ourlittlesliceofheaven
