Creative Reuse in the Garden
Incorporate Creative Reuse in Your Outdoor Learning Spaces
Nature is the ultimate creative reuser. Nutrients, water and other resources are constantly reused in any healthy ecosystem, meaning nothing goes to waste. You, too, can use creative reuse to brighten up your home or school garden with decorative, sensory or functional projects made from materials that can be found at Austin Creative Reuse.Our neighboring friends over at Harris Elementary School are using materials from ACR to create pollinator watering stations for their school garden. Pollinators like bees and butterflies need water to survive just like we do. Providing a pollinator watering station in your garden will help attract and protect these powerhouses of nature. 
Pollinator watering station made with a pie tin, rocks, shells and marbles
Creating your own pollinator water station is easy - you’ll just need a few things that you can find around your house or at ACR.
- First, find a shallow pan or dish - an old pie plate or an upside down frisbee work great.
- Next, add a few small items for bees and butterflies to land on while they get refreshed. These are super important! Bees and butterflies can't drink while they're flying so they'll need a little perch above the water. Rocks, marbles, shells, upside down measuring or baking cups and lids from glass jars are all good options.
- Finally, put the dish in your garden, fill it with a bit of water (not too much!) and feel good about how you’re supporting our environment. Refresh the water as needed to keep the pollinators coming back!
Here are some other ways to bring reuse to your outdoor space with materials that can be found at ACR:
- Create plant markers by drawing on discarded ceramic tiles or laminate samples with permanent markers
- Make a garden mosaic with broken tiles and small found objects
- Create a bunting from fabric samples
- Hang a wind chime made from laminate samples, bells, old keys or other items
- Build a birdhouse using scrap wood or wood flooring samples
- Make a garden statue from old trophies
Garden mosaics made during an ACR Kids’ Workshop pre-pandemic 
Garden statues created by ACR Reuse Specialist, Sabina Dodge