By Noreen Doll.
A beauty shop busy board is perfect for every little girl who loves to play with hair and use pretend make-up.
My daughter and I collaborated on this project and we kept coming up with fun ways to use it.
This busy board is made from a recycled milk jug. Add shoe laces and dry erase pens, and this will keep a young miss happily occupied.
Because the beauty shop busy board is made from sturdy plastic, it can take quite a bit of play.
And if it wears out, it’s very easy to make another one.
Materials.
Recycled Clean Milk Jug
Shoe Laces
Dry Erase Pens
Punch with a long reach
Scissors or Knife
Sharpie
How to Make a Beauty Shop Busy Board.
Tips for crafting with milk jugs.
1. Find the side of the milk jug with an indented circle.
Some milk jugs don’t have this circle. In this case, you can just draw a circle for the face.
Outline the largest flat area around the circle that you can. I did keep a little of the curved edges to allow a larger board.
2. Use a knife to get started, and then with knife or scissors cut around where you have marked.
I like to cut an extra area outside the marked line to remove the panel from the milk jug. Then I use scissors to finish cutting smoothly where I’ve marked.
3. With the dry erase pens, draw a face on the indented circle with the rounded side on top, to guide how you want to punch the holes for the hair.
4. Use a Sharpie to make one row of dots around close to the head and down the sides where the holes will be punched.
Try not to have the holes too close together.
5. Punch the holes on the dots. I used a Crop-a-dile punch because a regular punch doesn’t reach as far as I needed.
6. Make a second row of dots about 1/2 inch out from the first row.
Punch these holes.
The beauty shop busy board is finished.
Tips
Add 3 or 4 colorful shoe laces (pink or purple would be favorites) and dry erase markers.
You will need at least 3 laces to braid the hair. I threaded 2 laces through one set of holes.
Hair accessories could be barrettes, pony tail elastics, and ribbons. Check the Dollar Store for great finds.
Pipe cleaners would make interesting flexible hair-dos or could be twisted into play jewelry.
Be sure to turn the sharp ends of the pipe cleaners into tiny loops and pinch flat with pliers to prevent scratching.
Make pipe cleaner curls like this.
And add the curls like this.
For the markers you will need at least red, black, and blue or green for eyes. Having pink or purple for cheeks and lipstick would definitely enhance the play value!
For extra fun little girls can draw hats above the hair, or add earring and necklaces and other jewelry.
You could actually poke tiny holes where the ear lobes would be to hang real earrings.
The face can be drawn on with the dry erase markers, then removed, and drawn again.
Make silly faces, sad faces, happy faces, surprised faces.
Create a beauty shop busy board set as a gift for a little girl.
Note: Not all milk jugs come with this indentation. If you can’t find one, just use a flat side of the jug, and draw the face shape on with a Sharpie.
Once you punch the holes around for the hair, it will accentuate where the face is.
© Noreen Doll
amie @ Pinkapotamus says
This is such a cute idea! It would be wonderful to take on a long car ride to keep little ones busy! Love it~
Thanks for sharing with the Pink Hippo Party.. hope you enter my giveaway for a Shabby Apple gift card!
xoxo
Amie @ Pinkapotamus
Katherines Corner says
what a great idea! I’m hopping over from Judy’s blog Hugs!
villy says
:)))) it’s so funny!!!
Very good project!
congrats
Jennifer Juniper says
My kids loved lacing cards when they were little. This is a great idea!
Gosia says
Oh, this is so fun! I need to make these for my daughter, she will love it! Thanks for sharing at Time To Sparkle:)
Gosia
Angela says
How crafty is this! Thanks for linking with HickoryTrail
Tonia@thegunnysack says
Great idea! Perfect way to keep little hands busy!
Jodi says
This is one of the more clever kids’ crafts I’ve seen in a long time. I have pinned it and hope to do it with my kids soon. I just need to find that kind of milk container. I think mine is different. Thanks so much for such a creative idea. I’m totally inspired.
Capri + 3--Theresa says
This is such a cute and clever idea. I had to see the tutorial to figure out how that was originally a milk jug because you transformed it so well!
Tracy says
Wow what a clever idea they would be brilliant for in the car.i am not aware that we have bottles with the face part in uk but a face could easily be drawn
Robin says
What a fun project, my glambaby would love this! She’s in the playing with hair and makeup stage. Thank you for sharing at Fluster’s Creative Muster Party!
Robin
Fluster Buster
Sara says
Great idea for a recycled fun game! I haven’t seen milk jugs with indented circles in my area, but it would still be a fun thing to make. Thank you for sharing.
emily says
so fun!! the face is so cute. Thanks for linking up to Tasteful Tuesdays :o) Can’t wait to see what you bring next week. Emily @ Nap-Time Creations
oh, and I just posted looking for some help with my blog… maybe you can offer some advice?
Jessica @ A Humble Creation says
That is so cute! And a great way for the little ones to practice the fine motor skills of lacing. Thanks for sharing at A New Creation link party!
krystie says
No doubt there’s a ton of creativity here! Very cute activity!
Becky says
What a creative idea. My daughter would have loved this in her younger years. Thanks for sharing.
ingrid@nowathomemom says
fun and cute project to do with kids! 🙂
stopping by today from “do something crafty” party!
Ingrid
Michelle Wotruba says
Awww I love this!! What a sweet & fun idea and I love all your cute faces I can’t decide which look is my favorite! 🙂 Michelle
Gina Wamsley says
My girls will love this! I’ve seen this everywhere that I’ve been posting, but had not clicked on it yet. I’m glad I did. I babysit once a week, and this will be a craft for all 5 children to do. Thanks!
I’d love for you to visit my site if you have time. 🙂
Gina
Susan Kay Fidler says
Another fun project idea! I can’t wait to try this out with my nursery kids! Thanks for sharing it with us at Fidlin’ Fridays!
Linda @ A La Carte says
Really cute idea! Thanks for sharing at TTF!
Linda
Jeni says
Very cute!
Peggy~PJH Designs says
This is just the cutest idea! Adorable and would keep any little girl or boy busy for hours. Thanks so much for joining us at Transformed Tuesday.
Hugs,
Peggy~PJH Designs
BeColorful says
I know I would have loved this as a little girl and can only imagine any girly girl would. Thanks for linking up.
p
Cynthia L says
I love, love, love this idea! You not only created something that will keep children busy for a while, you re-used items while doing it!
I am so happy your shared this at the In and Out of the Kitchen Link Party. It will be featured on the Top 10 Favorites that will go live on Monday morning.
Cynthia at http://FeedingBig.com
Vanessa says
What a clever idea! And such a frugal way to create fun for the kiddos! Thanks for linking to our Make Bake Create party!
Carrie @ My Favorite Finds says
So fun! This is such a unique idea! Thanks for sharing at Pinworthy Projects.
Rachel says
My girls would adore this! What a cute idea! love it! Thanks!
Marie says
Oh, this is such a fun idea! Thanks.
Danielle says
What a fun little project! Thanks!
Danielle
Alexis says
This is such a fun idea! I love that you use things that you might have at home too. I’m featuring this tonight and pinning!
Sara says
That is really truly brilliant! thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!
April @ Angel's Homestead says
What a creative and fun craft project! Thanks so much for sharing at Saturday Spotlight.
April
Angels Homestead
Linda says
This is very cool, Noreen! I love it! I’m featuring you this week. Best wishes, Linda
Also PINNING!
Maria Matter says
this is such a fun idea!!!
I’ll be featuring you this week @ Inspire Me Fridays, thank you so much for sharing!
Susan@Organized31 says
What a fun idea. My daughters would have loved this when they were younger. Thanks for sharing at Inspire Us Thursday at Organized 31.