And old pair of pants, t-shirt or even an old headband can be recycled into a necklace or bracelet. Just cut fabric into desired thickness, (under two inches wide is easiest to work with) and add beads. Be sure to measure for desired length. (About 24 inches is ideal for a necklace.) Stretchy fabrics work best for necklaces, allowing you to pull over your head easily. Tie it together and you're done. Other options include using several types of fabric and winding or braiding them together or adding charms.
You can make plain clothing stand out by adding a psychedelic tie dye effect to t-shirts, tank tops and even hats. Use hot water clothing dye as it will not run. Gather the article of clothing you're dying into a bundle and wrap a rubber band around the bundled section tightly. This should be done in a few places all over the clothing. Then boil water in a large pot, add dye and stir. Place your article of clothing into the pot and stir, then remove it with tongs and rinse excess dye out with cold water. When the clothing is dry, remove rubber bands. You can make this project more interesting by using a variety of dye colors and dipping each gathered bit of material in different colors before rinsing.
Making a map of America using recycled materials allows teens to use their creativity while learning. Look for trash around your neighborhood, school or playground. If you don't find enough, use some from your recycling box. Draw the shape of the United States using a map for reference onto a piece of cardboard. Make the map any size you wish, but remember the larger the outline the easier it is to show individual states and add pieces of trash to. Cut the map out and then fill it in using litter or recyclables you have collected. You can choose to fill it in all over, creating an abstract effect, or you can shape pieces of material to outline each state. This project can be done with different maps depicting any country.
Most people have old books lying around. Rather than throwing them away, teens can express themselves with one-of-a-kind journals made from old books. Hardcover books work best, and if you don't have any at home, they can often be found at yard sales or used book stores. Glue scrapbook paper onto each page of the book, if you want a blank pallet for your entries. Consider writing poems and songs and decorating each page to reflect it's theme, using existing words within each page to write poems and paint over words you don't want to use, or make pockets where you can slip keepsakes or letters inside or cut out windows to frame important pictures.
Don't forget to decorate the cover, as well, and experiment until you find the style that works to make your journal individual.