I am so excited about this post! It is the perfect last minute homemade Christmas present! It is super fun, you can pull it off in no time and it is green!

Take it away Carina…

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Jean Roads

An indoor winter activity your kids will love!

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those old, ripped jeans? After sorting through my husband’s and boy’s jean inventory, I was left with a mountain of ripped jeans. I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them all out. I’ve seen quilts and bags made out of recycled jeans, but I wanted to try something new.

 My boys love driving cars and trucks all over the house. They needed roads, I had jeans.

Voila! Jean Roads!

With the weather getting colder outside, I thought this would be a great indoor activity that would keep them busy.

Here is what you will need for your roads:

1. Old ripped and worn out jeans

2. Sharpie

3. Scissors

4. Kitchen drawer liner

5. Mod Podge

6. Hot glue and hot glue gun

7. Paint brush

8. Yellow paint

The first thing you will need to do is make a pattern. You could freehand it, but the roads line up better and look more uniform with a pattern. I chose four different road shapes; a curved section, a four way, a long straight section, and a short connecting piece.

Here are the dimensions I used for my patterns:

1. Curved section: 5”x12”

2. Four way: 5”x11” for each cross road

3. Long straight section: 5”x11”

4. Short connecting piece: 5”x5½”

Now trace your pattern on the jeans. Yu can make as many or as few roads as you want!

After tracing your patterns on the jeans, do the same thing on the kitchen drawer liner. This will help keep the roads from scrunching up and sliding when your little ones are playing.

Cut out all of your jean and liner roads and get ready for the fun part, assembly! First apply Mod Podge to the liner so that your roads will be nice and flat, then stick the jean road on and smooth with your fingers.

Next, you will need to to bind the edges somehow. I chose to use hot glue, but I think sewing would work great as well.

Aren’t they starting to look cute? The last step is to paint the dashed yellow lines.

I used my ruler to keep a straight line and then painted every other half inch. Again, you can freehand, I just need the straight lines because I’m a little bit of a perfectionist!

Now stand back and let the fun begin! My boys couldn’t wait until I was done. They loved making their own “race track” and started zooming their cars around it as soon as it was complete.

So the next time you have some old ripped jeans you will know exactly what to do with them! Your kids will love the roads, and you will love watching them play with their new toy…or enjoy the time to get something done. 🙂

 Happy trails!

 Thanks for this awesome idea and tutorial Carina! LOVE IT! and Love the suitcase you used to store the roads in – so fun!