Make a cat scratching pad from recycled cardboard Girl Scout cookie cartons or any substantial corrugated cardboard you want to recycle. Cats are always looking for a place to test their claws and what better use of a material that would otherwise end up in the landfill. Girl Scout Cookie sale time is the perfect time to make a quantity of these and would make a good project for your 3 Cheers for Animals journey or your Pet Badge. Check with your local animal rescue facility and see if they would like to have some of these scratching pads for their furry inhabitants as they wait for adoption.

Trivia:  “Recycle Central collects approximately 100 tons of cardboard at their plant on San Francisco’s Pier 96 every day. That is just one plant out of the hundreds in the USA. Source: NBC News – All That Online Shopping Has Cardboard Consequences

Supplies

• Heavy Corrugated Cardboard (we used Tagalong cartons from the Girl Scout Cookies)
• Box Cutter or Paper Cutter if available*
• Tacky Glue or Hot Glue
• Heavy Weight
• Newspaper
• Catnip (optional)

* This item should be handled by a responsible adult

Instructions

1. Cut several strips of the cardboard approximately  2 ” x 15″ depending on the size of your cardboard. Since corrugated cardboard can be hard to cut and the instruments suggested can be dangerous if not handled properly, we recommend an adult take responsibility for this step.
2. Cover your work surface with newspaper to catch any spills
3. Lay the first strip flat on your newspaper. Take the next strip and cover with glue and lay it on top of the first one. Continue in this manner  until you have enough layers to make  a pile about 4″ high.
4. Put a weight on top of the pile to hold it while it dries and becomes sandwiched tightly together.
5. When completely dry, sprinkle with a little catnip if you wish and give to a lucky cat for their scratching pleasure.

Ditto the cat in our feature picture and her sister, Leyda liked their scratcher just fine even without the catnip.

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Award your kids with an inexpensive and colorful Community Service For Animals Patch from MakingFriends.com. They can wear them, collect them or trade them.