Decorate a styrofoam ball for the head, adding eyes, nose, lips, hair and maybe a hat, push the detergent cap into the head and screw on to the bottle. Make arms from pipcleaners and dress with material scraps. Save detergent bottles, rinse out, half fill with sand, and glue the lids on. For older children, they could try their hands at a mosaic from broken plates, cups etc. Use a small wooden picture frame with a heavy piece of cardboard on the back, and glue the broken pieces in place, fill the spaces in with grout and you have an attractive trivet, or cup rest.
Children usually enjoy making collages.
Collect some dried leaves, and weeds, glue on a heavy piece of cardboard for an attractive collage. If you cover the collage with heavy contact paper, they make nice placemats. If your children enjoy growing plants, have them plant a few herb seeds in a clay pot that has been decorated with water based paints. They can grow them in a window for winter color, and enjoy watching them grow as everything else turns brown and dies. If your children are old enough to write neatly, or type, then have them copy favorite recipes and put them in a binder, or on 3 X 5 cards in a pretty box.