Single-use plastic bottles are a bit of a taboo, but what if they could be turned into something beautiful instead of clogging up our landfills? Case in point, these DIY jellyfish crafts made from your everyday plastic bottle!
We saved our water bottles from quarantine and finally made crafty use of them with our study into jellyfish! To mark World Oceans Day, we share with you two options for different ages, both looking into the diverse and stunning ecosystems living in marine waters.
See also: @littlecitytales: DIY Mother’s Day Egg Carton Cards
Option 1: Jellyfish Nightlight
Materials:
- Plastic bottle, washed and dried
- Watercolour and paint
- Toilet rolls
- Scissors
- Holepunch
- String
- Glue gun
- Old lantern light (optional)
Instructions:
- For the tentacles, paint your toilet rolls with watercolour. You can mix a few colours to make them more colourful.
- Once dried, cut into your rolls so you get long strips, leaving 1cm at the top. To make them curved, simply gather the bottom ends into your palm and push gently from the top.
- For the bell: Cut off one third from the bottom of your bottle and paint. Acrylics work best and you may need to paint two layers. You can use markers or acrylic paint pens to add patterns.
- To assemble: Punch two holes at the top of your toilet roll, then pierce a hole in the centre of the bottle. Thread a string through all three holes to form your jellyfish!
- (optional) Add light: We kept the little lights from old lanterns, and stuck those onto the bottle using glue guns to form a night light!
Option 2: Jellyfish Bath Toy
Materials:
- Plastic bottle
- Scissors
- Cellotape
- Holepunch
- Acrylic paint pens*
- Sand paper (optional)
*If you do not have acrylic paint pens, you can just make clear jellyfish!
Instructions:
- Cut your bottle into three parts: bottom, body and top. You will need only the bottom and the body.
- Paint the exterior of the bottom piece with acrylic paint pens. These are waterproof when dry.
- Open up the body sheet of plastic and paint with paint pens. Again, let it dry, then cut thin strips along the long edge.
- Punch holes along the bell of your jellyfish, then thread through your long strips of plastic. Adhere using cellotape (this can be a bit tricky, so adults can help whilst kids can cut cellotape pieces)!
- The strips will be very curly. To straighten them out, heat them up with some warm air from a hairdryer!
Advice: For younger kids, you may wish to use sand paper to smoothen out the plastic edges.
Follow @littlecitytales on Instagram for more creative upcycled crafts ideas and tutorials!
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