Over the festive season you may have accumulated a load of plastic containers and tins and may be wanting to recycle them. Why not keep a few and use them as a fun activity and bonding time with the kids. Not only will this craft keep the kids busy for a while, but it will also look great in the garden, to add colour and character.

The Granny Mouse Horticulturist, William Brown, who is the grandfather of three busy little children, always looks at ways to get the kids in the garden and keep their minds busy.

He provides the tools and steps on how to make some fun plant pals.

Plastic garden pals

 

Tools:

 

2l Plastic soda bottle

Acrylic paint

Googly eyes/ stickers

Permanent marker

Glue

Scissors

Wooden dowel

Plastic spoons

Steps:

• Recycle a plastic container.
• Cut two holes in the middle of the bottle – one at the top and one at the bottom for the wooden dowel to fit through both.
• The spout will act as the nose of the creature, so this will give you an idea of where to place the eyes and mouth – if desired.
• Paint the container to your desired character colour and stick down the googly eyes or stickers.
• Draw on a mouth and eyebrows with a permanent marker.
• It is optional to create hair for the creature using string, beads, ribbon and any other crafty items.
• For arms and legs or wings (optional), you could glue string to each side for arms and underneath, along the bottom for legs and add beads to the ends of each piece of string as hands and feet. (You will need 4 individual, equal lengths of string). Alternatively to create wings, stick 3 plastic spoons together to make a fan and cut a hole in the plastic container to insert them.
• Place a wooden dowel in the plastic container, through the two holes.
• Place in the garden.
• If you prefer to have the container become the pot plant, then cut out a top section of the plastic container and fill with potting soil. Add in a vegetable, such as lettuce, or spring onion, or a herb such as parsley, so that when it grows, the sprout will look like hair.
• Water weekly.

Tin can plant pals

Tools:

Tin can

Acrylic paint

Googly eyes

2l plastic soda bottle

Wooden dowel

Glue

Tin opener

Scissors

Steps: To make the body

Clean and dry the can

Paint the tin with acrylic paint to make the body of you desired creature. You can choose from a lady bug, bee, butterfly etc, and allow to dry. (The colour of the paint will be determined by the character you choose).

Stick down the googly eyes on the bottom part of the tin.

Steps: To create wings

Cut around the 2l container. First, cut the container in half to make it easier. Then, cut a 1cm line towards the bottom of the soda bottle and then turn your scissors so that you are able to cut around the circumference of the bottle. Do this twice to get 2 circular patterns.

Overlap the circles to look like wings and then glue together. Then, using a tin can opener, punch two holes on the one section of the tin (on the creatures back essentially) and thread the plastic through the holes so that they stand out like wings.

Steps: To create the stand

Purchase a wooden dowel (any thickness) and cut/saw in half or measure according to what height you would like your creature. Paint it with acrylic paint or leave raw.

Finally, poke a hole (using the tin opener), in the bottom of the tin (the underbelly) and cut to fit the wooden dowel. Stick the wooden dowel into the tin and then place in the garden.