Turn an empty plastic bottle into a colorful tropical fish! Pinch the bottom into a tail, paint on bright patterns, and add googly eyes. Hang one from the ceiling or make a whole school of fish into a mobile. It’s a recycled craft that looks great and keeps a plastic bottle out of the trash.
Materials
Supplies:
- Empty plastic water or soda bottle (clean, label removed)
- Acrylic paint (bright colors: blue, yellow, orange, green)
- Googly eyes
- Craft glue
- Fishing line or nylon thread (for hanging)
Tools:
- Scissors (grownup help needed)
- Stapler
- Small nail (grownup help needed)
- Paintbrush
Don’t have acrylic paint? Use permanent markers to draw patterns directly on the bottle. No googly eyes? Draw eyes with a marker or glue on small circles cut from paper. No fishing line? Any string or yarn works for hanging.
Steps
- Prep the bottle. Remove the cap and label from an empty, clean plastic bottle. Have a grownup cut the bottom off the bottle.
- Add the hanger. Have a grownup use a small nail to poke a hole in the top of the bottle near the cap end (this is the fish’s “head”). Thread a long piece of fishing line through the hole and tie a knot on the inside so it doesn’t pull through.
- Shape the tail. Pinch the open (cut) end of the bottle so the two flat sides meet. Staple them together in the middle. Then cut around the stapled area to create fin and tail shapes. Cut pointed triangles for a spiky tail or rounded curves for a flowing one.
- Paint your fish. Paint colorful patterns on the bottle: stripes, spots, scales, swirls, or anything you imagine. Tropical fish come in many color combinations, so there’s no wrong choice. Let the paint dry completely.
- Add the eyes. Glue googly eyes on both sides of the head (near the bottle cap end).
- Hang it up! Use the fishing line to hang your fish from the ceiling, a doorway, or a tree branch. Make several and create a whole school of fish.
Grownup help needed: Steps 1 and 2 (cutting the bottle and poking the nail hole) require adult help. The stapling in step 3 may also need assistance for younger kids.
