These snowmen won’t melt! Turn empty shampoo bottles into adorable snowman bookends that hold your books upright on a shelf or desk. They’re filled with sand for weight, painted white, and decorated with buttons, googly eyes, and ribbon scarves. It’s a fun recycled winter craft you can keep all season long.
Materials
Supplies:
- 2 empty plastic shampoo or lotion bottles (similar size works best)
- Sand (enough to fill both bottles)
- White acrylic craft paint
- Googly eyes (2 per snowman)
- Small buttons (for the body)
- Ribbon or thin strips of fabric (for scarves)
- 1 red button or small piece of orange modeling clay per snowman (for the nose)
- Craft glue
Tools:
- Paintbrush
- Bowl of warm water (for soaking off labels)
Don’t have sand? Rice, dried beans, or small pebbles work as filler. No googly eyes? Draw eyes with a black marker. No buttons? Use small pom-poms, beads, or draw them on with paint.
Steps
- Remove the labels. Soak the bottles in warm water for a few minutes until the labels peel off easily. Dry the bottles completely.
- Fill the bottles. Pour sand into each bottle until it’s heavy enough to hold books upright. Screw the caps on tight.
- Paint them white. Brush two or three coats of white acrylic paint over each bottle, letting each coat dry before adding the next. Paint the caps a different color for hats (black, red, or blue work well).
- Add scarves. Tie a ribbon or thin strip of fabric around the middle of each bottle where a snowman’s neck would be.
- Glue on buttons. Stick two or three buttons down the front of each snowman’s body.
- Make the faces. Glue on googly eyes. Glue a red button or a small orange clay carrot for the nose. Use a thin paintbrush or marker to dot on a curved smile.
- Display and use. Stand your snowmen on a shelf with books between them. Instant bookends!
Grownup help needed: Younger kids may need help filling bottles with sand (it can be messy) and removing labels. The painting and decorating steps are fully kid-friendly.
