plastic bottle bowling

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Here's a craft I shared on Ucreate with Kids months ago, and I'm finally getting around to posting it on my blog now. It actually won one of the Top 10 tutorials for 2011 awards on Ucreate this year. That totally rocks. I guess I better get around to sharing this craft here - I was supposed to do this months ago. This game is always popular with the kiddos and it's perfect for this time of year when the super cold weather is keeping them indoors.

I'm always looking for crafts that use recycled materials because a) it saves me money from having to buy craft supplies, and b) it helps save the planet! I don't drink bottled water myself, but I raided the recycling bin at work and in just 3 days I had enough bottles for 10-pin bowling. Awesome. I may get a few side-eyes from digging through the trash, but you can make some truly incredible crafts with what people normally throw out. It's become such a common occurrence at work that my co-workers are now asking me what I want before they throw it out, lol!

This was a really fun craft to do. It took very little time and supplies and the kids ADORE playing with this. SO.MUCH.FUN! I love that these are painted from the inside so they are totally safe to play with. I don't have to worry about my son licking or scratching the paint off. I'm sure moms of boys out there can totally relate with that! Here's how you make them:

What you'll need:

10 plastic bottles
10 shades of paint
a tiny bit of water
a ball - I got mine at the dollar store

optional - glue gun

Instructions:

Remove cap from bottles and clean thoroughly.



Find 10 shades of paint. I tried to use 10 different colors, but you can use whatever you have and make these whatever color scheme you wish.



Squirt a small amount of paint in the bottom of each water bottle. You can see from the picture about how much I used.



If your paint is really runny you can skip this step. If your paint is pretty thick you're going to want to add a small amount (like 1 tsp) of water to each bottle. This will make the paint a little runnier so it will be easier to shake. Don't add too much water though or your paint won't be thick enough and won't cover the bottle properly!



Put the caps back on all your bottles. Shake each bottle vigorously to spread the paint all through the bottle. The kids loved this step!





Remove cap and pour out any excess paint/water. Keep the cap off and allow your paint bottles to dry. Mine took at least overnight. When dry you can put the lids back on. Optionally, if you're worried about your kids being able to open the bottles, you could use a glue gun and glue the lids back on. I didn't do that, and my kids have never tried to open them.

Set up your bowling pins, grab a ball and have fun!

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