Help Toddlers Learn About Different Animals with the Bottle Animal Project

If you buy bottled water, it is very easy to see how the empty plastic bottles stack up. Being a parent who homeschools, I am always on the look out for fun projects to do with the kids, and items that we can use for those projects. Plastic bottles are great to use for projects – especially if you have them lying around. With water bottles we found that we can make our own bottle animals. It’s a fun way to re-use water bottles and turn them into something nice. The project below is fun for kids between the ages of 3 and 8. Older children may be able to find something even more creative to do with the water bottles.

The first step is to gather the following items: Plastic bottles, construction paper, masking tape, glue, paint (kids paint), paint brushes, yarn. To get started you can make a list of animals that you want to create. To get started you can use the construction paper to cover the bottle to make the body of the animal. Roll the bottle onto the construction paper, and make it as smooth as possible. Don’t cut the construction paper until you have securely taped the construction paper to the bottle. You want to use the tape to secure the construction paper to the bottle. You may have to wrap several pieces around the neck to make sure that you can tell what type of animal it is. The top part of the bottle will obviously be the head. You can make the animal in a sitting position. The legs can be painted onto the front of the bottle. The eyes and the mouth can also be painted on. For the hair you can have your toddler glue it on to the right locations. You can also have your child paint the eyes and facial features onto the bottle. They can also use other pieces of construction paper for the eyes and facial features if they choose.

Once complete you will have your own special bottle animal. You can have your child make all types of different animals. Be creative when making them and you will quickly see your bottle animal come to live. You can use an old shoe box to store your bottle animals in when you are done, or display them in your child’s room. This particular project is one that we enjoy doing on a rainy day. Your kids may also enjoy doing this project on a rainy day.