Children can use this completed craft as a musical instrument. Provide children with different colors of tempera paint, glitter glue, sequins and gem stones and instruct them to use the materials to decorate the outside of an empty plastic bottle that has been cleaned out and the label has been removed from. Once the adornments have dried, help children fill the bottles with dried beans and dried rice. Line the cap of the plastic bottle with glue and screw it tightly back on the bottle. Have children shake the bottles to make music.
This simple to make craft allows students to get a close up look at an example of what it looks like under the ocean. Clean out and remove the label from a plastic water or 8-oz soda bottle. Have children fill the bottle with sand, enough so that it covers just the bottom. Set out shells, sea glass, pebbles and fish- and whale-shaped confetti and have children place small handfulls of each item in their bottles. Fill the bottle three quarters of the way with water and add a few drops of blue food coloring. Fill the cap with glue and twist it tightly onto the bottle. When children shake the completed craft, they can watch as the "waves" move the items around.
You don't need snow to make this snowman; all you need is an empty 16-oz soda bottle with the label removed, some white paint and a few other craft supplies. Have children paint the outside of the bottles white. Once the paint dries, help them glue black pom-poms onto the front of the bottle to create buttons and a mouth for the snowman. Gut out triangles from orange felt and have kids glue it on the bottle as a carrot nose. Two googly eyes glued above the nose complete the face of the snowman. Tie a piece of fabric around the base of the bottle as a scarf and place a sock on his head as a hat; use the plastic bottle snowman as a winter decoration for your classroom.
Turn a small empty plastic juice bottle into a pencil holder. As with all the other projects, clean out and remove the label from empty juice bottles. Use a craft knife to cut off the top half of the bottles, taping to protect against the sharp, cut edge before giving them to children. Set out paint, craft foam shapes and sequins and have children use materials to decorate the bottles. Once the decorative accents have dried, fill the bottles with pencils, markers and crayons in your art center, or allow children to take them home to decorate them there.