An empty bottle can go two ways. With a sharp knife, some clay and a string of tiny lights, it turns into a fairy house or a glowing lamp you’d happily keep on a shelf. With a pack of markers and a glue stick, it turns into an afternoon of crafting for kids. The grown-up projects need a sharp knife and a bit of patience; in the kids’ versions, an adult does the cutting and small hands do the decorating.
Before you start: supplies, cutting and paint
Most plastic bottle crafts need the same small kit, and it’s worth gathering it before you start:
- Clean, dry bottles and jugs with the labels soaked off
- A sharp craft knife and a pair of sturdy scissors
- A hot glue gun, or a strong craft glue for younger kids
- Fine sandpaper
- Acrylic paint, a few brushes and a clear sealer
- Air-dry clay or polymer clay, for the fairy projects
- Battery-powered LED fairy lights or tea lights
Cutting safely. Plastic is slippery and curved, so cuts go wrong easily, and cutting is the only risky part of plastic bottle crafts. Make a small starter slit with a craft knife, then finish the shape with scissors, cutting away from your hand. Draw the opening first with a marker so you’re following a line instead of guessing. For kids’ projects, an adult does every cut, and the kids take over once the bottle is ready to decorate. Cut edges can be sharp; a strip of washi tape or masking tape folded over the rim makes them safe to handle.
Getting paint to stick. In painted plastic bottle crafts, acrylic paint slides off smooth plastic and peels once it dries, unless you prepare the surface. Rub the outside of the bottle lightly with fine sandpaper until it looks matte, wipe off the dust, and add a coat of multi-surface primer or white gesso. After that, acrylic paint goes on evenly and stays put. Finish with a clear spray or brush-on sealer, especially for anything that goes outside. The same prep works on any smooth surface; my post on painted flower pots uses it on terracotta and glazed pots too.
Lights, never flames. Every glowing plastic bottle craft here uses battery LED fairy lights or LED tea lights. Never put a candle or any open flame inside a plastic bottle. Plastic softens and catches fire at far lower temperatures than glass, and even a small tea light can melt the bottle from the inside. Candles belong in glass or ceramic, and these fall candle making ideas for beginners show how to make your own.
Plastic bottle crafts for grown-ups
These upcycled bottle ideas lean decorative, and they’re the plastic bottle crafts I’d actually display.
Detergent bottle fairy house
Time: 3–4 hours plus drying · Skill: medium · You’ll need: a large detergent or fabric softener bottle, a craft knife, air-dry or polymer clay, acrylic paint, small scraps of fabric and wood
The handle of a detergent bottle already looks like the trunk of a tree, which makes it the ideal base for a fairy house and one of my favorite recycled bottle crafts. Cut a wide arched doorway in the front, leaving the handle and the cap intact. Build a clay tree trunk up one side and over the handle, then add round clay leaves at the top. Inside, make a tiny floor from a strip of cardboard or a wooden coffee stirrer, and furnish it with clay: a bed, a table, a little shelf, a rabbit or a mouse as the resident. A base of green clay with flowers, mushrooms and a fence ties it all together.
Fairy garden bottles
Time: 2–3 hours · Skill: medium · You’ll need: tall bottles, air-dry clay or textured paste, moss, dried flowers, miniature window and door prints, battery fairy lights
These plastic bottle crafts turn a tall bottle into a little tower from a storybook. Cover the bottle with a layer of clay or textured paste, leaving a window-shaped area clear, and shape a pointed roof at the top. While the clay is still soft, press in preserved moss, dried flowers and sprigs of dried gypsophila or lavender. Glue a printed window or door into the clear area, then slide a string of battery fairy lights inside so the window glows at night.
Paint the clay in mossy greens, stone gray or sky blue once it dries. For extra sparkle, a few small rhinestones or pearls around the window frame look lovely, and my guide to bedazzled items has tips for getting them to stay on.
Painted milk jug bird feeder
Time: 1–2 hours plus drying · Skill: easy · You’ll need: a clean gallon milk jug, a craft knife, sandpaper, outdoor acrylic paint, a wooden dowel or a stick, twine, birdseed
Cut a large opening on one side of the jug, leaving at least two inches at the bottom so the seed doesn’t spill out. Make a small hole below the opening and push a dowel or a sturdy stick through for a perch. Sand, prime and paint the jug with flowers, leaves or simple dots, then seal it with an outdoor varnish so it survives rain. Thread twine through the handle or around the neck and hang it from a branch.
Poke a few tiny holes in the bottom so rainwater drains, and clean the feeder every couple of weeks. A milk jug feeder lasts a season or two before the plastic gets brittle in the sun, which makes it an easy one to repaint and replace each fall. Of all the upcycled bottle ideas here, it’s the one the birds will thank you for.
Kraft paper succulent planter
Time: 30 minutes · Skill: easy · You’ll need: a clear bottle, scissors, kraft paper or a brown paper bag, colored pencils or markers, glue, a small succulent and cactus soil
The simplest plastic bottle craft in this group, and one of the prettiest. Cut a bottle in half and keep the bottom part as the pot. Wrap a strip of kraft paper around the outside and glue the seam; draw flowers, a sun or a simple pattern on it before or after you wrap it. Make a few drainage holes in the base with a hot skewer or a thick needle (adults only), add a layer of gravel, then cactus soil and the succulent.
Galaxy jar lamp
Time: 2 hours · Skill: medium · You’ll need: a large water jug, a craft knife, blue paint or tinted varnish, polymer or air-dry clay in several colors, small star stickers, battery fairy lights
A big water jug makes a surprisingly striking night lamp, and it’s the most dramatic of these plastic bottle crafts once the lights go on. Cut a large window in the front, then roll clay planets in swirled colors: marble two or three colors together and roll them into balls of different sizes. Hang them inside on fishing line, or glue them to the back wall. Add stars on the inside of the jug, tint the plastic with a wash of blue, and fill it with a coil of fairy lights.
Plastic bottle crafts for kids
These plastic bottle crafts for kids are built for little hands. An adult prepares the bottle, and the kids do the gluing, coloring and building.
Ocean sensory bottle
Time: 20 minutes · Skill: easy · You’ll need: a smooth clear bottle, permanent or paint markers, water, a few drops of blue food coloring, small plastic fish or sequins, strong glue
For this plastic bottle craft, kids draw waves, fish and bubbles on the outside with markers. Then fill it with water, add a drop or two of blue coloring and some sequins or tiny plastic sea creatures. Glue the cap shut and tape over it too, so it can’t be opened. Tipped and turned, the bottle moves like a small ocean, which makes it a calming toy for toddlers.
Bottle cap animals
Time: 30–45 minutes · Skill: easy · You’ll need: colorful bottle caps, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, felt or craft foam, twine, glue
Stack caps in different colors to make little animals: a yellow and black bee, a green frog, a blue bird, a red ladybug. Glue on googly eyes, cut feet, wings and beaks from felt or foam, and use pipe cleaners for antennae. Short pieces of twine make good arms and legs. Start collecting caps a few weeks ahead so there are enough colors to choose from. It’s a recycled bottle craft that doesn’t even need the bottle.
Lion night light
Time: 45 minutes · Skill: easy · You’ll need: a clear bottle, yellow and orange tissue paper, glue, yellow yarn, a paper plate or cardstock, a marker, an LED tea light
Kids tear tissue paper into small pieces and glue them all over the bottle. Draw a lion face on a circle of cardstock and glue it near the top, then add a mane of yarn loops around it. Drop an LED tea light inside, and the tissue paper glows warm yellow. Swap the face, and the same recycled bottle craft becomes a cat, an owl or any animal they like.
Bee planter
Time: 1 hour plus drying · Skill: easy to medium · You’ll need: a bottle, yellow and black acrylic paint, white plastic or acetate for wings, googly eyes, chain or twine, soil and a small flowering plant
An adult cuts an opening along one side of the bottle. Kids paint it yellow, then add black stripes once the yellow is dry. Cut wings from a clear plastic container or acetate, draw veins on them with a black marker, and glue them to the sides. Add eyes and a smile on the cap end, fill it with soil and a trailing plant, and hang it on a hook. Painted bottles like this need the primer step, or the yellow will scratch off.
Painted bottles
Time: 30 minutes · Skill: easy · You’ll need: clear bottles, paint markers, optional glitter or stickers
The easiest plastic bottle craft of all: kids draw whatever they want on clear bottles with paint markers. Underwater scenes, space, rainbows or their own name all work. Paint markers stay on plastic better than felt-tip pens and don’t need primer for a project that lives indoors. Fill them with water and glitter, or line them up empty on a sunny windowsill.
Hanging mobile
Time: 45 minutes · Skill: easy · You’ll need: a clear plastic cup or the top of a bottle, paint markers, paper or cardstock, colored pencils, string, a hole punch
Turn a clear cup upside down and decorate it with a moon and stars. Kids cut leaves, raindrops or feathers from paper and color them in patterns, then thread them onto strings of different lengths. Punch holes around the rim of the cup and tie the strings through. Hung in a sunny window, it moves with every draft.
Before the next recycling day, rinse a few bottles and let them dry overnight with the caps off. Paint and glue grip dry plastic much better, and that’s half the battle with any plastic bottle craft.
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