How to make candle holders from old glass bottles

 Do you have lots of leftover glass jars from pasta sauce, pickles, jams, or baby food bottles? Instead of throwing them in the recycling, how about reusing them. 

Reusing is a better alternative to recycling. Reusing gives a new life to the jars. It does not utilize any energy needed to recycle the product and thus, saves pollution. If we have a choice between reusing and recycling, we should choose to reuse.

Glass jars can be reused by using them as containers. Instead of buying plastic containers, use old bottles as containers. Glass jars can keep the food fresh longer than plastic containers. Glass is nonporous and hence no bacteria or insects can get inside. It does not get stained and yellow with use. The food stays fresh and tastes better. The clear glass makes it easy to see what's inside. In case you want to show off what's inside, it also makes a perfect choice. Easy to see, easy to find. 

Other than containers, glass bottles can be used as flower vases. We can use them to hold tissue papers or cutlery. The list is as big as your imagination. Today, I am sharing with you a project I did with glass jars. I have many small jams and honey jars at home. They are small so cannot use them as a container or flower vase, but these are the perfect size to use as candle holders.

It is an excellent project to be done with little children. All you need is acrylic colors and decoration accessories like string, sequins, or beads. We painted the jars in bright colors. We used red, blue, orange, yellow, green, and purple. Paint it from all sides. When they are still wet, press sequins and glitter to embellish them. They adhere to the paint when they are wet. If not, dry the jars and then glue them on the jars. We tied a golden string around them. 

What I like is that when a child paints, the brush strokes are rough. They are not smooth and perfect like adults would paint. That's what makes them look prettier.

Last but important is that when you reuse the bottles, always remember you are inspiring others to do the same. The little eyes are watching you. Inspiring people and spreading the importance of recycling, reusing, and reducing is done by action, not words.

  

Minion craft - Minion mask diy

Sunny boy and I were talking about masks.. We had made a spider man mask some days back ...Sunny boy does not wear it at all.. So when asked why , he said he would rather like a minion mask. Ok.. So I thought about a moment.. Ok I said lets make it !!
I measured his head and then cut the head part. To make eyes I folded the mask and cut out two circles for eyes. Then I cut two larger circles and two sides of strap. Three pieces for hair as well.
Sunny boy painted all the parts and glued it together.
After it was dry I glued a ribbon on the sides. This mask is a big hit with him. He loves it!!!

Minion Craft with recycled can

We love Minions!!! Recently we have been doing many Minion crafts. This one is made with a big  size recycled can. All you need is paper, a big box to be recycled, poster colors , glue and scissors. Optional is felt for eyes and hands.

I cut out all the parts from a thick sheet of paper. First sunny boy (3) covered the can with plain paper which he colored yellow with poster paint. Next he painted and glued the clothes. The parts of specs are made separately. The eyes are made of felt. For the specs I had cut the strap and the circles...over which we glued the felt eyes. The arms were painted and then rolled up. We glued hands made from felt in it. The smile is made of scrap felt which sunny boy thought looks like a smile!! Oh yes almost forgot the beret.. We put the lid on and then glued a pompom over it!!! Hooray the minion is done!!!

Sunny boy had lot of fun doing this craft and he is very proud of his creation!!

Recycle craft: Minion

I did this craft with sunny boy last year when he was 2. 7 mnths old....I always ask Avaneesh what does ' something' looks like to increase his imagination. The yellow egg from the surprise chocolate egg looks like a Minion. He keeps calling that yellow egg a minion so I told him that we will make it a minion with it. He was excited ..".Minion how will we make one out of this" he asked. I was excited too as I find Minions adorable as well. actually everyone finds them cute..isnt it?!! 

All that is needed to make is a inside case/egg of surprise chocolate egg ,black felt strip, googly eyes , blue felt or paper and glue. I cut out parts and he glued it in place. Googly eyes were his favorite part of this craft activity. 

Sunny boy ( now 3.6 ) is over it and doesnot even like the kinder or surprise eggs.. but I still find  it cute so I thought of sharing it with you all!!! 

Art and Plant science : Recycling wine bottles

Me and sunny boy(3yrs) do lot of recycling art and craft activities in the afternoon. I strongly believing in recycling. I have been doing it since I was a kid ... I want to infuse the similar ideas about recycling in his mind.. The another thing is that it does save a lot of money which I would be spending if I have to buy new stuff for toddler activities..

This project is a Recycling + Kids craft activity + Bathroom decor.

I had these two empty wines bottles. These look perfect to put a money plant in it.

My son gets very excited for a painting activity. We started first by putting sticky tape on it. Sunny boy found circle stickers which he put on one bottle. He kept on asking why are we putting sticky tape?I told him to wait and watch. He decided to paint it blue. 

 I was a bit apprehensive about letting him hold a glass bottle so I held on it all the time while he painted. The next one I choose to paint it golden. So he did paint it.

We kept it for drying for a day or two. I pulled the tape to reveal the design. The effect is Wow..It does look pretty.. 

We put the creeper in the bottle..discussing about plant science- what and why plant need - sunlight and water, also we are observing the growth of roots and how the plant turns itself towards the sunlight .. Who knew a simple project could teach a toddler so much!!

Similar designs can be made on mason jars to convert them into tealight candle holders!!

DIY/ recycled craft : Rocket

I had saved the cardboard tube of the kitchen roll to be used when I will get a idea to do a recycle craft. Today I finally got the idea. 

A rocket- yes the tube perfectly fits the shape of a rocket. My planet loving son is very fond of rockets and UFOs.  I cut a yellow paper according to the size of the tube to cover the tube. Then two sets of blue and green strips, a few stars and circles to decorate the rocket. I also cut 3 legs for the rocket with a free hand design. A cone was made of the same orange card stock which I used for the legs. 

First glue all the decorations on the base paper. By this time my son who was sleeping got up. He wanted to be part of this activity. So I told him to apply glue all over the back of the yellow base paper. I glued it to the cardboard tube. With a sharp knife I made 3 insertions a little above the bottom of the tube for the legs in a way that the legs would touch the ground once inserted. Insert the orange legs inside. The conical top was glued to the top part.