This adorable story shows recycling from a new, refreshing angle! The personified bottle records his journey to becoming a bottle, a vase, and much more. The kids were so surprised a bottle could be reused for so many different things! We decided to turn bottles into something of our own - Rainbow fish! Want to know how we did it?
Here’s what you’ll need:
-1 water bottle with cap (rinsed, dried, and label removed)
-1 scissors
-The paint of your choice (We used trusty classroom Tempura in lots of colors, acrylic
will work well, too)
-1 paintbrush with a long, thin handle
-1 stapler
-1 standard hole punch
-1 glue stick
-2 google or sticker eyes
-1 foot of yarn, fishing line, or other type of string
How to make them:
I started out by flattening all of the water bottles and drawing this “fishtail” shape about halfway from the bottom of the bottle. Once all were drawn, I trimmed on the line through the whole bottle, leaving the top + cap intact. While cutting the plastic, you want to make sure you round out any edges (especially around the tail). The bottles are flimsy, but could end up being a little sharp. I test the edges with my own fingers, and trim where necessary.
Once you have your fish shape, the “not-so-messy” mess begins! Instead of painting the outside of the bottle, I have the students paint inside the bottle, leaving the clear, glossy outside finish! The kids have a blast mixing inside and seeing what colors will show through the bottle. I also leave the cap on the bottle while painting to avoid drippy messes :)
While the kiddos are painting away, we talk about what kind of fish they’re making, what’s his/her name, what body of water does s/he live in, and more. We had lots of Angel and Rainbow fishes, and one Ninja Turtle fish. ALL of our students love the beach and ocean, so we pretended they were a school of fish, learning and swimming in the ocean! We went outside while the fishies dried on the window sills. Someone had the ocean on her mind still, so she made an octopus shadow :)
Once the fish were dry, we were ready to assemble! I did most of the assembling during nap time because 15 kids + 1 stapler = lots of waiting. But if you are making this with a small amount of children, this could be a good stapler-safety moment! I stapled the sides of the fish together to create the fish-like body. I also used a single standard hole puncher to hang the fish for display. When the kids woke up from nap, we glued the google eyes on with a hefty amount of Elmer’s extra strength glue stick (I find the stick “sticks” better to the plastic than the liquid), and then remove the cap to reveal the fish lips! Muah!
And now your Eco-friendly fish is complete! How did it turn out?
