Plastic Flower Craft

Using recycled items for crafts is good for Mother Earth. (It’s also good on grandma’s pocketbook!) So this plastic flower craft is terrific because it uses recycled water bottles.

Awesome, huh?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Empty water bottle
• Acrylic craft paint
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Green florist wire

First, cut off the top of the water bottle right where the bottle starts to slope up to the bottle opening. (You’ll need to do the cutting for small grandchildren!)

You’ll now have just the top part of the water bottle.

Cut 5 slits from the edge down to as close to the neck as you can get. This will create the flower’s petals. (You could cut more slits to make a daisy flower.)

(Because the water bottle is clear, it’s rather hard to see what I’m doing. I hope that my explanations will help!)

Cut the corners of each petal so that they are rounded.

Now comes a really fun part.

Bend the petals backwards like you are turning the water bottle inside out. Keep smoothing them until you are satisfied with how they look.

Now, cover your work space with newspaper or butcher paper. Set out the paint and paintbrushes for your grandkids.

Have your grandkids wear aprons so they won’t get paint on their clothes.

Now paint the flowers! It will take 2-3 coats of paint.

Have your grandkids hold the ‘flower’ by the neck of the bottle as they paint.

Let the paint dry between coats.

When your grandkids are finished painting the flowers, screw the lids back on the bottles. This will make the flower center.

Wrap a green florist wire around the neck of the bottle. Ta da! You have a plastic flower!

My grandkids decided to put their flowers in the flower pots that they painted.