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Make Recycled Plastic Water Bottle Sun Catchers

Are you ready for an awesome recycled art project that you can do with your kids? Then you are in the right place! You can make a recycled plastic water bottle sun catcher with some plastic water bottles and permanent markers!

Earth Day is coming up, so we decided to tackle a project that would use some pesky plastic water bottles we had.

plastic water bottles colored

This project is super simple and one I’ve seen done so many times throughout my childhood and adult life. Make this awesome recycled art project and reuse plastic water bottles at the same time!

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Recycled Plastic Water Bottle Sun Catcher Materials

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

How to Make a Recycled Plastic Bottle Sun Catcher

Take off the labels on your water bottles. We saved the labels for another project we will be doing soon. 

Use permanent markers to color whatever patterns you’d like on the water bottles. There is no need to color the base. This took a while to complete and is 90% of the project. My kiddos had a blast coloring patterns.

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Celebrate Earth Day

Because Earth Day is right around the corner, we discussed what it meant to Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle in regards to plastics, why it is important and how we can do each of those concepts in our daily lives.

Reduce – We can reduce the number of plastics we consume by using reusable water bottles, storage containers, etc.

Reuse – We can reuse the plastics that we do consume by making them into something else or supporting businesses that reuse plastics and make them into sustainable products.

Recycle – We can make sure we understand how to properly recycle items, what items can be recycled, and teach others about the things we know.

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Remove the base of each water bottle. Save this for future projects if you’d like. We saved ours to make plastic gemstones with our bottle labels. 

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Cut your water bottles at a diagonal all the way to the rounded top. Do not go past the point where the bottle begins to narrow. 

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Use thread or fishing line and tie a knot. Screw the caps over the knot, so the thread is tightly secured. We used a clothespin to hang our suncatchers from the overhang in our backyard.

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Plastic Water Bottle Sun Catchers

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring recycled art project for kids!

Active Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Difficulty Medium

Materials

Tools

  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Take off the labels on each water bottle.Make this Awesome Recycled Art Project and Reuse Plastic Water Bottles at the Same Time! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities
  2. Use permanent markers to color patters on the body of the water bottles. There is no need to color the base.Make this Awesome Recycled Art Project and Reuse Plastic Water Bottles at the Same Time! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities
  3. Have an adult remove the base of each water bottle.Make this Awesome Recycled Art Project and Reuse Plastic Water Bottles at the Same Time! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities
  4. Cut water bottles at a diagonal all the way to the rounded top. Do not go past the point where the bottle begins to narrow.Make this Awesome Recycled Art Project and Reuse Plastic Water Bottles at the Same Time! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities
  5. Use thread or fishing line and tie a knot.Make this Awesome Recycled Art Project and Reuse Plastic Water Bottles at the Same Time! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities
  6. Screw the water bottle caps over the knot so that the thread is tightly secured.Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities
  7. Use clothespins to hang sun catchers up individually or tie all of the strings together to create a more gathered sun catcher.Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Notes

Because Earth Day is right around the corner, we discussed what it meant to Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle in regards to plastics, why it is important and how we can do each of those concepts in our daily lives.

Reduce - We can reduce the number of plastics we consume by using reusable water bottles, storage containers, etc.

Reuse - We can reuse the plastics that we do consume by making them into something else or supporting businesses that reuse plastics and make them into sustainable products.

Recycle - We can make sure we understand how to properly recycle items, what items can be recycled, and teach others about the things we know.

Recommended Products

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Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

We are thrilled with how simple this recycled art project is and how beautiful they turned out!

They are actually a pretty cool, aesthetic decoration and they are even cooler because we are reusing plastics that would have otherwise gone to the recycling bin. We love our new outdoor decoration! We really like making sun catchers at our house!

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

Celebrate Earth Day and make a cool suncatcher at your house! We would love to hear how it turned out or if you’ve done a project like this before!! Please share with your friends!!

PIN THIS IMAGE TO SAVE THIS GREAT RECYCLED ART PROJECT

Recycle plastic water bottles into a sun catcher with this great spring project! #reduce #reuse #recycle #plastics #EarthDay #kidcraft #artproject #suncatcher #outdoor #summeractivities #springactivities

You Might Also Like Math Sun Catchers!

The goal of this fuse bead sun catcher activity is to explore the number Pi and prove that it is a mathematical constant by making math sun catchers out of fuse beads for a fun math + art STEAM activity!

perler art sun catchers fibonacci activity

Meet Toni, the Maker Mom behind Our Family Code

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Hey there, I’m Toni! I’m a software engineer and Maker Mom that finds my joy in unleashing my children’s curiosity by exploring STEAM concepts with my fantastic five!

When I’m not chasing toddlers or raising tweens, you can find me tearing things up and putting them back together over here at Our Family Code.

I am the owner and content creator of multiple educational websites designed to increase access to STEAM & STEM education with a focus on teaching computer science and coding to kids of all ages!

You can also find out more about me by visiting ToniGardner.com!

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Sayeda

Friday 19th of July 2019

Thats awesome!!! Gonna try it Sayeda

harassedmom

Monday 16th of July 2018

I LOVE THIS!!!!! I am going to definitely try get my kids to do this!!!

Jasmine - LoveLifeLaughMotherhood

Monday 9th of July 2018

these are so cute! what an awesome craft!

Kim

Sunday 8th of July 2018

What a fun project! I love how you can teach kids to reduce, reuse, and recycle with it.

jasperandwillow

Sunday 8th of July 2018

Oh my gosh this is seriously the coolest! I will definitely be making these with my kiddos. Such a creative way to reduce waste!

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