Earth Day is upon us! My little family and I are doing our best to reduce, reuse, and recycle, hence I wanted to share a fun Earth Day water bottle craft for all to enjoy.
My four-year-old Azariah and I went to a library program over Spring Break and had the opportunity to create planters out of plastic bottles. This craft inspired me to see what other plants and herbs we could grow at our place to make ourselves more self-sufficient. We quickly learned we could grow pretty much anything in these little plastic bottle planters. These DIY planters make a small, humidity-controlled place that seedlings and plants thrive in.
Let’s get crafting!
As you can see, this is an easy craft, and you probably already have all of these “tools” in your home.
- Water bottles
- Seedlings
- Scissors
- Shoelaces, twine, or a piece of clothing you don’t mind cutting into strips
- Hammer
- Nails
- Screw (optional)
- Dirt/Soil
- Water
Since this project does use sharp objects, an adult should be present. First, we start with clean empty plastic bottles: these bottles can be from water, sodas, or anything else. I used the nail to poke four small holes into the water bottles: two holes on the top part of the bottle (long ways) and two holes directly under those two holes. These holes will be used to thread the shoelace/twine through the bottle and be used for hanging. If the nail isn’t working for you, my son found out a screw actually works faster than the nail.
Once the holes are established, the bottle will be extremely flexible. During this time, I held the bottle flat and cut a rectangle in the center of the bottle. Once you’ve cut the rectangle out, begin to reshape the bottle with your hands, or have the child(ren) reshape the bottle.
All the cutting is done so you can put the scissor’s away. Next, time to thread the shoelace through the water bottle. After the threading is finished, tie a knot at the top of the shoelaces.
Now, the fun part! Lets get dirty: begin filling the plastic bottles half way with dirt. You can use whatever dirt/soil of your choosing. We used miracle grow.
Once you’ve filled the planters with dirt/soil of your choosing, time to plant your seedlings. Sine we have our own citrus trees, we used lime and grapefruit seedlings from our own collection. You can find seedling pouches at grocery stores, home improvement stores, and pretty much everywhere else.
After the seedlings are placed, pat a small amount of soil on top of the seedlings to secure their place in the planter.
When you’re ready to move on, you will use the nail used to poke holes to hang the planters. Find a place where you know the planters will get some sun and shade, then hang the planters. After that is done, feel free to water your seedlings and enjoy watching them grow. Bonus: The holes you poked on the bottom of the water bottle will act as a drainage for the planter.
