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Baby Bottle Crafts
Recycle Leftover Bottles into Fun Crafts
By Renee Roberson
If you're one of the many parents who has used bottles to feed your babies, you're probably wondering what in the world you can do with the stockpile you've collected in your kitchen cabinets. Most likely, you have a variety of bottles made in different shapes and sizes, particularly if you had to try more than one bottle to find the best fit.
Perhaps you have a persistent toddler who is a little reluctant to give up his precious bottle so easily. Here's where baby bottle crafts might do the trick. Once your child sees the fun and colorful things you can do with all those bottles, he might find putting milk in them a little less exciting.
"One pet peeve of mine is that not all plastics are easily recyclable," says Alexandra Zissu, co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy (Collins Living, 2006). "Depending on where you live, this tends to include these very baby bottles most families are now getting rid of in droves. So I really like the idea of using the hard-to-recycle plastics in these art projects. It's a great way to give them a second life."
Here are a few craft ideas to get you started!
Baby Bottle Birdfeeder: This project works best with softer plastic bottles. In the bottom of the bottle, drill two small holes. Thread a piece of wire through the holes and make a loop to hang the birdfeeder. Use duct tape to seal the holes and keep out rainwater. Near the neck of the bottle, drill holes on opposite sides of the bottle and slide an 8- to 9-inch dowel all the way through both holes to make a perch (a wooden pencil could also do the trick). Make 1/4-inch slots 2 inches above the perch. Fill the bottle with a mixture of sunflower seeds and other birdseed and place the bottle nipple and cap on top of bottle to secure.