This week, planet Earth celebrated her 51st Earth Day. Every year on April 22nd, environmentally conscious people around the world celebrate the planet through special events and actions. We take pause and are made aware of our impact on the Earth and make vows to do better in the coming year. Earth Day is an awesome opportunity to introduce important concepts such as recycling, pollution, planting, deforestation, and reusing with children. Take today (and hopefully all days) to think of ways we can improve the health of our Earth. This week we will use a common item that is likely already sitting around in you recycling bin: plastic water bottles. This Dale Chihuly inspired project is the perfect opportunity to not only learn about this fascinating artist who uses blown glass as his muse, but also recreates his style with an added Earth Day spin.
Supplies: empty water bottles (the more you use the fuller and larger your sculpture will be), Sharpie markers in various colors or acrylic paints, scissors, hole punch, string
Directions:
- Remove labels from the bottles, clean and dry.
- Color or paint your bottles. You can color them however you would like but try to fill in the space as much as possible. Allow the marker or paint to fully dry before moving onto the next step. Experiment with different colors, metallics, fluorescents, etc…
- With adult assistance, cut the bottom and the very top off your bottle then cut half inch wide strips in a spiral pattern.
- Hole punch one end of each strip.
- Align the holes and tie together using your string.
Other artistic uses for plastic:
- Plastic bottle stamping
- Bottle cap murals
- Plastic bag tutus
- Melted plastic suncatchers
- Milk jug waterlilies
- Plastic toy figurines assemblage art
- Bubble wrap animal sculptures
- Bowling Pin water bottles
- Plastic bag jellyfish in a bottle
