For our latest crafty project, we made plant pots out of an old plastic bottle and tin can.
Jared's 'Bee' pot was made out of an old tin of tomatoes.
He just painted it, stuck on some cardboard wings, googly eyes, and used some pipe cleaners for antennae. Don't forget to carefully punch holes in the bottom (I used a hammer and nail).
Fill with whatever you fancy. Jared re-planted some forget-me-nots that we grew from seed last year.
Plastic bottles of any shape are good for planters, even old milk cartons.
They can be made in the following way:
Get an old water bottle and cut it in half. Turn the top half upside down, so it can now be used for housing your seedlings/small plant.
Place this inside the bottom half of the cut bottle, and you now have a ‘bowl’ to catch or put water into. Your plant will be able to take a drink when it needs it and the double wall of plastic will also help insulate!
Decorate in any way you like, we wrapped in cardboard this time, and Jared turned this one into a caterpillar. It is now where the chives are from the seeds we grew last year.
I think this is a great activity for small children. Jared was able to see how cool recycling is, and we had a good chat about bees and other insects that pollinate. Educational and fun!
“I had so much fun doing it, the best bit was putting the faces and the antennas and the soil and the plants in” - Jared
I intend to make a few of these for the veranda, without the cardboard and glue - a little bit of painting fun for Jared I think. Painting them in bright flowery colours will help to attract the bees and butterflies.
As we have our 'pitstop for pollinators' at the front of the house, our next project will be for the back. We are going to make bird feeders - yup, you guessed it - using pinecones. I intend to stick loads up on a tree out the back - and do some bird spotting with Jared. Hopefully, we'll be able to join the ‘RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch’, at the end of the month.