Reuse those bottle caps or lids and make this bottle cap mobile recycle craft with the kids.
This is a great recycle craft to help with fine motor skills, color or size sorting and to practice patterns.
You will need:
- A hardboard disc (we used a 25cm diameter)
- Bottle Caps in a few different colors
- Wood glue
- Gut or thin string
What to do:
Let the kids sort all the bottle caps according to colour and size. Decide on the main colour for the mobile and paint your disc in the colour you have chosen. Paint both sides.
Play around with patterns. Once you have decided on a pattern you like, start gluing the caps. Use a generous amount of wood glue and start by gluing one cap in the center. Glue the next line around the center cap and continue working in circles, outwards until the whole disc is covered.
Leave to dry, this can take up to two days. If your mobile is going to hang indoors, you can use a glue gun instead of wood glue. I have found that wood glue is much more durable for outdoor use and definitely the safer option when kids are helping.
Once the disc is dry, drill a small hole in the top of the disc and three or four holes in the bottom of the disc. The number of holes at the bottom will depend on your pattern and where the gaps are in between the caps.
Make the bottom strings, do a layout first to decide on a pattern and how many bottle caps per string.
(Adult Step) Make holes in both sides of the bottle caps. The easiest way is to melt the holes through the plastic. Use a sharp metal tool, heat the point up over a candle flame and poke the holes through.
Make a knot on one side of the first bottle cap and let the kids string the bottle caps together.
Make a loop and a knot in the string to be used at the top. Tie the strings to the disc and hang your ornament.
A bottle cap mobile recycling craft that can be modified as you wish and provide fine motor practice too!
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