Utilizing and Making Toys from Plastic Bottles not only provides unique toys for your beloved child but also helps reduce plastic waste in the environment. Join the Early Education 0-6 years old section of AVAKids and try these 15 ways to make toys from plastic bottles below, parents!

Simple and Fun Ways to Make Plastic Bottle Toys for Children

Plastic bottle toys are incredibly diverse and don’t follow any specific mold, so parents can join their children in making plastic bottle toys at home to let their creativity run wild.

1. Adorable Piggy Bank

To teach children how to save money from a young age, most families provide their little ones with a piggy bank. However, with the increasing amount of plastic waste released into the environment these days, instead of buying a new piggy bank, why don’t parents try making toys from plastic bottles and transform them into a cute piggy bank for their child?

This helps educate preschoolers about the environment and fosters a love for nature from an early age. Check out the instructions below, parents!

Instructions

• Draw a leaf shape on colored paper and carefully cut it out to make ears for the pig.
• Use a black marker to mark two lines on the bottle, one to divide the bottle in half, the second to divide the bottom half of the bottle in half.
• Cut along the two drawn lines with a utility knife, discarding the excess plastic between the two lines.
• Glue the top and bottom halves of the bottle together and secure with adhesive.
• After the glue has completely dried, use a knife to cut a small rectangular slot on the body of the bottle so that money can be inserted into the piggy bank.
• Finally, use watercolor or paint to color the piggy bank as desired. Once the paint is dry, draw the eyes, nose, and attach the ears to complete the plastic bottle toy for your child.

Making a piggy bank from plastic for your child

2. Fun and Educational Alphabet Board

Nowadays, Montessori toys or educational toys on the market are quite expensive. Therefore, instead of spending a large amount of money, parents can save and create their own alphabet board for their child by making toys from plastic bottles. This not only helps teach children to protect the environment but also makes learning more enjoyable, thereby allowing them to absorb and memorize letters more quickly.

Instructions

• Draw all 29 letters of the alphabet on a piece of cardboard (leave enough space between the rows of letters so that they are larger than the bottle caps, ensuring the letters are not obscured when placed on the board).
• Write each letter on a bottle cap.

A simple alphabet board helps children learn while playing

When playing with your child, simply ask “Where is the letter A, my dear?”, and they will automatically search for “letter A” on the board and place the bottle cap in the correct position. With this method of making toys from plastic bottles, parents can spend more time with their children and help them develop thinking skills and quick reflexes.

Additionally, during the “crafting” process, parents can decorate as they like to make the alphabet board more vivid and colorful.

3. Unique Pencil Holder

Is your child no longer interested in ordinary pencil holders on the market? Parents can make toys from plastic bottles and “transform” them into uniquely shaped containers based on their child’s preferences. With just a few simple steps, parents can recycle plastic bottles into useful items for children and directly contribute to environmental protection.

Instructions

• Use a pencil to sketch an image that your child likes, such as a cat, a minion, etc., and then carefully cut along the pencil lines with scissors.
• Use paint, other recycled household items like buttons, etc., to decorate the pencil holder, or you can also use colored paper to decorate the mouth, nose, and eyes, securing them with glue.

In addition, parents can also make some toys for boys from plastic bottles, such as robots, airplanes, etc.

Pencil holder made from a plastic bottle

4. Helicopter

Making toys from plastic bottles into airplanes for children is not only incredibly simple but also helps parents save a significant amount of money on buying toys for their little ones!

Instructions

• Cut off the bottom of a yogurt cup and cut a strip of plastic about 3-5 cm long.
• Make a small hole in the lid of the yogurt cup using scissors.
• Cut off the tops of 3 straws, then cut two more straw pieces about 4-5 cm long from the remaining parts.
• Insert the first straw top into the hole in the yogurt cup lid to make the helicopter’s tail.
• Bend the plastic strip cut in step 1 and attach the two short straw pieces to the sides to create landing gear.
• Place the remaining two straw pieces perpendicular to each other and secure them with hot glue to create the rotor blades.
• Attach the landing gear to the yogurt cup to complete the helicopter’s body.
• Secure a ping pong ball to the open end of the yogurt cup and attach the rotor blades to the body using glue to complete the preschool toy made from a plastic bottle.

Helicopter made from a plastic bottle

5. Cute Turtle

Making toys from plastic bottles into pigs is too familiar? Then try making a toy from a plastic bottle in the shape of a cute turtle for your child, parents!

Instructions

• Cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle using a knife.
• Place the cut bottom of the bottle on colored cardstock, trace around it with a pen, and then draw the head, tail, and legs to create a turtle shape.
• Use the bottom of the plastic bottle as the turtle’s shell and secure it to the paper with a hot glue gun.
• Once the glue is dry, use markers to draw the eyes, nose, and mouth, and decorate according to your child’s preferences to complete the plastic bottle toy.

Besides plastic bottles, parents can also make a turtle for their child using yogurt cups.

A cute turtle made from a plastic bottle

6. Mini Rice Cooker

A mini rice cooker is also a very unique idea for making toys from plastic bottles that parents can try to help children develop their creativity.

Instructions

• Cut off the bottom of the bottle to create the body of the rice cooker. Then, cut red and green foam sheets into two long strips and glue them around the bottle.
• Cut a small piece of yellow foam and glue it over the two strips from step 1. After the glue dries, cut another smaller square piece of blue foam and glue it on top.
• Create the rice cooker’s switches by cutting two purple circles and gluing them onto the blue square.
• Next, place the bottom of the bottle on a red foam sheet, trace around it with a pencil, cut it out carefully, and glue it to the bottom of the bottle.
• Finally, cut a 2cm long strip of yellow foam and attach it to both ends of the bottle bottom to create a handle, completing the plastic bottle toy.

Steps to make a mini rice cooker from a plastic bottle

7. Colorful Snake

Most children are afraid of reptiles like snakes, however, with the method of making toys from plastic bottles that AVAKids introduces below, you’ll have a very cute snake for your child:

Instructions

• Heat a screwdriver to make holes in the center of the bottle caps.
• Thread a string through a round bottle cap and then tie a knot to secure it, creating the snake’s head.
• Connect the remaining bottle caps to the string to form the snake’s body. String the bottle caps in the same direction, alternating colors to make the snake more visually appealing.
• Thread the string through another round bottle cap to create the snake’s tail.
• Create the snake’s tongue and nose using colored paper and glue them to the first round bottle cap.
• Use a marker to draw the eyes and decorate the snake, completing the plastic bottle toy.

The finished product: a cute and adorable snake for your child

8. Bowling Pins

“Transforming” old plastic bottles into sumo bowling pins for children to exercise is also one of the incredibly simple ways to make toys from plastic bottles that you shouldn’t miss.

Instructions

• Cut the prepared plastic bottles in half so that each piece is about 15-20 cm long.
• Secure the two halves of the bottle together with glue and then paint them as desired to complete the plastic bottle toy for your child.

You can decorate the bowling pins with your child according to their preferences

9. Clock

A clock is an indispensable item in every household. If your child loves and has a passion for collecting clocks, try making a plastic bottle toy for them following these steps:

Instructions

• Use cardboard to create any shape for the clock according to your child’s preferences.
• Mark 12 corresponding hour markers on the clock face and attach bottle caps to represent them.
• Make a small hole in the center of the clock face using a screwdriver and attach the hour, minute, and second hands to complete the plastic bottle toy for your child.

Making a clock from a plastic bottle for your child

10. Adorable Penguin

Penguins are animals that only live in the Southern Hemisphere and are not distributed in tropical regions like Vietnam. Therefore, to help your child get acquainted with and learn about these cute animals, you can also make a plastic bottle toy for them!

Instructions

• Cut off the tops of two plastic bottles and then secure the bottom parts together to create the penguin’s body.
• Use markers or watercolors to draw the eyes, nose, and decorate the penguin to make it more adorable.
• Create a bow tie from ribbon and attach it to the middle of the bottle to make a scarf for the penguin, completing the plastic bottle toy for your child.

Adorable penguins recycled from plastic bottles

11. Sailboat

Another recycling project you can try with your child is making toys from plastic bottles into cute sailboats:

Instructions

• Cut colored paper into a triangle shape to create the sailboat’s sail and glue it to a prepared stick.
• Insert the sail into a piece of foam and secure it to the bottle body with a rubber band, and you’ll have a boat for your child to play with during bath time.

Making a sailboat from a plastic bottle is very simple, you can try it with your child

12. Wall-hanging Flower Pot

With this method of making toys from plastic bottles, you can plant with your child, thereby helping them get acquainted with simple tasks from a young age:

Instructions

• Cut off the top of the plastic bottle and stick an animal sticker on the opening of the bottom part.
• Make two holes on the sides of the bottle to attach the hanging string.
• Decorate the flower pot with paint according to your child’s preferences.
• Add plants and soil to the pot to complete the plastic bottle toy for your child.

You and your child can create various flower pot designs from plastic bottles

13. Lantern

To make toys from plastic bottles into lanterns, you should choose bottles with thick and slightly flexible plastic:

Instructions

• Draw straight lines from the top to the bottom of the bottle, each line about 1-2 cm apart.
• Cut along the drawn lines with a knife and then squeeze the bottle from top to bottom to create folds for the lantern.
• Secure a candle to the bottom of the bottle with hot glue. Make a small round hole in the bottle cap and thread a string through it to create a handle for your child.
• Decorate the lantern with paint to complete the plastic bottle toy for your child.

Besides the above method, parents can refer to some super simple ways to make lanterns from other materials.

Lantern made from a plastic bottle for children

14. Cute Animals from Plastic Bottle Caps

You can guide your child in making toys from plastic bottles into animal shapes to recycle household items, while helping them improve their memory and teach them animal recognition through identification games.

Instructions

• Cut colored paper into the bodies of various animals according to your child’s preferences and then glue the plastic bottle caps on top.
• Use markers and leftover colored paper scraps to decorate the eyes and noses on the bottle caps to make the animals more vivid.
• Teach your child to distinguish between different animals to help them understand the world around them.

Cute animals from plastic bottle caps

15. Rocket

Instead of spending a considerable amount of money to buy a rocket, you can completely make a toy from plastic, saving money, protecting the environment, and satisfying your child’s passion:

Instructions

• Attach two bottle bodies together horizontally and paint them with watercolors according to your child’s preferences.
• Cut red felt into four flame shapes.
• Insert the four felt pieces into the bottle opening and secure them with hot glue to complete the plastic bottle toy for your child.

Making a rocket from plastic bottles for your child

Precautions When Recycling Plastic Bottles into Toys for Children

• Thoroughly clean plastic bottles before recycling them into toys for children.
• Avoid making toys with sharp edges or toys that are too small, which could injure children.

A Few Words from AVAKids

Making toys from plastic bottles not only helps parents save money but is also a great way for children to develop their intelligence and creativity. Visit AVAKids to discover more unique recycling ideas as well as other useful articles, parents!