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Colorful Water Bottle Fish Craft

June 16, 2018 by OneMommy

Recyclables are a cheap and wonderful crafting material, and water bottle crafts are one of our favorites when it comes to getting creative.

This recycled craft uses both recycled water bottles and tissue paper left over from birthday gifts to create colorful, one of a kind, water bottle fish.

 

recycled water bottle craft -- make a fish from a water bottle

This fun sea animal craft is a great way to use those old water bottles for art.  

If you love water bottle crafts as much as we do, then you need to check out these beautiful Water Bottle Suncatchers.

Water Bottle Fish Craft

Affiliate links provided.  

Materials Needed:

  • Clean, dry water bottles
  • Colored tissue paper
  • White craft glue
  • Hot glue gun
  • Paintbrush
  • Wiggly eyes
  • Craft foam

 

To begin crafting your fish, have the kids rip up squares of brightly colored tissue paper.   This is a great activity for building hand strength for later writing skills!

The squares are great for giving the fish a multi-colored collage look.  You can also cut 1 inch thick strips of tissue paper, which are great if you want a striped fish instead.

Once the tissue paper is ready, have your child use an old paint brush to paint white craft glue on the outside of their water bottle.

It helps to only use a little glue at a time, adding pieces of tissue paper as you go, instead of covering the whole bottle with glue at once.  Also, you may want to have a damp paper towel handy for wiping excess glue off so the tissue paper doesn’t keep getting stuck to little fingers.

 

kids fish craft

 

Once the water bottle is covered in tissue paper,  let the whole thing dry.  It took ours about one hour.  While you’re waiting, check out this fun sea animals game.  

Use craft foam to create your fish’s fins.  For younger children you may want to cut out the pieces yourself.  For older children, you could draw the design on the craft foam and have them cut it out, or let them design the fins completely on their own.

Use a hot glue gun to add wiggly eyes and the craft foam fins and tail to your fish.  Please remember, hot glue can get extremely hot!  This is a step best suited for an adult to do.  Young children can easily point out where each piece should go while the adult works the hot glue gun.

The best part of using hot glue is that your one of a kind creation will be ready to play with, or display, as soon as the glue cools.

kids water bottle craft

preschooler water bottle craft

 

These brightly colored water bottle fish look beautiful hanging from the ceiling or in a window.  

 

water bottle fish craft using a recycled bottle

 

You may also like:

  • Water Bottle Lightning Bug
  • How to Make a Duct Tape Water Bottle Holder 
  • Fun Kids Crafts for All Ages

This post was originally published August 10, 2012.  

Filed Under: Kids Crafts Tagged With: ocean animal craft, recycled craft, sea animal craft, water bottle craft

Comments

  1. shari lynne @ Faith Filled Food For Moms and Grandmothers says

    August 10, 2012 at 9:26 am

    What a CUTE summertime craft OneMommy!!

  2. Ginny Marie says

    August 10, 2012 at 10:17 am

    I love the foamy fins and tails! I pinned this project on our community board. It’s just too cute!

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:25 pm

      Thank you! And thanks for pinning it! We had so much fun making these, we might just have to do it again!

  3. This Busy Life says

    August 10, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    What a great way to up cycle plastic bottles. It looks like your kids had fun making them!

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:26 pm

      We usually use the same bottles over and over, just refilling them from the sink. But at some point they start to look like they need dumping; we had fun creating something new from them!

  4. karen says

    August 10, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    what a great and cute craft to do with kids. I am going to try this with dinosaur.

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:27 pm

      Thanks! I hope you and your little one have as much fun with them as we did!

  5. Aramelle {One Wheeler's World} says

    August 11, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    What a cute idea! Thanks for sharing; I’ve pinned this to bust out with my little one sometime. 🙂

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:32 pm

      Thanks, and thanks so much for pinning it!

  6. Katie says

    August 11, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    Oh my goodness! That is the cutest project for kids. I always have tons of water bottles in recycling. I am going to have to do this with my daughter!

    (PS~Found you on Blog Frog! Look forward to more!)

    Katie

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:33 pm

      Glad to help you find a way to put some of those water bottles to use before they go for recycling! Hope you enjoy it with your little one as much as we did!

      Can’t wait to check out your blog!

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:33 pm

      Glad to help you find a way to put some of those water bottles to use before they go for recycling! Hope you enjoy it with your little one as much as we did!

      Can’t wait to check out your blog!

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:37 pm

      Glad to help you find a use for those bottles before they go to recycling! Hope you guys have as much fun making them as we did!

      Love BlogFrog! Can’t wait to check you out!

  7. Nessa says

    August 11, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    Looks like fun! I can’t wait to have a child old enough to do stuff like this with.

  8. Missy | The Literal Mom says

    August 12, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    So creative! It looks like they really enjoyed it too!

    • OneMommy says

      August 13, 2012 at 2:40 pm

      At first my son wasn’t interested in craft time that day, but when he saw what we were doing, he came running! 🙂

  9. OneMommy says

    August 13, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    Oh, they would be so cute if they could light up! Perfect for a summer party! What a fun idea!

    Thanks for stopping by!

  10. Becca says

    August 13, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    Oh my gosh, those are so stinkin’ cute! What a great idea!

    • OneMommy says

      August 16, 2012 at 2:32 pm

      Thank you! They do look pretty cute hanging in the play area!

  11. homemaker-mom.com says

    August 15, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    Now that is adorable! I am stopping by actually via the link up button i have of yours on my blog! lOL

    • OneMommy says

      August 18, 2012 at 11:15 am

      Thank you; we had fun making them!

  12. Catherine says

    August 16, 2012 at 11:44 pm

    Love this idea. New follower from The Imagination Tree link-up. My 4 yr would love to do this. Thanks. (Momma’s Fun World)

    • OneMommy says

      August 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      Thanks! I looks like you have something sea-related too, can’t wait to check it out!

  13. Donna DM Yates says

    October 7, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    I love the things you come up with. These are way too cute.

    • OneMommy says

      October 8, 2012 at 2:48 pm

      Thanks! They are so cute hanging from the ceiling in their downstairs play area!

  14. thedoseofreality says

    November 19, 2012 at 7:33 am

    Love this idea! I am so not crafty, but I feel like I could totally pull this off…and my girls would LOVE it! 🙂 Hope you have a fabulous SITS day!

    • OneMommy says

      November 19, 2012 at 9:07 am

      I hope your girls enjoy it as much as my little ones did! We still have ours hanging from the ceiling in the play area. And… if you have glow sticks, stick one in each fish and turn out the lights — pretty cool for a slumber party in the play area!

      Can’t wait to hop over and read your post!

  15. Alley says

    November 19, 2012 at 9:08 am

    OMGoodness! How cute is that! This is totally being book marked. Stopping by from SITs!!!

    • OneMommy says

      November 19, 2012 at 9:55 am

      Thank you! We still have them hanging in the play area…. They are really fun if you add a glow stick to them at night!

  16. misssrobin says

    November 19, 2012 at 9:31 am

    Super cute! And I love the cardboard play area, too. What a great idea.

    • OneMommy says

      November 19, 2012 at 11:00 am

      Thank you! The cardboard play area was a simple solution to keeping the kids in an approved area. I never knew it would work so well… We’ve had it up for over 2 years now.

  17. Sheila Skillingstead says

    November 19, 2012 at 9:45 am

    I love your fishy bottles. Such an easy and doable project. I have used craft glue for foam and ended up not liking it. When a new glue is on sale, I buy it and test it. Don’t have a favorite glue, yet. Enjoy your SITS Day.

    • OneMommy says

      November 19, 2012 at 11:10 am

      So far I haven’t found a glue I really like for craft foam — my kids want their projects “now” so regular glue takes too long to dry for them. LOL
      Thanks for all the comments today! Off to check out your blog!

  18. Laura @ Pruning Princesses says

    November 19, 2012 at 11:01 am

    What a fun craft. I bet you could use this craft to make Rainbow Fish. Do you know that book? Just a few aluminum foil scales. Happy SITS day. I blog about raising girls, mine are a bit older, but you still might find the posts helpful–if you have time (and you might not after all these SITS day comments)–you should stop by check it out.

    • OneMommy says

      November 19, 2012 at 11:23 am

      I haven’t read that book — we will have to look for it at the library this week.

      LOL — yes, it has definitely been a busy day keeping up with comments and still playing with the kids, but I am off to check out your blog! I love the title of it!

  19. Rabia @ TheLiebers says

    November 19, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    Cute! We could have used this idea in Vacation Bible School this past summer!

    • OneMommy says

      November 19, 2012 at 1:00 pm

      Yes, I think it would be a great VBS craft! I’m sure people would have tons of water bottles to donate, too!
      Thanks for stopping in on my SITS day — off to read your blog!

  20. Aspgriswold says

    November 19, 2012 at 8:07 pm

    What and awesome craft! Happy SITS day!!!

    • OneMommy says

      November 20, 2012 at 8:59 am

      Thanks! Can’t wait to check out your blog!

  21. Smashinbeauty says

    November 20, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    Very the creative! love the fishes :)))

  22. Home jobs by mom says

    November 28, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    These are so cute! They’d be fun to make a fishing game out of

    • OneMommy says

      November 30, 2012 at 11:38 am

      I never thought of that! I bet they would be fun in a kiddie pool of water… Hmmm….

  23. The Dose of Reality says

    April 6, 2013 at 9:45 am

    So cute! I’m up for anything with a huge googly eye!!

    • OneMommy says

      April 6, 2013 at 10:04 pm

      Yes, googly eyes make everything cuter!

  24. Alexis AKA MOM says

    June 14, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    My boys would LOVE this idea! I so have to try! Thanks for the idea, stopping by from summer-bucket-list-link-party.

  25. Hannah says

    July 30, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    Your fish are so cute! Great eco-kid project! I featured you today! Hope to see you there!

    • OneMommy says

      August 1, 2013 at 7:14 pm

      Thanks so much for featuring it! 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. There's Just One Mommy - The SITS Girls says:
    November 19, 2012 at 3:57 am

    […] A Fishy Water Bottle Craft […]

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