Make a House Out of a Bottle

With this instructable you can teach the kids to upcycle, they'll have fun making this craft and and when they finish they'll have a new toy.

We will use a dish soap bottle and turn it into a little house.

An empty dish soap bottle. Or any other bottle, I liked this one because its white and will make the drawings look good.

Paper

Scissors

Glue gun

Yarn

Permanent markers

Foam board

I'm not going to lie, this is my least favourite part. Some bottles that I've reused are easy to take the labels off.

In this one it took a lot more effort. Here is what I learned:

-Vinegar is really helpful. If you put vinegar in the stubborn parts they will come off easier. Just wet a cotton ball with vinegar and put it where needed, wait 3 minutes and then try taking the label off again.

-Vinegar helped taking off the paper, but there was a lot of sticky stuff still in the bottle. To take it out I put nail polish remover (acetone) and scratched the bottle with an old credit card.

It's easier to begin a cut with an x-acto knife just to make a slit and then continue cutting with scissors.

I wrapped the top with paper because

I didn't want the neck of the bottle to be visible.

I cut two rectangles of foam board for the roof.

Draw the roof tiles in the rectangles.

The windows and the door inside and out.

Add plants, a mail box, a bird house.

If you mess up don't worry, nail polish remover will erase any mistake you made with the permanent markers.

I drew flowers in a paper and a planter in a rectangle of foam board.

I made a swing with foam board and yarn.

I used foam board also to make a floor for the second level.

Use the hot glue to stick all the pieces together.

Its the perfect size for the Littlest Pet Shop, Playmobil or Polly Pockets.