Recycled Crafts for Kids: Octopus Friends

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From our Yesler classroom, here’s a fun art project for kids using recycled materials. These Octopus Friends are made with plastic bottles and can be decorated with any supplies you have on hand. Plus, they can be a great lesson on recycling, marine life, and habitat.

This activity is great for ages 5-10 and takes about 20-40 minutes.

Materials

School glue or Hot-Glue gun, empty plastic water bottles (larger ones work best), scissors, googly eyes, markers, heat gun or hair dryer, decorations such as yarn, feathers, beads, and buttons

Set Up and Prepare

For safety reasons, it’s best that these first steps are done by an adult.

1. Cut off the bottom of the bottle, then cut up the length of the bottle to make 8 strips for the octopus legs.
2. Use a heat gun or blow dryer on the legs to soften the plastic and curl the legs outward
3. If you choose, paint the bottle any color you wish. We used spray paint for a quick coat of white, but acrylic paint works as well. Be sure to keep the spray paint away from children.

Spark Imagination

1. You can share photos and stories to get the kids thinking about octopi. In our class we read My Very Own Octopus by Bernard Most, a story about an imaginative little boy who dreams of having a pet octopus.
2. Ask the kids what they would do if they had their own Octopus Friend. Invite them to share or make a list of fun activities, places they would visit, or people they would introduce their octopus to.

Directions

1. Explain to the children that they will now make an octopus craft out of recycled plastic water bottles. Pass out the bottles you’ve already prepared.
2. Discuss the negative impact of plastics on the environment, how long it takes plastics to decompose, the importance of recycling/re-purposing. This is a great opportunity to talk about the effects of plastic and trash on ocean habitat.
3. Decorate your Octopus Friends with googly eyes, pipe cleaners, feathers, bottle caps, etc!
4. Bonus: To take the project even further, talk to children about the octopus’ new home. Where will it live? What will it eat? What does it need to be happy? Some students in our class even crafted environments for their Octopus Friends.