Introduce your child to a garden that defies gravity! Starring the ever useful recycled soda bottle, this project is perfect for crafty kids with a growing green thumb.
What You Need:
- Two-liter soda bottle
- Water-based marker
- Ruler
- Sharp knife
- Kitchen scissors
- Single hole punch
- Thick string or twine
- Potting soil
- Small plants or seeds
- Optional: Assorted permanent marker pens to decorate your planter
What You Do:
- Help your child use a ruler and a permanent marker to mark a line on the bottle about three inches from the bottom. Make sure the line goes all the way around the bottle.
- Have your child stand aside while you use a sharp knife to puncture the plastic bottle along the marked line.
- Now that the knife got him started, let him use scissors to cut the rest of the bottle.
- Remove the bottom of the bottle -- your child won't need it for the rest of the project.
- Help him use the hole punch to make four holes around the rim of the plastic bottle. The holes should be evenly spaced.
- Have him use the ruler again to measure out four three-foot-long pieces of thick string or twine.
- Let him thead one string through each of the four holes in the plastic bottle.
- Help him tie all four strings together, at least several inches away from the holes.
- Check to make sure the cap is still screwed on the bottle. Your child's soda bottle planter won't work very well if soil falls out the bottom!
- Have him fill the bottle with potting soil.
- Help him plant seeds or even a full-grown plant in the soil.
- Let your child find a good place to hang your planter -- somewhere with easy access to sunlight.
Have your child use his newest recycled masterpiece as a decorative item or a gift for a family member of friend! Encourage him to even write on the bottle with a permanent marker or to add stickers for an extra fancy look.
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