Recycling a Milk Jug

We have a couple of milk jugs hanging around the kitchen...as usual dear hubby wants them out ...while I see them as an artistic opputunity so I started googling "milk jug craft" & I got tons of great ideas...

Here are the ones that caught my eye

Elmer Elephant:

The 1st one I like so much & it's pretty easy...all it needs is some elmer's glue, googly eyes & scrap paper

Milk Jug Animal Craft
Follow the directions below to create a mouse milk jug animal. Use your imagination to make your own favorite animal. You can create silly features using paper rolls, chenille stems, pom-poms, or yarn.

What You'll Need:
Plastic milk jug
Pencil
Scissors or craft knife
Permanent markers
Craft glue
Black pom-pom
Scraps of pink and gray felt
Poster board or cardboard

How to make a milk jug animal craft:

Step 1: Draw a cut-line on the jug as shown. Then, cut out the top part of the jug. Leave the handle on to carry your container.

Step 2: Draw on the mouse's eyes and whiskers. Glue on a black pom-pom for the nose.

Step 3: Cut two small semicircles from a scrap of pink felt. Glue one on each ear. Cut a long tail from the gray felt, and glue it to the back of the jug at the bottom.

Step 4: Draw paws on a piece of poster board, and have an adult cut them out. Glue the paws to the bottom of the jug.

Milk Jug Garage

Materials Needed:
Plastic 1-gallon milk jug
Craft knife
Construction paper
Black marker
Toothpick
Cardboard
Thread spool

First, cut a 3 1/2-inch-square garage door opening in one of the container's flat sides with a craft knife (parent's job only). Glue construction paper roof shingles around the top of the jug. Next, add a business sign, made out of construction paper and hung on a toothpick. Poke the toothpick into the jug just above the garage door.To make a floor, set the jug on a piece of cardboard and trace around the base. Trim the edges so it will slide easily through the doorway. Decorate by gluing on construction paper tiles.Glue on a construction paper fuel pump and air hose by poking a hole in the side of the jug and tying on a piece of string. A thread-spool car lift finishes of the interior.

Pine Needle and Milk Jug Bird House

Materials Needed:
Pine Needles
Yarn or Hot Glue
Milk Jug
Non-Washable Paint or Permanent Markers Instructions:Cut a hole in the side of the milk jug, big enough for a bird.
Paint or color the jug keeping in mind that some of it will be covered by the pine needles.
Select what type of pine needles you are going to work with and how much of the jug you want to cover. You will have to then decide if you want to use hot glue or yarn.
We used yarn on ours and tied it really tightly! My daughter used loose bundles of pine needles and wraped each with yarn tighly, I used full bundles that were not bigger than my jug and wrapped each around the jug and needles tighly.
Put it outside for the birds to enjoy!

Planting Seeds: a Preschool Science Experiment and Craft Project Rolled into One

Before outlining the steps that you can take to do this preschool activity with your child, it is important to point out that you do have a number of different options. A few of these options are highlighted below, so no matter how much time you have to devote to planting seeds indoors with your child, you should be able to do this activity.

Easy Approach

Supplies Needed:

Soil

Seeds

Styrofoam Cup

Paint or MarkersWhat

You Will Need to Do:

(1)Have your child decorate their styrofoam cup, either with paint or markers. Stickers and glitter can also be added. Let dry.

(2)Let your child add soil to the cup. They can either use their hands or another foam cup to make the transfer.

(3)Have your child sprinkle a few seeds in the cup.

(4)Add a little bit more soil to the top.

(5)Add a small amount of water and place by a window.

Harder, But More Creative ApproachS

upplies Needed:

Milk Jug

Scissors

Construction Paper

Glue

Popsicle Sticks

Paint or Markers

Soil

Seeds

What You Will Need to Do:

(1)Cut a milk jug container. Leave the bottom portion and have it be about five or so inches tall.

(2)Have your child glue half a piece of construction paper. Wrap the glued part around the milk jug. Two pieces of paper may be needed. Tape can also be added for reinforcement.

(3)Cut the excess construction paper off, but leave a little bit on for décor purposes. Scrapbooking scissors can create a unique design.

(4)Have your child either paint or color popsicle sticks with markers.

(5)Glue the popsicle sticks to the side of the milk jug. Your child can put as many or as little as they want on each side.

(6)Add the soil.

(7)Add the seeds.

Milk Jug Easter Basket — A great Easter Craft for Kids

Here is a great Easter craft for children to make other than Easter eggs. Children will have a great time with this art project, that allows them to create their very own Easter Bunny Basket. Mine have done this for years and each year they figure out different ways to decorate their easter basket.

What you need
1 clean milk jug with it’s lid
1 bag of cotton balls,
construction paper (white, pink, and black) , white glue, and 2 googly eyeballs (optional)

What you do
Stand your milk jug upright and cut a hole just above the handle. This hole must be large enough for your hand to fit inside of it.
Cover your jug with glue and then cover with cotton balls. To avoid rough edges on the opening of the jug, take each cotton ball and glue half of one on to the inside and then wrap it over the cut edge.
Glue 2-3 cotton balls on the end of the milk jug lid for it’s tail.
Take and cut out two sets of bunny ears one large set out of white construction paper and one slightly smaller set out of pink. Glue the ears to the top of the Basket so they can stand up. Cut out whiskers, nose, & eyes (could use googly eyes or makers) out of construction paper.
Add Easter grass to the inside of the basket and have an Easter Egg Hunt

Harriet the Heifer

You can download the instructions as a PDF file HERE

& there's always the milk-jug chandeliers for the truely artistic:

So What do u all think??