By Caroline Urdaneta of Salsa Pie
Go “green” and play a lucky bowling game with these do-it-yourself Leprechaun Bowling Pins made from recycled plastic bottles!
Materials:
• empty plastic water bottles
• permanent marker
• acrylic high gloss paint (we used these colors: dark green, light green, red and white)
• scissors
• stiffened felt (we used bright green)
• a paintbrush and water dish for cleaning
• hot glue gun and glue sticks
Instructions
1. Paint an empty plastic bottle one solid color. You can use any color you wish and this base coat will be the color of your Leprechaun's face and shirt. Once you finish painting, set the bottle aside and allow to dry. Pro Tip: If you want your bottles to have a little bit of weight, before you begin painting, add some dry beans or rice to each bottle (just a very small amount that still allows them to be knocked over) and then close the cap. You can also leave the bottles empty but empty bottles will tip over very easily.
2. Once your base coat is dry, draw a face in the upper curved area of the bottle close to the cap. We drew two dots for the eyes, a simple rounded "L" shaped nose and a smiley face mouth with our permanent marker.
3. Then paint a dark green coat on your Leprechaun. Leave an opening in the center for the "shirt" so you can draw buttons later.
4. Paint pants on your Leprechaun, painting the base of the bottle using a lighter green color.
5. Next, paint an orange beard and hair around the face, covering the cap of the bottle. Using your permanent marker, draw three buttons down the front of the shirt. Allow your Leprechaun to dry completely.
6. Cut out a Leprechaun hat from green, stiffened felt and then, using your hot glue gun, glue the base of the hat to the front of the bottle cap above the face.
Once you've made 10 pins, set them up in a hallway or large room and use a small ball (like a tennis ball) to bowl down the little Leprechauns! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Crafts for Kids is a weekly series that encourages parents and kids to spend time together making fun and simple projects. Brought to you by PBS Parents and Salsa Pie's Caroline Urdaneta. Music provided by Freeplay.
Caroline Gravino Urdaneta, a PBS Parents resident crafter, is a designer of creative family projects, tinkering painter and mother of four children. She writes about project ideas for the whole family and how to encourage creativity in kids on the popular blog, Salsa Pie and shares videos on the PBS Parents YouTube Channel.
