Friendship Day 2018 Crafts: Make a recycled pencil holder

Crafting is a form of expression and I always say, “create, express, enjoy”. When it comes to craft for children, I like to design activities, where they get to explore various materials, and learn at the same time.

Hope you liked my Rainy Day Mobile tutorial. Today, I have another DIY that can be done with simple materials that are easy to source. Empty plastic bottles are a great crafting opportunity and recycling them is doing our small bit for Mother Earth. This time it’s the cute Yakult bottle that grabbed my attention. The shape of the bottle is great to make different characters. I have collected many of them! So let’s get started to make cute pencil holders.

List of basic materials:

* Empty Yakult bottle.

* Bright coloured cloth water filter or a small sock or piece of felt.

* Small piece of satin ribbon, not more than a metre.

* A pair of google eyes, foam piece and feather.

* A small size paper cup.

* Cupcake liner or paints.

* Shredded paper or cotton.

* A pair of scissors.

* Glue.

We are creating a pencil / pen-holder from an empty Yakult bottle and giving it the look of a cute chick. It will add a lot of colour and cheer to the child’s table space. The holder is quick, and easy to make. You can do this activity with your child and make many in a jiffy. They can be a great birthday return gift option, something handmade, created by your child! You can have it as a make-and-take activity in your party as well.

Step 1

Take an empty Yakult / Vitagen bottle. Clean it well before using. Cover it with a red cloth water filter. Cloth water filters are available in different colours apart from white. Choose a colour you like. These are the filters that we tie on taps, like small “potlis”. You just have to insert the bottle in the cloth filter and tuck the extra part on top into the bottle. No need to glue it together.

If you do not find a cloth filter, use a small sock in the same way. Else you can glue a piece of felt, cut to size around the bottle.

Step 2

Tie a satin ribbon around the bottle as shown in the picture below. You can use ribbon of the colour you like.

Step 3

Before tying a knot, insert a feather. Again, the colour choice is all yours. You can glue the feather so that it remains in place firmly.

Tip: I suggest using silicon glue from Itsy Bitsy to adhere materials other than paper. It comes in a bottle and is easy to use. Silicon glue sticks various craft materials strongly with ease. Children can use it themselves.

I had made these pencil holders for my daughter’s birthday party. We made several of them!

Step 4

It’s time to give life to the character. Stick google eyes and a small triangular piece of foam for the beak. You can use paper also instead of foam for the beak.

Step 5

Make a base for the pencil-holder so that it stands well and does not wobble. For making the base, use a small paper cup. Glue a cupcake liner around it as shown in the image. Children can also paint the paper cup instead.

Step 6

Glue the recycled Yakult bottle to the base of the paper cup. I recommend using strong glue like silicon glue for this step.

Insert some paper shredding in the cup around the bottle for further decoration. Children enjoy this. Instead of paper shredding, you can use some cotton or hay also.

Add a colourful pencil and some sweets for further fun.

Here’s how my party table looked full of adorable pencil-holders. Children love making them and using them as well!

Hope you liked this DIY Pencil Holder. You can create other characters as well, using the empty Yakult / Vitagen bottles. A snowman, penguin, doll, rabbit and owl, to name a few.

Learnings for children through this activity:

* Recycling or making the best out of waste.

* Knowing different characters, like animals, birds and human figures.

* Exploring different materials and using them in a unique way.

* Understanding and creating three dimension objects.

* Involves basic crafting skills like cutting, pasting and tying, which improves gross motor skills.

(The writer is an architect, freelance crafter and founder of Craft Express. Follow her on Facebook and on Instagram @vaishali.craftexpress. She blogs at craftexpressblog.blogspot.com.)