Recycled Snowman Craft Project

Looking to get into the holiday season? Do you have a teacher that you want to create a gift for? Looking to spend an afternoon creating a fun craft? Check out these snowmen made from recycled materials!

Here's what materials you should have to begin this project:

• Rubber bands
• Scissors*
• Sharpies (black and orange, and any other colors you wish!)
• Ruler
• Various pieces of cloth (your choice of color/pattern)
• Danimal™/Ensure™/Pom™/other round bottle**
• Small candy (optional)
• Ball (optional - if you want to play snowman bowling)

*Younger children should be supervised while using scissors

**A rounded, white bottle works best for this project, although other types of bottles may work with a little creativity!

After collecting necessary supplies, wash out your bottles with water. This will prevent gunk from building up inside the snowman. (Gross!)

Carefully remove the label of your bottle using scissors. Younger children should ask for an adult's help with this step! If you are able to, try and pinch the bottle in order to slip the scissors underneath the label easier - the dent can be popped back out by reaching into the bottle with the tip of the scissors.

Optional step: Once the label is removed, you may also wish to add candy to the inside of your bottle!

Using a piece of scrap cloth, cut off a square piece of cloth. You will want to cut the cloth generously relative to the size of the snowman's head. Exact measurements are not required, as you can easily cut off another piece of cloth if necessary. The hats we cut for a Danimals bottle measured approximately 3.5 inches (about 9 cm) on each side.

If your cloth hat is too large for the snowman's head, trim it down a bit so the snowman does not have too big of a hat. You can get a general measurement of the hat by placing the scrap of cloth on the top of the bottle. Exact measurements are not required, but this helps make your snowman look better.

Note: if you are choosing to add candy, we recommend keeping the cap on so it doesn't spill. The picture above compares a bottle with (left) and without the cap (right).This will slightly change the size and shape of the hat.

Using a rubber band, fasten the cloth to the top of the bottle. If your rubber band is large, you can wrap it around the bottle's neck twice. Your snowman should look similar to the reference picture above.

Using Sharpie markers, add a face, buttons, and whatever else you would like to your snowman. You can be as creative as you would like with the design of the snowman.

Cut another piece of cloth for a snowman scarf. The scarf could be cut from the same pattern of cloth as the hat, or a different pattern. The scarf pictured here is approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and 12 inches (30 cm) long, although this does not need to be precise. Tie the scarf in a simple knot around the snowman's neck, and trim the ends to a desired length, if necessary.

If you want to you can even draw on arms for your snowman!

If you are feeling rather ambitious and would like to make a game out your crafts, you can repeat the steps above and create more snowmen in order to set up a little bowling game. All you will need is a ball and your additional crafted snowmen. Simply set the snowmen up and try and knock them down by rolling the ball!