DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Pop Bottle Piggy Bank Crafts

Hey there, fellow craft lovers! I'm so excited to share this super fun and eco-friendly project with you today. We'll be making an adorable homemade piggy bank using recycled materials. Not only is this a great way to repurpose items we might otherwise throw away, but it's also an excellent opportunity to teach kids about the importance of saving money. Plus, it's a fantastic activity to enjoy some quality time together. So, let's jump right in and create our very own piggy banks!

Materials:

• Empty plastic bottle (with a screw-on lid)
• Scissors
• Colored paper (ex: tissue, construction, scrapbooking scraps, old gift wrap) or acrylic paint (depending on your preferred decoration method)
• Mod Podge (if using paper to cover your pig)
• Glue
• Sharpie Marker
• Four extra lids, clay beads or pom poms (for legs)

Materials Notes:

As you can see from the materials list there are loads of options for decorating your pig.

Mod Podge: My personal favorite method of covering the bottle is using scraps of pink paper (construction paper, tissue paper, gift wrap) and mod podge. Mod podge is easier/safer for children to apply than things like hot glue and it adheres well to plastic. Wear painting clothes though!

Homemade Clay Beads: For legs, I like to make my own clay beads with air dry clay. This way I can squish them to contour to the piggy and it's a bit more craft time with the kids. Pom poms work great too though.

Instructions:

• Choose a clean, empty plastic bottle: Pick a plastic bottle with a screw-on lid, like a soda or water bottle. Make sure it's clean and dry before you start.
• Cut your bottle in half. Using sharp scissors cut 1 to 2 inch slits all around one half of the bottle. Use these slits to help slide your two sides back together, pushing them so your bottle ends up about half as long as when you started. Having a shorter piggy bank makes him a lot more stable. The video shows the process for this step very well.
• Carefully use the scissors to cut a coin slot into the side of the bottle. The slot should be big enough for coins to fit through, but not too big that they'll fall out. Ask an adult for help if needed.
• Decorate your piggy bank with paint or Mod Podge and tissue paper: You can choose between paint or Mod Podge and tissue paper to decorate your piggy bank.

  a. If using paint, simply paint the entire bottle with your desired color or pattern. Let it dry completely before moving on to the next step.
   

  
  

  b. If using Mod Podge and tissue paper or scraps of construction paper and pink gift wrap, cut the paper into small pieces or shapes. Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to a small area of the bottle, then place the tissue paper pieces onto the Mod Podge. Use a brush or your fingers to smooth out the tissue paper and apply another layer of Mod Podge on top. Continue this process until the entire area is covered. Let it dry completely.

• Glue on wiggly eyes or craft paper eyes. You can mod podge your paper eyes on or hot glue your wiggly eyes on.
• Cut out triangles for ears and fold the bottom of them. Use the folded tab to glue the ears to the piggy bank. Mod podge also works well for this -- use it as glue.
• Paint your bottle cap with pink acrylic paint or mod podge over it with pink paper. Let dry and draw a couple of nostrils on with a black sharpie.
• Cut a spiral of pink paper and glue it to the back of your piggy as a tail.
• Create feet:
  • Form fairly large clay feet with air dry clay. Roll into four equal size balls. While still wet, push each against the bottle where you'll be attaching them to shape the ball to the bottle and flatten the ball where it will come into contact with the floor a little bit. The shape will change a little when it's drying but the shaping should make your legs a bit sturdier and easier to attach.
  • Hot glue your feet to the bottle. Your feet can be pink pom poms, clay feet that you made, extra water bottle lids that you've painted pink or clay/wood beads that you bought. I've listed these in the order of difficulty of attaching to your piggy!

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