Here’s a set of adorable woodland animal recycled plastic bottle planters you can make at home – free face template included.
This set of fox and raccoon planters make a cute DIY decor idea for Autumn or Fall. You could put some plastic or real pine branches in them and decorate with a few baubles to make them Christmas-themed too. They would also make a lovely handmade gift idea with an indoor plant inside.
This craft is most suitable for tweens, teens and adults.
This upcycling idea was first published in 2020 and has been updated and reshared for today’s audience.
You might also like our woodland animal paper playset
We’ve been building up our collection of woodland animal crafts this year. Woodland animals are soooo cute and I realised I had only one on the blog (it was the paper roll fox craft). So, we’ve added the paper playset, the gift baskets, the fox bookmarks and some fun animal hats kids can colour in and make. Well, here is one more.
I know that recylables are going to be recycled anyway, but I still enjoy repurposing them into something decorative and fun. The best craft materials are often free, don’t you think?
Our set of plastic bottle planters are filled with plastic plants I purchased from IKEA, only because they are intended for indoor use. You can put real plants in instead by cutting a few drainage holes in the base with a craft knife and filling with potting mix and whatever plants you like. We did this with the Halloween herb garden we made last month.
To paint them I’ve used a 50:50 mix of acrylic paint and PVA glue, which helps the paint to stick to the plastic. Let’s get started …
How to make woodland animal plastic bottle planters
You will need
- Recycled plastic bottles, rinsed with the label removed
- Acrylic paint
- PVA glue
- black buttons
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
- Paint brush
- Black marker
- Rocks and plastic plants, or real plants and potting mix
- The free printable face templates
How to
Draw two ears halfway up your plastic bottle, then sketch a line around the top to cut along. Poke a hole along this line with a sharp knife and then use the scissors to cut it out.
Mix the paint and glue together at a 50:50 ratio and paint the base colour, orange-brown for the fox and grey for the raccoon. You may need two coats of paint.
Allow the base coat to dry.
Print out the face templates and cut out the outside shapes (leaving the eye details in place).
Trace the shapes onto the bottle and paint them. Once you’ve traced the outside edge on the raccoon’s face, cut out the inner circle and trace it on inside the larger shape. Repeat with the eye circle.
Paint the details on once you’re happy with the sketched outlines.
When the paint has dried, hot glue a button nose into place.
If your planter is going to be used outdoors, it is a good idea to add an acrylic sealer. I use a quick-drying spray sealer similar to this one, or mod podge would also probably work (even though it’s not intended for outdoor use).
If you are putting real plants in your recycled bottle planters, cut some holes in the base with a craft knife for drainage.
Add rocks in the base to weigh it down, and then add your plastic plants. With the IKEA ones I bought, I had to remove the plastic pot they came in to make them fit inside the 1L bottles I used.
They look pretty cute! You could design some more woodland animals to match.
More recycled animal crafts for kids
- Make some plastic tub tortoises from recycled fruit cups
- Make some recycled plastic squid while learning about the plastic problem in our oceans
- Make a frilled neck lizard from a paper roll
- These paper roll swans are so pretty!
