Brighten up your space with an adorable plastic bottle butterfly. This recycled craft is SO FUN to make! Who knew you could create such a pretty butterfly from a recycled bottle?!
Use our free butterfly templates (find the links below!) and some paint markers to breathe new life into an everyday soda bottle. Transform your recycled pop bottle into a colourful butterfly. It’s a great spring and summer craft for the whole family!
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website.
How to Make a Plastic Bottle Butterfly
Materials:
- FREE Printable Butterfly Outline
- Plastic bottle (2 liters; washed and dried)
- Paint markers (black and colours)
Equipment:
- Cardboard (scrap piece; about 6-1/2 by 5-1/4 inches)
Watch the step-by-step video tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Cut a rectangle from the plastic bottle
- Clean out a 2 liter bottle and remove the label. Cut off the top of the bottle.An adult can push sharp scissors into the bottle and then cut around it.
- Cut down the bottle (we suggest cutting at the spot where the remaining glue from the label is), and then cut off the bottom of the bottle as well.
- Cut the remaining part of the bottle in half crosswise. You can make a small butterfly with each half.
Step 3: Place the plastic over a butterfly outline
- Print one of our free butterfly outlines or coloring pages.Find a link to many butterfly shapes in the materials list above. Scroll down below this tutorial for more info on the butterflies we used.
- Cut around your butterfly of choice in a rough rectangle shape.Place the template on a piece of cardboard that’s roughly the same size as your plastic bottle piece when flattened.Our cardboard is about 6-1/2 by 5-1/4 inches.
- Flatten the plastic bottle piece and use binder clips (or paper clips) to attach it to the cardboard on top of the butterfly shape.Make sure you place the plastic so that the outside of the bottle is facing up. You want to be drawing on the outside of the bottle in the next step.
- Use a black paint marker to trace the outline of the butterfly. Go around the inner lines of the template as well, creating a pattern on your butterfly.Allow it to sit until it’s dry to the touch, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the plastic from the cardboard. Flip over the template so only white is showing (or remove it completely).Flip the plastic over so the painted side is on the bottom and re-clip it to the cardboard. You want to be drawing on the inside of the bottle in the next step.
- Use a coloured paint marker to colour in some of the patterned areas on the butterfly’s wings.Since the black outline is on the other side (the front) it’s okay if your marker goes a little bit over the black areas.
- Create a multi-coloured butterfly or use different shades of the same colour with white or a metallic as the accent, like we did.Make sure you create the same colour pattern on both wings. Allow it to dry for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove the plastic from the cardboard and cut out around the butterfly shape.It’s okay to leave a border of about 1/4 inch or so, since it’s transparent and can’t really be seen.
- Your plastic bottle butterfly is complete!Now use the other half of the bottle to make another butterfly in different colours.
Helpful Tips:
- Make sure you mirror the colours on the butterfly’s wings, creating the same pattern on each side.
- Be very careful not to touch the wet paint as you’re coloring or while it’s drying, because it smudges very easily when wet. If this happens, use a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to remove the paint smudge. Then wipe with water and dry with a paper towel before adding more paint to that area.
- If your butterfly has any sharp edges on it use a nail file or fine grit sandpaper to smooth it out.
Where can I find templates to make a plastic bottle butterfly?
There are 16 butterfly template pages and 13 butterfly coloring pages for you to choose from. We used butterfly coloring page #7, found under the “Group of Butterflies” section.
You can definitely draw your own butterfly if you’d like, but a template makes it really easy to create a butterfly that’s identical on both sides!
What bottle is best for making this plastic bottle butterfly craft?
We recommend using a 2 liter soda bottle. These bottles are a nice size and the plastic is thin and flexible, making them easy to cut.
You can make 2 small butterflies, or 1 medium sized butterfly, from a 2 liter bottle. 1 liter bottles would probably also work well.
Whatever flexible plastic bottle you have in your recycling will work, but we do recommend using a clear bottle that has flat sides for the best looking butterfly.
What markers are best for coloring a plastic bottle butterfly?
We used oil based paint markers. They cover the plastic really well and they go on super smooth. Acrylic paint pens would probably work as well.
You can also use regular permanent markers (like coloured Sharpies). These markers create colours that are a bit see-through (see our “stained glass” snowflake suncatcher for an example).
We don’t recommend using washable markers. They will work, but the colour beads up on the plastic and doesn’t look very good.
Have fun making this butterfly craft with wings that follow the curve of the bottle! These whimsical bottle butterflies are the perfect art project to go along with a butterfly lesson at school, and they’re also a fun rainy day craft for home.
Here’s even more butterfly craft ideas:
Beaded Pipe Cleaner Butterflies
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
Leave a Reply