Milk Bottle Igloo

Recycling is high on many peoples agendas these days. Lots of people look for ways they can reuse items to help the planet and also to save money. 

We have been recycling while we've been crafting over the last few months. We have enjoyed making drip painted luminaries, plastic lid suncatchers, toilet roll dragons and we loved our recycling in our Jackson Pollock inspired painting activity. Lots of fun to be had and there is a little degree of satisfaction that instead of throwing something away - you have used it to create something.

Today we have the lovely Hawraa Awali joining us and sharing the fabulous Milk Bottle Igloo she has been very busy making for the children in her setting! Hawraa teaches at Elm Street Learning Centre in Sydney, Australia. 

It took such a long time to get our hands on the volume of bottles we needed to complete this project. It was a very good effort by not only the staff but the families of the children also. In total we used 647 2 litre bottles and 28 1 litre bottles!!!

We used 14 packs of glue sticks and also utilised a glue gun to help keep the bottles stuck together! 

Make sure the bottles are washed out thoroughly and leave the lids off and allow them to dry before using them in this project. The last thing you want after so much effort is for the creation to start smelling. I asked parents to do this for me before bringing them into the centre which was really helpful.

We used a large cardboard base for our igloo. This helped keeping the posture of the structure. The stronger the cardboard the better! We let the children enjoy a painting session and they happily decorated the base for us. We then started to stick down the bottles. 

It is so important that you take extra special care with the first row of bottles. Take your time and make sure they are stuck together really well! Once your first row has been successfully laid and dried its time to start the next row. I found that sticking the bottles back to back then handle to handle worked really well. Before long the project started to come together!

We couldn't wait till it was completed!! I particularly love how it looks on the inside when the light shines through the translucent plastic. The coloured lids really add to the Igloo and its something we have all really enjoyed making together as a team. 

It has been a fantastic prop in our setting. We have been able to use it to teach children about igloos. Where in the world they are made, why they make them, what they are made from. We have used it in our story telling - so many lovely stories have igloos in them!

...... and of course lots of role play during their playtime. 

Although it did take quite a while to get it altogether it has been worth all the time and effort. Its been great us all working together and it has been enjoyed so much in the setting. So if you are in two minds about making one I can highly recommend taking the leap and getting one made for your setting!

A big thank you to Hawraa for sharing with us her Milk Bottle Igloo. I too love how it looks on the inside with all the lovely colourful bottle lids!!

Lots of wonderful learning opportunities available with this project. Working together as a team - building it. Talking about different countries, climates and reasons behind why they are made. As mentioned above lots of great childrens books to enjoy around the theme of Igloos:

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