Plastic Cap 'ABC' Magnets Project

Image: The green art classroom

Most plastic soda, water and milk bottles are made from Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET #1 plastic and their caps are most commonly made from polypropylene, or plastic #5. These two different types of plastic melt at different temperatures during the recycling process and therefore, need to be processed separately.

If you are a dedicated  recycler and find that you have a pile of bottle tops at the end of the week, then this easy craft will have you putting them to even better use and help your child learn the alphabet.


ABC magnets

Image: Kiwi mag online

The materials you will need are:
1. Bottle caps
2. Old magazines
3. Scissors
4. Glue stick
5. Self-adhesive magnetic tape (available at craft stores)

Instructions:
1. Collect as many plastic bottle caps as you can. You’ll need enough for every letter of the alphabet, plus a few extra E’s, A’s, S’s, T’s and any other letters that might appear twice in your child’s name or word.

2. Search through magazines and cut out bold, colourful letters to fit inside each cap. Also look for pages without much writing, and cut them into small white squares, slightly larger than the bottle caps.
Alternatively, use the templates below these instructions to cut out your letters.

3. Trim as close as possible to each letter, and then glue them onto the white square backgrounds.

4. Place a bottle cap on top of a white square and trace around it. Cut out this circle, glue the letter to it and then glue to the inside of the cap.

5.Cut a small piece of self-adhesive magnetic tape. Stick on the back of a cap so that the magnetic side is facing out. Repeat with remaining caps.

6. Stick your magnets on the fridge and start spelling!

CLICK ON IMAGES TO PRINT LARGER VERSION


  B&W letters for water bottle caps                                                        Colour letters for water bottle caps

Image: Art is helping children

Image: Art is helping children

B&W letters for milk bottle caps pg.1                                                B&W letters for milk bottle caps pg.2

Image: Art is helping children

Image: Art is helping children

Colour letters for milk bottle caps pg.1                                              Colour letters for milk bottle caps pg.2

Image: Art is helping children

Image: Art is helping children

.