How to Make a Water Bottle Penguin Craft for Kids

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Preschoolers will love turning empty water bottles into penguins Follow this simple tutorial for a super easy (and oh so cute) water bottle penguin craft!

If you’re looking for a fun winter craft to do with your preschoolers, you’ve got to try this fun penguin craft made from empty water bottles!

It’s a great way to try a new craft with your preschoolers while reducing trash by recycling plastic bottles.

Water Bottle Penguin Craft

With a little prep work, your preschoolers can whip up a colony of water bottle penguins in no time! Perfect for your winter crafting sessions.

What You’ll Need

• 2 empty water bottles

• 1 package of cotton balls

• 2 pieces of felt

• 2 sheets of craft foam – orange and black

• 1 pipe cleaner

• 2 small pom poms

• 4 self-stick google eyes

• string

• hot glue gun (or cool glue gun if kids want to do the gluing)

What You’ll Do

Peel the labels off of the water bottles. Wipe away any sticky residue. Stuff each of the water bottles full of cotton balls, and put the lids back on. You may want to glue them on so kids can’t open them later.

From the black foam, cut out the following shapes: 2 big rectangles the same size as the water bottle (you’ll glue these on the back), 2 rectangles that will go around the neck of each bottle, 2 round circles the same size as the lid, and 4 wings the same length as the big rectangle pieces.

I didn’t include measurements for these pieces, because your bottle may be a different size than mine. Use the image below for reference.

Glue all of the pieces to each bottle. The large rectangle goes on the back of the bottle with 2 wings glued on top of it. You’ll want to be sure the wings stick out from the sides of the bottle.

Glue the black circle to the top of the lid, and wrap the rectangle piece around the neck. Glue this at the backside of the bottle. This will be the penguin’s head.

Stick two eyes on each penguin head along with a small triangle beak from the orange foam.

Cut four little feet from the orange foam, and glue two on the bottom of each bottle.

Cut a spark from the felt for each bottle. Wrap it around the neck and glue it in place.

Cut a small rectangle from felt so that it will fit around the lid. Glue it together at the back and pinch the top together. Tie the top with string so it looks like a winter hat. Cut off any excess felt above the string.

For the other penguin, cut a small piece of pipe cleaner. Glue a pom pom on each end, and glue it to the top of the bottle so that it looks like earmuffs.

Now, you’ve got two cute winter penguins! You could make a whole colony of penguins, and add them to your dramatic play area for hours of imaginative fun!

FUN PENGUIN BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Fill your book basket with a great collection of books about penguins. Most of these books can be found at your local library or used bookstore.

If you have a hard time finding them, you can order them through my Amazon affiliate links by clicking the images below.

Tacky the Penguin – Tacky’s perfect friends find him annoying until his odd behavior saves the day.

If You Were a Penguin – In this simple, rhyming picture book, the youngest readers will learn about penguins. This is the perfect read-aloud for teachers and parents to share with young children as they imagine what life as a penguin is like!

Penguin’s Big Adventure – Penguin embarks on his next journey–becoming the first penguin to explore the North Pole! Along the way, he says hello to all of his old friends. But when he finally reaches his destination, he realizes he’s all alone in a strange, foreign place . . . How will Penguin overcome his fears of the unknown and enjoy this new adventure?

MORE PENGUIN ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

Preschoolers will love counting with five Christmas penguins! These preschool counting mats are great practice for early math fun. Five Christmas Penguins is a cute board book perfect for toddlers and young preschoolers.

This penguin felt activities busy bag it’s a shape sorting game, the children will sorted the color and shape to the right color penguin. Color included is orange, blue, pink, purple, yellow, red, pink and green.

Let children understand the structure of a Penguin, understand the types of animal, develop children’s hands-on thinking skills, explore the joy and sense of accomplishment with children.