We asked Jenny Cox from craft kit creators toucanBox to come up with a great craft involving recyclable materials everyone can do at home during the lockdown.

Jenny is a product designer and self-confessed recycling-obsessive, which led her to this very cool, environmentally-friendly project. Read on to find out just what she came up with.

WOODLAND BOWLING

Unfortunately, it’s still pretty easy to come across lots and lots of plastic bottles. I’m always trying to find ways to reduce the number of plastic bottles I buy, like carrying around refillable bottles, but still they pile up. Luckily, they’re widely recycled and, perhaps even more fun, they’re a great material to get crafting with. I wanted to find a project that could use as many water bottles as you have to hand, so whether you’ve got just a couple (and well done to you for that!) or loads stacking up in your recycling bin, you can use them all for this great little bowling game.

You will need:

Clean, empty plastic bottles (small and clear are best) Poster paints (whatever colours you have to hand) A pen Coloured card Scissors Glue stick A ball

How to make your woodland bowling set:

- Add a few blobs of paint and a drip of water (unless your paint is very runny) into each bottle. I love the lighter and brighter colours. The orange paint came out fantastically well!

- Screw each lid back on tight and give it a shake. Your bottles should become coloured from the inside! If your bottle isn’t covered head to toe in colour, feel free to add a few more blobs of paint and a drop of water or two. Screw the lid back on and give it another good shake!  

- Cut out and collage some simple shapes into pieces to decorate your bottles. Add details with a pen or any colouring materials you might have to hand. I made an owl, a fox, a tree and a rabbit with my card. But get creative! You could make a squirrel (black and white paint), a badger (black paint), some flowers (green paint), or something else entirely!

- Add the card pieces to your bottles with glue and leave to dry.

- If you’re thinking of going outside with your woodland bowling, you might want to add some rice or sand to your bottles to help them stand up even better.

- Let’s get bowling! Set up your woodland bowling pins, take a few steps back and mark a good starting point. Pick up your ball, take aim and bowl away. How many pins can you knock down? Traditionally each player gets two tries to see how many they can knock down. The winner is the person who knocks most pins over. 

RECYCLING YOUR MATERIALS AFTERWARDS

Once you’ve had some fun with your woodland bowling game, your materials can be recycled. Pull off your cardboard pieces. As long as you used pen or crayon on them, they should be recycled with your other paper and card. Open up each bottle, pour away the paint and wash them clean with water. The bottles (without lids) should be recycled by your local recycling service. The lids are made with a different kind of plastic. They can also be recycled but it’s best to keep them separate from the bottles themselves.