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The kids and I made this super simple telescope craft out of a recycled International Delight creamer bottles and colorful tape.
I’ve said it many times, but raiding the recycling bin has so much potential and so much fun that’s free! I have an Upcycling Recyclables board on Pinterest that I keep handy to find new stuff to do with my recycling!
We saw these creamer bottles and thought they’d make great telescopes for some craft time and pretend play!
To Make These Telescope Crafts With the Kids Is Super Simple
I rinsed out an empty bottle, removed the lid and cut off the very bottom of the bottle.
You could use other items from your recycling bin too, like a paper towel holder, for this telescope craft.
But I prefer the creamer bottle because it flares out at the bottom to make it more telescope-like.
Now the Kids Decorated Them
This is a place for kids to be creative with crafting the telescope! Make it personal!
We used colorful tape we had on hand, but I can think of some other fun ways to decorate them:
- Colorful, fun stickers!
- Paint them (rolling them in a tray of paint would be fun!)
- Glue and yarn or paper scraps
The tape was super easy, mess-free and even George could do it, plus I just love using tape in our activities.
I didn’t even rip pieces ahead of time.
I just handed them the rolls and got the tape peeled up to start it for them and they could do the rest.
George would ask for help from time to time with holding the bottle, but he wouldn’t dare let me rip the tape, he was big enough to do that himself!
This is great fine motor practice for any age.
Completing the Telescope Craft for Pretend Play with the Kids
I taped over the top of the bottle and pushed it over the edge. I did the same for the bottom of their bottles.
Now the kids know their bottles based on the color of the top. Henry’s is red and George has the green one.
And that’s our telescope craft for kids to make!
It was super easy and they’re super cute.
I could also see taking it a step further and punching holes in it and tying ribbon or yarn on it so they could drape their telescopes around their necks.
But I didn’t take it that far because the kids were already using it, and this left it more open for pretend play.
My kids were already pretending their telescope crafts to be party hats!
The other option was to make them a pair of binoculars.
But the boys insisted on each having their own, and since I only had two bottles in my recycle bin at the time, it would have to be telescopes.
When they tire of the telescope craft, I’ll attached them together to make a pair of binoculars too!
Previously, we’ve made vases out of empty creamer bottles too!
They’re becoming quite versatile in this house!
I even started a Pinterest board of ideas to use these type of bottles for. I’m pretty excited for all the possibilities!
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