This water bottle whirligig craft is easy to make and a great way to use recycled water bottles. Kids of all ages will love this outdoor ornament craft. Making whirligigs out of water bottles requires minimal craft supplies and will make your front yard, or back yard, look amazing!

water bottle craft: whirligigs - two spiral water bottle whirligigs with prisms on the end pictured in front of a green grass background - Kids Activities Blog
Let’s make a water bottle craft today!

How TO Make The Best Water Bottle WhirliGig Craft

This water bottle whirligig craft is so much fun to make. Making this cool wind spinner craft is particularly a great craft for older children. Recycle your water bottles, use bells, gems, and twine to create beautiful decor for your yard.

Related: More DIY wind spinner ideas for kids

Make a water bottle wind spinner for spring and summer. That way you can spend time outside and enjoy the tinkling sound of bells and watch your whirligig move and twist in the wind.

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Supplies Needed To Make Water Bottle Whirligig Craft

Craft supplies you need to make a water bottle whirligig

Directions To Make Water Bottle Whirligig Craft

kids playing with the DIY wind spinner craft made from water bottles - whirligigs - Kids activities Blog
Let’s play with whirligigs today!

Step 1

Give your water bottles a rinse with some hot water to remove any residue from the inside of the bottle.

Step 2

With your scissors, cut into the side of the water bottle, very near to the bottom and cut that flat bottom of the bottle right off.

Step 3

Now, starting at the bottom, simply start cutting a strip about the width of one of your fingers.  No need to be too particular here.  Just cut  ’round and ’round your bottle until you’re about an inch or so away from the top.

water bottle craft

See the gorgeous spiral you’ve created?  Isn’t that pretty?  Time to make it even prettier!

The Baubles:

Chandelier baubles are great to use when crafting. Not only are the gorgeous, you can usually come by heaps of them at yard sales and thrift shops. And let’s face it – there’s a good chance that your parents, or a friend has a gaudy, outdated chandelier stashed in an attic or storage room, and they’d be more than happy to part with the baubles in the name of a good, old-fashioned whirligig craft!

Step 4

To attach your baubles to your whirligigs, just punch a hole very close to the bottom of your plastic spiral. Attached to your bauble, should be a fine wire.  Simply slip the wire through the hole, and twist to secure.

water bottle craft

Hanging Your Water Bottle Whirligig Craft

Step 5 

Attach a length of fishing line up through the top of the water bottle craft and head on out to the yard!

I hung our water bottle whirligigs low enough for the hooligans to swat and swing at them.  

They love to jump up and grab one, and stretch it down, down, down to the ground, and then BOING, they let go, and the spiral goes dancing and bouncing all over the place. When the wind blows, the water bottle crafts  come to life on their own.

Whirligigs ma

Water Bottle Whirligig Craft Alternative 

Make your whirligig extra special! Add some decoration to the plastic whirligig using paint pens.

Make hearts, stars, flowers, anything you want.

Add decorations to your whirligig

Why We Love This Water Bottle Whirligig Craft

  • Water bottle whirligigs are a fun summer-time water bottle craft!  They’re super-easy to make, and they look beautiful hanging in the backyard, spinning in the breeze.
  • Wind-spinners, garden-spinners, or whirligigs? I’m not sure what these whimsical outdoor decorations should be called.
  • What I do know is that they’re a great way to upcycle a few water bottles into a gorgeous (and fun!) garden ornament!
  • This water bottle craft is  free, and I always have a bin full of them in my garage.  It’s important to me to teach my daycare children the value (and joy) of recycling and upcycling materials we have on hand.
decorated water bottle whirligig craft

Water Bottle Craft ~ Whirligigs

decorated water bottle whirligig craft

This water bottle whirligig craft is amazing fun to make and even more fun to watch twirl and twist in the wind.

Materials

  • plastic drink bottles (a heavier weight like a Gatorade bottle works)
  • glass baubles (from a thrift shop chandelier)
  • hole punch
  • scissors
  • fishing line

Instructions

  1. Give your water bottles a rinse with some hot water to remove any residue from the inside of the bottle.
  2. With your scissors, cut into the side of the water bottle, very near to the bottom and cut that flat bottom of the bottle right off.
  3. Now, starting at the bottom, simply start cutting a strip about the width of one of your fingers.  No need to be too particular here.  Just cut  ’round and ’round your bottle until you’re about an inch or so away from the top.
  4. To attach your baubles to your whirligigs, just punch a hole very close to the bottom of your plastic spiral. Attached to your bauble, should be a fine wire.  Simply slip the wire through the hole, and twist to secure.
  5. Attach a length of fishing line up through the top of the water bottle craft and head on out to the yard!

More Water Bottle & Household Item Crafts From Kids Activities Blog

THE BIG BOOK OF KIDS ACTIVITIES

This toilet paper roll train craft is one of the featured kids crafts in our newest book, The Big Book of Kids Activities has 500 projects that are the bestest, funnest ever! Written for kids ages 3-12 it is the compilation of bestselling kids activities books perfect for parents, grandparents and babysitters looking for new ways to entertain kids. This toilet paper roll craft is one of over 30 classic crafts that use materials you have on hand that are featured in this book!

book cover, The Big Book of Kids Activities where this craft is featured
This recycled water bottle craft is featured in our newest book, The Big Book of Kids Activities.

More Fun from Kids Activities Blog

How did your water bottle whirligig turned out? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.



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