Drink up and save your milk carton! Today, we are going to be turning an empty milk carton into a goldfish shaped planter. Any half-gallon cardboard drink carton will work for this project! If you use a larger or small on you will have to adjust the templates or freehand draw new ones. Here is what you need for this project:
Project Difficulty: Intermediate
Materials:
- Washable Markers
- Bright Pop Cardstock
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Washable Glue
- 1 Erasable Colored Pencil
- Construction Paper ( Suggested Colors: 3 Sheets of Orange, 1 Sheet of Red, 1 Sheet of Yellow)
Additional Supplies:
- Half-Gallon Cardboard Beverage Container
- 2 Googly Eyes
- Hole Punch
- Yarn or String
- Craft Knife or Box Cutter (for adult use only)
- Templates
Directions:
- Download, print, and cut out the templates (link in the Additional supply list).
- Trace and the fish body template two times on one piece of orange construction paper.
- Trace the side template two times on an other piece of orange construction paper.
- Trace the fin template two times on the same piece of construction paper as you used in step 3.
- Trace the fish lips template two times on the red construction paper.
- Cut out all the pieces you traced in step 2-5.
- Next, pick a piece of paper from the Bright Pop Pad and take a piece of yellow, orange and the left over red sheet. Cut strips that are approximately 1-1.5" wide. Cut 3 strips from each sheet.
- Draw and cut half circles out of each strip of paper. Should should get 4-5 half circles from each strip. They don't all have to be the same size or shape. These will be the fish scales.
- Take both of the fish body pieces and lay them out on the table with the half circles. Starting right above the tail, use the glue stick to glue the half circles across the fish body overlapping each one as you go. It is ok if they hang off the edge. We will trim them at the end.
- Move to the second row and overlap the first row. Continue to do this row by row until you reach the curve of the fish face. Alternate the colors of the half circles.
- Flip the fish body over and trim the half circles to the size of the fish body.
- Use the liquid glue to glue on two googley eyes. If you do not have googley eyes you can draw them on with marker.
- Use the glue stick to glue on the fish lips.
- Next repeat step 10 on the second fish body, except this time don't stop at the face, glue the half circles all the way up the body. Once done repeat step 11.
- Use a marker to draw line on the tails on both fish body pieces.
- ADULTS: these next few steps are one for you to complete:
- Make sure the drink carton is cleaned out and dry.
- Take the fish side template and trace it on two opposite sides of the carton.
- Take the first head and place it on one of the non traced sides of the carton and trace the outline. Do the same on the opposite side.
- Use a craft knife or box cutter to cut along the lines you traced. Discard the top half of the carton
- Back to you KIDS
- Use the liquid glue to glue the fish body on each side of the carton that matches the outline.
- Glue the orange fish sides on to the non-covered sides that match the outline.
- Take the two fish fins and draw lines one each fin. Glue each fin to the fish side.
- Use the hole punch to punch two holes on each fish side.
- Cut 4 pieces of yarn/string. Determine where you want to hang your planter so you can decide how long to make the yarn/string.
- Tie each piece of yarn/string to each hole.
- Gather all 4 strings together and tie in one knot to create the hanger.
- Fill the planter with real succulents or faux plants!
I filled my planter with a mix of real and faux succulents and some pebbles!
We hope you enjoyed this Camp Craft Box project! Parents, share your child’s craft on the Camp Craft Box Facebook Group. Don’t forget to tag @crayola and @craftboxgirls and use the hashtag #CampCraftBox if you share your child's projects on social media.