Hanging Vase

What You Need:    

• Clean empty glass bottle
• Ribbons
• Wire
• Wire cutters
• Scissors
• Pencil, paper
• Optional: Washi tape (various colors and widths); glass markers or glass paints and paintbrushes

What You Do:

1. Provide your child with a clean, empty glass bottle. Soda bottles work well for this activity, but you may also use juice bottles or, if you can find one, a glass milk bottle.
2. It’s up to your child to choose how to decorate the bottle. An easy way to dress it up would be with washi tape, (adhesive craft tape in various colors and widths, available from craft shops), but they can also use markers or paints made to work on glass. If they’d like, they can sketch a design on paper first, and then transfer their vision to the glass.  
3. When the other decorating is completed and the paints or markers have dried, they can tie a pretty ribbon around the glass vase if they choose.
4. Help your child use wire cutters to cut a length of wire about three feet long. Have them wrap the wire several times around the top of the glass bottle, under the lip of the bottle. After several wraps, help them twist the ends of the wire near the bottle so that it holds the bottle tightly.
5. The remaining wire will be used to hang the glass vase. Use two ends of the wire stretched up vertically and attach the ends of the wire if desired. Two pieces of wire should be strong enough to hold the glass.  
6. Now they can find some nice flowers with stems to place in the vase. They can use as many as will fit!
7. Add water inside the bottle for the flowers, hang the vase, and enjoy the view!