The Soda Bottle Lego Keeper, Gunther

For weeks, I've been itching to work on this soda bottle penguin project my awesome friend, Betchay, told me about.  For.  Weeks.
Finally, the opportune time came!  It was Recycle Day at school, and Kenji wanted to bring a new craft for show and tell.  YAY!  (I thrive on cheap thrills, can't you tell?)

There are tons of instructional blogs on the net on how you can make this cool, little dude.  But Kenji and I thought we'd add our own crafty twist to it. 
Here we go...

First off, don't throw away those empty soda bottles.  You can make a whole rookery of penguins with them!  If you wanted to.  And who wouldn't? :P

After cleaning thoroughly, chop the bottom halves of two bottles, making sure one is shorter than the other.  I had to recruit my husband for this and his trusty, extra sharp shears.

Other blogs would tell you to get down to painting at this point.  But us Papier Macheniacs slathered the plastic bottles with tissue and PVC glue first.  This is to make a sturdier penguin.  And to make poster color work.  Poster color will slide off plastic surfaces, and we didn't have acrylic paint at the time.  So...
A plus!  Papier mache-ing dulls the bottles' cut edges, too, making it safer for kids to handle.

Use your marker to draw the penguin's features and to design his little hat.

NOW, you can paint.

Wait for it to dry and... SWISHBANG!... you got your very own Soda Bottle Penguin!

Other blogs would stop there.  But Kenji and I didn't, of course.  Recycling plastic bottles into adorable pieces of art is cool and all, but we wanted to introduce practicality into the mix, too.  I mean, it IS an empty soda bottle.  Why waste the space, right?

And so the Soda Bottle Lego Keeper, Gunther, is born.

Make your own soda bottle penguin.  Squeeze in your own personal touch to it.  And have loads of fun with your kids.
Oh, and ace Recycle Day, too.  Woot!  Thanks again, Betchay!