There are many DIY wind chimes, here is one of our favourites made from recycled items from around the house. This Plastic Bottle Wind Chime will add a burst of colour to any outdoor play space or patio! All you need is a plastic bottle, paint, yarn and buttons! To start, cut off the tapered, top portion of the plastic bottle.Then have the kids paint each section of the bottle a different colour. When the paint was dry, punch some evenly-spaced holes around the bottom of the bottle. Punch as many holes as you want depending on how many strands of beads you're going to make. A coat of craft varnish gives it some shine and will help protect your homemade wind chime from the elements.
Stringing the beaded chimes: For the outer chimes, give your child a piece of black yarn which and have them load it up with lots of colourful plastic beads. For the inner chime, thread a flat black button (with a hook on the back) on to a long length of yarn. Then double the yarn back, thread both ends through a needle, and fill the length of yarn with sections of black straws and coloured beads. Leaving a few inches of space at the top of each strand of yarn, slip each one through a punched hole, and knot it in place.
Attaching the centre chime: To attach the centre chime, make a hole in the top of the bottle. Using a drill is the easiest and fastest way to do this. Once you have the hole in the bottle, poke the yarn for the centre chime through the hole, but before that you will need a stopper on the inside and outside of the bottle to prevent that centre chime from sliding up and down through the hole: knot the yarn a couple of inches down from the top. This would be the stopper inside the bottle.Then thread the yarn through the hole, and slip it through a pony bead, knot the bead in place, and tie a loop for hanging. You could hang your wind chime using this loop, but just for fun, you can add a metal key ring. When you're finished head out into the yard to find a place to hang your gorgeous homemade wind chimes!
