How to make a bird from recycled materials

We wanted to share with you some carnival designs which you can make at home from recycled materials.

One of our artists Reka has made a really beautiful dove from small yoghurt drink bottles - something you might have to hand in the house.

Here is how to make it, step by step.

What you need

The materials you need to make this bird include the following:

• 4 empty yogurt drink bottles

• glue gun

• sequins or any decorative material you can find like tinsel, beads or foil

• scissors

• a marker pen

But f you don't have plastic bottles, or access to a glue gun you can also follow the templates to make the birds from paper, card or any other materials you have to hand.

Cut out your pieces

First you need to remove the outer layer of plastic label from the bottles.

Next you need to draw the right shapes to cut out onto the bottle with your marker pen.

See the images below which show in detail the different shapes you will need. You will need one bottle to cut out the dove head shape, two wings from two more bottles and a tail from your fourth bottle.

Cut out your pieces

You can now start cutting out your bird pieces. For the first "body" piece, you need to cut off the stem of the bottle and then along the dotted line on both sides of the bottle so you end up with one joined up piece.

For the wings you can cut a wing from either side of the bottle, so make sure you have copied your wing design onto two sides of the bottle before you start cutting out! The same applies to the head - you will need two identical cut out pieces for the head. Finally you only need one tail, so cut that out from one side of your fourth bottle.

Stick your bird together

Now you are ready to put your bird together. Hold the body up in your hand, and stick one wing shape either side of the body. Next do the same with the head shapes, covering up the edges of the wings, and finally add the tail to the back.

Decorate your dove

Once the glue has dried, you are now ready to decorate your bird. Reka used sequin ribbon strips all around the edge of the birds head and wings, but you can get creative! You can use paint, marker pen, beads or material to decorate your bird. Get creative!