Mr. Bottle Bones

I'm Penelope Hsu at the craft table with Family Fun. My buddy here, Mr. Bottle Bones, is easy to make and is the afterlife of any good Halloween party.

You'll need 8 or 9 clean plastic gallon jugs, string, scissors, a glue gun, and craft knife, and a one hole punch. To make the head, choose a jug with a pair of circular indentations opposite the handle and turn it upside down. In the corner, opposite the handle, cut out the eyes, nose, and a large smiling mouth. Make two small slits in the top of the head and tie a loop of string through them for hanging the finished skeleton. For the chest, cut eight horizontal slits to resemble a ribcage directly opposite the handle. To form shoulders, cut off two jug handles leaving a small collar on the ends. Punch a hole at one end of each shoulder. For hips, cut all the way around a jug, about 4 1/2 inches up from the bottom. Take the bottom piece and trim away a small smile shape from each side to make a four cornered shape. Punch holes in two opposite corners. Make a waist by cutting out two spouts leaving a Ω inch collar on each. Glue the spouts together and let them dry. Form the arms and legs by cutting eight long bone shapes from the corner sections of three jugs. Cut into the curve shape of the jug to make the bones even more realistic. From two of these bones, cut out the center to make the forearms. Punch a hole through each end of all eight bones. Let the kids trace their hands and feet onto the side of a jug then cut out the shapes. Now that you've created all the pieces, its time to bring your skeleton to life. Glue the head and chest together at the neck by connecting the spouts of the two jugs with a thick band of hot glue. Attach the shoulders to the chest section with hot glue. Then, hot glue the waist to the bottom of the chest and the top of the hip section. Use string to tie two leg sections to each hip and two arm sections to each shoulder. Punch holes in the hands and feet and tie them onto the arms and legs. He may be a little spooky, but he's sure to tickle some funny bones too!