We are thrilled to share for the first time on Pure Portugal a blog from the fantastic Alex at The Mini Smallholder. Although based in the UK Alex has some great ideas and makes some wonderful blog posts about all sorts of things which will be as useful in Portugal as England! Check out more of her blogs here!

Today we bring you great simple step by step instructions for how to make a Bug Home! These are not just any old bug homes, these are the height of luxury for any bug, plus they are totally free to make, use old plastic and are child friendly at the same time! My favourite aspect of this is the reuse of the plastic. If you and your household are already non-plastic users no need to worry as you will have neighbours or work colleagues who you can call on to bring you their old bottles.

You will need:
Empty clear bottles, as many as you like
Wool
Plenty of cardboard, paper, twigs etc
One pair of child safe scissors
Drill, work gloves, light eye protection
One crochet hook – unless you have found a hooked twig!
The first bit can be done before the kids get involved, depending on their age. So pop on your work gloves and eye protection and drill a hole in each bottles base – with a masonry drill bit and the wood bits won’t cut through the plastic.

 

 

 

Now for the fun bit….

You have to poke the wool, in a hook through the hole you have created at the bottom, then try to hook it with a good twig, using the child safe scissors cut to the desired length. This is very much the right time to set a competition up between yourself and anyone else helping as there is no skill involved in this whatsoever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next step, once they are all threaded is to stuff with all of the goodies you have found. So make the most of your garden and get some twigs together, or go for a nice nature walk and see what other bits of bark, dried grasses or anything else interesting you can find.

These look really scruffy, but they have become little observation stations and you can then enjoy watching them as they become homes to all of the critters in your garden. It seems a fitting reward to the bugs for working hard in your garden!

Make sure you hang them at eye level for even the smallest family member so that everyone can watch and monitor their progress.

For other ideas on how to upcycle single use plastic please have a look here!