As winter descends upon us, we should know by now that resisting the cold weather is futile. Instead of cursing the season, why not embrace it? Christmas and all its associated crafts are, undoubtedly, the best part about winter, but the second coolest Christmas craft I’ve managed to find is this igloo made completely out of empty milk jugs.
The one in the video required over 250 jugs to build. No matter how much tea and coffee you drink to keep warm, there’s just no way that you’ll be able to save these up by yourself, so appeal to your neighbors and your community to help save up. There’s also a fantastic website called Freecycle, where you can simply input your area and ask members to keep and give you their milk jugs – this should speed up the process considerably.
Apart from looking really awesome and providing an awesome reading corner or play fort for kids, this grand construction also offers the opportunity for education. It’s a chance to teach kids about the environment and recycling, and about how much damage wasted plastic actually causes to our beautiful earth. It’s also a great time to teach them a bit more about Inuit history and culture.
Video Instructions by TheFamilyJohnson
Take note: Make sure to wash all the jugs properly with bleach so that the old milk doesn’t stink you out!
Steph
You could "insulate" your igloo by stuffing your gallon milk jugs with plastic bags.
Jeanie
I would fill the jugs with Styrofoam beads and put the caps back on. It would hold heat or cool air.
Cristi Roe
Can we make the igloo waterproof against rain? Loooove this idea!
Gladys
YOU all are amazing !
Mercedes Merriam
Such a great idea! My kids will totally go crazy about this igloo. It's a great weekend project and as we are talking more about recycling at home now, it will be a good example too.Thank you for the inspiration! Greets, Mercedes from http://rubbishcollectionbrixton.co.uk/ 🙂
Tigerlily
I made a milk jug igloo for my granddaughters birthday party. It was a hit with all the kids.
I didnt use glue. It wasnt strong enough for me. I needed to transport the igloo to the local park and it needed to cope with excited kids at a birthday party.
I punched holes in the plastic with a metal skewer and then I threaded the bottles onto strong string. The holes are simple to punch and they do not tear. I needed an extra long needle, 15cm, as used to make teddy bears.
I used hot glue to seal the knots.
I was surprised by the bottle tops, many will only fit their own brand and i had quite a mixture of brands. (Friends and neighbors helped me collect 250 bottles) the structure didnt need them and i could have left them off but they looked so pretty
For the entrance, i cut the top off the bottles to make 'sleeves' and slipped 4 sleeves onto the end of every bottle near the entrance.
Betsy
Im lonley. And have no eduction so I remade this 7 times but each time my sister (who is 3) nocked it over cause i didn't use glue and I just stacked also last week I got a divorce
Mari Larsen
Hope things are better for you-
Ravenhouse
Just wondering if this would work to make a small greenhouse? I think it would allow enough light and if the milk jugs are filled with water would it act as a solar type of heat inside? Would love to hear what others think of this idea and maybe any suggestions to improve if it's doable!
Thanks!
Vanessa Beaty
It probably would work, you can add extra layer of something to make it warmer.
Amanda
How long was your string to make the circle to follow for the pattern? We are making this for our book fair!