• 60 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Plastic Bottle Cap Art Ideas

Three bottle cap projects per press, each with how many caps it takes and where to start.

Plastic Bottle Cap Art Ideas

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  1. A crab: a red cap with two paper claws and eyes on stalksCaps, 1. Tape two short strips of card under the front edge for the eye stalks and three legs to each side.
  2. A bunch of balloons: solid cap prints with drawn stringsCaps, 1, and 4 paint colors. Print the balloons overlapping a little and draw every string down to one hand.
  3. Board-game pawns, each cap flying a paper flag on a toothpickCaps, 4 colors. Fill each hollow with modeling clay and stand a toothpick flag upright in it.

Next step Animals to draw, by habitatPictures built from painted dots

All 60 ideas

Mosaics and murals 12

  • A cap fish that shades from blue at the tail to green at the head Caps, 2 colors. Mix the two colors where they meet so the change takes four or five caps, not one.
  • A color wheel in wedges of caps, the biggest caps at the outer edge Caps, 6 colors. Draw the wedges first and fill each from the rim inward, biggest caps at the outside.
  • A counting caterpillar of twenty numbered caps along a wall Caps, 20, in 2 colors. Write a number on each with paint marker and alternate the colors along the body.
  • A giant initial outlined in dark caps and filled with pale ones Caps, 2 colors. Lay the whole outline before any filling, then work inward in rows that follow it.
  • A heart laid out on a ten-by-ten grid of red and white caps Caps, 100, in 2 colors. Rule the grid on card, mark the red squares with a dot and glue row by row.
  • A night sky panel of dark blue caps with a moon of yellow ones Caps, 3 colors. Glue the round yellow cluster first and scatter single white caps among the blue as stars.
  • A picture frame studded with caps in two alternating colors Caps, 2 colors. Glue one cap at each corner, then space the rest evenly along each side between them.
  • A rainbow arch mural with one cap color to each band Caps, 6 colors. Pencil the arcs on a board, glue the outer red band first and nest each band under it.
  • A shade strip of one color, palest cap to darkest Caps in 1 color family, 12. Line them up loose first and move any that look out of order before gluing.
  • A sunflower mural with a brown cap center and a ring of yellow cap petals Caps, 3 colors. Pack the brown caps tight, then set the yellow ones around them in pairs pointing outward.
  • A tree mural: brown caps for the trunk, green for the crown, red for apples Caps, 3 colors. Glue the trunk in two columns, spread the crown wide and swap in a red cap here and there.
  • Your house number spelled out in caps on a painted board Caps, 2 colors. Chalk the digits large, lay caps along the chalk and glue only when the spacing is even.

Animals and flowers 12

  • A bee from a yellow cap banded with black tape Caps, 1. Wrap two narrow strips of black tape across the top and glue two paper wings underneath.
  • A butterfly with four cap wings around a clothespin body Caps, 4, in 2 colors. Glue two large caps above and two small below, then clip the clothespin over the join.
  • A cap daisy: a yellow cap ringed by white ones on a painted stalk Caps, 6, in 2 colors. Glue the middle cap first, press the five against it and paint a stalk on the card.
  • A caterpillar of green caps glued in a wave across a card Caps, 6. Glue them touching in an up-and-down line, draw feet under each and a face on the first.
  • A crab: a red cap with two paper claws and eyes on stalks Caps, 1. Tape two short strips of card under the front edge for the eye stalks and three legs to each side.
  • A frog: a large green cap with two small caps on top as eyes Caps, 3. Stand the two small caps on edge at the back of the large one and draw a wide mouth below.
  • A ladybug: one red cap with marker spots and two stuck-on eyes Caps, 1. Draw a line down the middle and three spots on each side with black marker. Glue it to a paper leaf.
  • A one-cap fish with a triangle paper tail glued behind it Caps, 1. Glue a triangle of paper behind one side as the tail and draw an eye near the opposite edge.
  • A snake of caps threaded on a cord through their centers Caps, 20. Punch a hole in the middle of each with an awl, thread them all facing one way and knot both ends.
  • A turtle with a green cap shell on a felt body Caps, 1. Cut a body with four feet, a head and a tail from felt and glue the cap, open side down, on top.
  • A vase of cap blossoms: a painted vase with a bunch of caps above it Caps, 9, mixed colors. Paint the vase and stalks first and glue a cap at the top of every stalk.
  • An owl with two white caps for eyes on a painted paper body Caps, 2. Glue the caps side by side near the top and stick a black paper circle inside each.

Stamps and prints 12

  • A bunch of balloons: solid cap prints with drawn strings Caps, 1, and 4 paint colors. Print the balloons overlapping a little and draw every string down to one hand.
  • A cluster of grapes printed with a cap's flat top Caps, 1. Dip the flat top in purple paint and print a triangle of dots, one fewer in each row.
  • A drawn bus that rolls on two cap-print wheels Caps, 1. Print the two wheels first, a hand's width apart, and draw the bus to sit on top of them.
  • A homemade stamp: a foam shape stuck to a cap, the cap as its handle Caps, 1. Cut the shape from craft foam, stick it on the flat top and hold the cap by its ridged side.
  • A printed flower: one ring in the middle and six around it Caps, 1. Print the center ring first and keep each petal ring just touching it and its neighbors.
  • A snail-shell stamp: yarn glued in a spiral on a cap top Caps, 1. Coil the yarn from the middle outward on wet glue, let it dry hard and print it in thick paint.
  • A snowman of three ring prints in three cap sizes Caps, 3 sizes. Print the largest ring at the bottom in white on blue paper and draw in the arms and hat.
  • A traffic light: three solid cap prints in a drawn box Caps, 1. Wipe the cap between colors and print red, yellow and green from the top down.
  • Bubbles rising from a drawn fish, printed with the rim of a cap Caps, 1. Dip the open rim in paint and press it down lightly. A fresh dip prints a ring, a dry one a ghost.
  • Fish scales made of half-overlapped ring prints in rows Caps, 1. Print a row of rings that touch, then set the next row half a ring down and half a ring across.
  • Wrapping paper dotted with prints from two sizes of cap Caps, 2 sizes. Print the big dots in rows first and drop a small dot of a second color into each gap.
  • Your name built from cap-top dots, one dot at a time Caps, 1. Write the name lightly in pencil in tall letters and print dots along each stroke.

Games, magnets and counters 12

  • A checkers set of twelve light caps and twelve dark ones Caps, 24, in 2 colors. Rule a board of sixty-four squares on card. Two stacked caps make a king.
  • A flick game: caps slid along a table toward a chalk target Caps, 6, in 2 colors. Draw three rings at the far end, take turns to flick and count the caps left inside.
  • A memory game: matching pairs of stickers hidden inside caps Caps, 16. Put the same sticker inside two caps, eight pairs in all, and turn every cap open side down.
  • A spinning top: a cap with a toothpick through its center Caps, 1. Punch a small hole in the middle, push the toothpick through until a little shows and spin it.
  • A tic-tac-toe bag: X caps and O caps with the grid drawn on the cloth Caps, 10, in 2 colors. Draw the three-by-three grid on a cloth bag and keep the caps inside it.
  • A toss game: caps thrown at rings drawn on a cardboard sheet Caps, 5. Draw three rings, write a score in each, lay the sheet on the floor and throw from two steps back.
  • Alphabet caps: one letter marked on each, vowels in a second color Caps, 26. Write the letters with paint marker and do the vowels on a second color so they are quick to find.
  • Board-game pawns, each cap flying a paper flag on a toothpick Caps, 4 colors. Fill each hollow with modeling clay and stand a toothpick flag upright in it.
  • Counting caps from one to ten: dots in the hollow, numeral on top Caps, 10. Dot the open side with marker like a die and write the numeral on the flat side to check.
  • Fridge magnets: a magnet in the hollow and a drawing on top Caps, 6. Glue a disc magnet inside each cap and stick a small round drawing on the flat side.
  • Mix-and-match faces: eyes, noses and mouths drawn on separate caps Caps, 12. Draw four of each feature on round stickers, one to a cap, and lay three in a column as a face.
  • Tiny round frames: a photo sealed under clear glue inside a cap Caps, 4. Cut each photo to fit the hollow, press it in and cover it with a layer of clear glue.

Mobiles and wind chimes 12

  • A balancing mobile: cap strands slid along two sticks until both hang level Caps, 12. Tie a strand of three caps near each end of both sticks and slide the knots until the sticks sit level.
  • A doorway curtain of cap strands knotted at even gaps Caps, 10 to a strand. Knot the cord under each cap so the caps sit apart, and hang the strands a cap apart.
  • A garland with no holes: caps glued in pairs, rim to rim, over a string Caps, 20. Lay the string across one cap's rim, glue a second cap on top to trap it and move along.
  • A jellyfish: a bowl-shaped lid trailing strands of small caps Caps, 15, and 1 large lid. Punch five holes around the lid's rim and hang a strand of three caps from each.
  • A rain cloud of card and cotton with strands of blue caps falling from it Caps, 12, in blues. Punch four holes along the cloud's lower edge and hang three caps from each.
  • A rainbow mobile of six strands, each a single cap color Caps, 6 colors. Hang the strands from a hoop in rainbow order and make each one a cap longer than the last.
  • A school of cap fish with paper tails at different heights Caps, 7. Glue a paper tail in each hollow, tie a thread to each fish and hang them from two crossed sticks.
  • A strand that alternates caps with large wooden beads Caps, 8, and 8 beads. Thread a bead after every cap. The beads keep the caps level and stop them nesting.
  • A three-tier hanging of cap strands on wire hoops in shrinking sizes Caps, 39. Hang the smallest hoop lowest and tie strands of three caps all around each hoop.
  • A wind chime of five cap strands under a stick, a metal washer on each Caps, 25. Punch each cap, thread five to a line with a knot under every one and tie a washer at the end.
  • Cap bells: a bead on a thread as the clapper inside each cap Caps, 6, and 6 beads. Knot the thread above the cap and again below it, a bead's width under the rim.
  • Caps hung along a coiled wire so they step down in a spiral Caps, 12. Coil stiff wire around a bucket, stretch it into a cone and tie a cap on a short line at each turn.

How it works

A plastic cap is a disc with a flat top, a hollow and a ridged rim. Sixty ideas use those three: the top as a mosaic tile, the rim as a ring stamp, the hollow for a magnet or photo.

Read the full guide

Bottle cap painting ideas need paint that grips

Watery poster paint beads up on a smooth plastic cap. A paint marker holds better, and a sticker holds best. That is why most designs here use the cap in its own color and sort the caps instead of painting them.

Sort before you start

Murals take caps by the hundred, so sort them by color into tubs as they come in. The saved caps of soft drink, water and milk bottles differ in size as well as color, which the snowman print and the dotted wrapping paper rely on.

  • Glue caps open side down. The rim gives the glue a ring to grip and the flat top faces out.
  • A garland needs no holes: two caps glued rim to rim trap the string between them.

Questions and answers

What are bottle cap art ideas for kids?

The ones with no hole to punch: a ladybug with marker spots, a caterpillar of green caps glued in a wave, grapes printed with a cap top, a memory game with stickers hidden inside. Most mobiles and wind chimes need a hole in every cap.

What are some ideas to paint on bottle caps?

Small, bold marks: ladybug spots, an X or an O for tic-tac-toe, a letter of the alphabet, the dots of a die, a number for a counting caterpillar. A paint marker draws them in one pass on smooth plastic.

How do you make a mural out of bottle caps?

Draw the picture on a board, sort caps by color, lay them loose to check the fit, then glue each one open side down. Start with outlines and fill inward. The rainbow arch and the sunflower are the plainest to begin with.

What are plastic bottle caps made of?

Commonly polyethylene or polypropylene, and often a different plastic from the bottle they close. Watery paint beads up on a smooth cap, and stickers, tape and paint markers do better.

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