With school holidays on the horizon, now is the perfect time to start stockpiling ideas to keep little ones busy and having fun all summer long!

Crafts are a fantastic way to upcycle everyday items like plastic bottle tops and empty plastic bottles into something they’ll use, and activities can easily be tailored to suit your child’s age and abilities.

For pre-schoolers why not encourage them to take inspiration from the colour of the bottle top and make it into a bug that they can find in their garden or local park? Red bottle tops make excellent ladybirds and all it takes is a black felt tip pen, some stick on eyes and some black craft paper or thin card.

Yellow lids can be transformed into bumble bees, blue bottle tops make colourful beetles or butterflies and green lids are great for shield bugs – also called stink bugs!

For older children, why not add some year round colour to your garden with upcycled flowers from old plastic soft drink bottles?

Take an empty 2 litre bottle and, using a felt tip pen, draw petals around the top of the bottle (using the lid as the centre of the flower). Once you’re happy with the design carefully cut out the flower, leaving the lid in place.

Gently fold back the petals to create the perfect blossom, then colour both sides of the petals using paints or coloured felt tip pens.

Tape or glue your flower to a wooden stick and, if you’re feeling extra creative, cut out some leaves from green felt and attach them to the stick with washi tape.

If you’re craft supplies are running low ahead of the school holidays, don’t forget that Wilko has all the glue, glitter, feathers, wiggly eyes, craft paper, pom poms and pipe cleaners you need to keep little ones entertained and let their imagination flow this summer!