It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Upcycled Halloween Spider}

Halloween is THIS WEEKEND! Frannie will be practicing social distancing, staying home instead of trick-or-treating with her friends, but she's still full of Halloween spirit! Frannie found a fun activity you can do, too - making a spooky, upcycled spider!

Here's what you need:

• 2-liter plastic bottle
• Black acrylic paint
• Scissors
• Glue
• Googly eyes

What to do:
1. Clean out a 2-liter plastic bottle and remove labeling.

2. Pour black paint in the bottle, screw cap on, and shake the bottle until black paint has coated the entire bottle. This may be messy, so make sure the cap is on tight! When you're done, pour the excess paint out.

3. Let the paint dry overnight.

4. Cut the top of the bottle off and recycle.

5. Make legs for the spider by cutting the bottom of the bottle into 8 strips.

6. Bend the legs outward at the base of each strip.

7. Bend the legs inward about halfway down each strip.

8. Bend the legs inward again at the end of each strip.

9. Glue the googly eyes on your spider.

10. Decorate your house with your spooky spider!

Frannie wishes you a safe and fun Halloween!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Upcycle: Toilet Paper Roll Bat Decorations}

It's finally October! Do you know what that means? Halloween is right around the corner!

You can make this Halloween fun and sustainable by upcycling a paper towel roll or toilet paper roll into one of Frannie's favorite spooky decorations: flying bats! Hang them in any room in your house and even outside, as long as they don't get wet!

Before you get started, you'll need to gather some supplies: toilet paper or paper towel rolls; black paint; white paint, googly eyes, or other eye-shaped stickers, the creepier the better; brushes; black paper; scissors; and glue. If you would like to make your bats look like they are flying at you, you will also need string and a hole punch.

If you're using a paper towel roll, you will need to cut it into three smaller pieces that are about the size of a toilet paper roll.

1. If you want to hang your bats from your door handle or tree limbs, start by punching 2 holes on either side of the roll and thread your string through.

2. Fold the ends of the empty toilet paper roll in together. You may need to secure the folds with glue.

3. Paint the roll black. While it's drying, cut out bat wings from the paper. You can cut the wings individually or as one whole piece. Either way, make sure to leave some space between the wings or a tab at the end of a wing so you can glue them to the back of the roll.

4. Once the glue is dry, bend the wings back just enough so that they stick out from bat.

5. Now it's time for the eyes. You can either glue on googly eyes, place the eye stickers. If you're painting the eyes, start by painting on small white ovals. When the white paint dries, dab a small circle of black paint for the pupils.

6. Display your bat where everyone can see!

Have a very Happy Halloween everyone!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Have a Green Halloween!}

Happy Halloween, friends!

Whether you’re going to a costume party or staying at home watching scary movies, here are 5 tricks to make this Halloween a treat for the Earth.

1) Use the whole pumpkin. Jack-o-Lanterns are a favorite part of many people’s Halloween.  By buying from a local pumpkin patch, you are reducing the amount of time and effort it takes to transport the pumpkin to the store. That saves water!  Try roasting the seeds for a salty snack or using the innards to make pumpkin pie. And once Halloween is all over, you can put your pumpkin in the compost.

2) Instead of regular candy, hand out treasures!  Treasures can be little trinkets like seed packets or items made from recycled materials that will last longer than one night and can help reduce packaging waste. Can’t give up your sweet tooth? Instead of buying your Halloween candy at a store, buy it from a group that is raising money to support an amazing cause.

3) DIY your Halloween decorations! Frannie has shown you in previous blogs some ways to make cool Halloween decorations out of materials you can easily find in your house. Even better, you can recycle or reuse them after you’re done!

4) Help your candy wrappers rise from the dead! If you’re really crafty, you can take your used candy wrappers and make cute barrettes, hair bows, and broaches. For a simpler option, send your candy wrappers to Terracycle’s Candy Wrapper Zero Waste Box. There, candy wrappers are repurposed and used to make notebooks, tote bags, and much more.

5) Costume-swap with your friends! Did you know that it takes 713 gallons of water to make a single cotton t-shirt? Many Halloween costumes are made up of multiple pieces and most costumes will only be worn once and then thrown away. Save water (and time and money shopping for costumes) this year by swapping costumes with your friends or jazz up last year’s costume with some new accessories!

Have a Green Halloween!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {DIY Halloween Bats}

Halloween is almost here!  Are you ready?  If not, it's easy! You can make your own bat decorations for any room in your house and even outside (as long as they don't get wet!) in just a few steps.

You'll need an empty toilet paper or paper towel roll, black paint, white paint or googly eyes or some other eye-sticker, brushes, black paper, scissors, and glue.  The string and the hole punch are optional if you are considering hanging your decorations from door handles or tree limbs.

Before beginning, if you're using a paper towel roll, you will need to cut it into three smaller pieces about the size of a toilet paper roll.

1. If you want to hang up your bats at the end, then you need to start by punching 2 holes on either side of the roll and thread your string through.  Then, fold the ends of the empty toilet paper roll in together.

2. Paint the roll black and, while it dries, cut out bat wings from the paper.  Make sure to leave a spot in the middle so you can glue the wings to the back of the roll. You're almost done!

3. Once the glue is dry, bend the wings back just enough so that they stick out from bat. At this point, you can either stick on your googly eyes or eye stickers or just dab on some white paint for the eyes.


 4. Hang your bat where everyone can see! Have a very Happy Halloween everyone!

P.S. You may have noticed that Frannie isn't here to do this craft with you today, but don't worry.  She's on her way to the Groundwater Foundation's 2017 National Conference in Boise, Idaho!  She is so excited to meet with groundwater professionals from all over the United States and share with you some stories about her adventures in a couple of weeks. See you then!