Turn your old socks into a no-fuss cactus garden.

What You Need

• Construction paper
• Craft glue
• Flower pot
• Plastic-foam ball
• Googly eyes
• Green paint
• Pebbles (enough to fill pot)
• Plastic grocery bags (optional)
• Rubber band
• Old sock (green ones save a step)
• Toothpicks

What You Do

1. Make the cactus shape
   Push a plastic-foam ball into the toe of a sock. (The sock should fit snugly around the ball.) For a tall cactus, add plastic bags or other stuffing after the foam ball. Wrap a rubber band around the sock to keep everything tightly in place.
2. Paint the sock green
   You can skip this step if you use a green sock!
   You may need a few coats to completely cover it.
3. Add pebbles
   After the paint has dried, place the sock in a flower pot, then fill the pot with pebbles.
4. Add eyes and spikes
   Glue on googly eyes. Then break toothpicks in half. Press the pointed ends into the sock until it is covered with “spines.”
5. Decorate the cactus spikes
   Cut flower shapes from construction paper. Stick them on a few of the toothpick spines, as shown.

   Craft by Michele Reyzer. Originally appeared in the August 2010 issue of Ranger Rick magazine.