Crafty Friday: Robots

Last fall I was asked to be one of a variety of artists to present my particular type of art (mixed media collage) to an elementary school. My table was decorated with an array of paintings including those from my etsy shop. Each artist was asked to bring a hands on activity for the kids demonstrating their specific art field. I decided to bring a bunch of scrap pieces of paper and glue to let the kids create their own collages. I was surprised to find that after viewing my work, one painting in particular inspired most of the kids to make robots. Even more, I was in awe with the differences and creativity displayed in each robot collage. It was that event which inspired today’s Crafty Friday.

Here’s what you need:

For 2-D robots:
*foil
*construction/scrapbook paper
*scissors
*buttons
*plastic lids
*markers
*trinkets
*glue

For 3-D robots:
everything above plus...
*cans
*cardboard tubes
*empty oatmeal containers
*egg cartons
*pipe cleaners/brads

Two dimensional robot making is quite simple. You start by setting variety of pieces of scrap paper and foil along with plastic lids and buttons. If you don’t have any scrap paper, let your child cut out different shapes and sizes if they are able to, or cut the pieces for them.

Then the child pick and choose from the different shapes and materials and arrange them on a piece of construction paper. Once a design is in place, glue it to the paper, sign it, and call it done.

(Finn’s robot with the funky eyebrows) (Audrie’s penguin robot named P-Pod)

For the three dimensional robots, we brought out the big guns, and by big guns, I meant the hot glue gun. I really had no idea how to go about creating these guys. I just figured I’d put the supplies in front of the kids, they’d come up with a design, and I’d glue it together for them.

It took a little more planning and a lot more digging through the garage to find junk that might work for robot legs, or robot eyes, or robot wheels. We finally came up with some ideas that worked.

For WALL-E, a can was used as the body, empty egg cartons cut by the pair and stuffed with a halved toilet paper tube made up the eyes, and a repurposed foil pie pan created the wheels and arms. Everything was attached with the hot glue gun (by me). Gordo started with an oatmeal container wrapped in construction paper. A tin can was used for his head and washers, a button, and an old keyboard key served as his eyes nose and mouth. His legs were made out of upside down mini plastic cups with toilet paper tubes stuffed in them. His arms (which were supposed to be pipe cleaners, but we’re out of stock) consisted of a cut paper towel tube capped in individual egg carton cups. If we would have attached his arms with brads, Gordo would have been able to move them. But since we took the lazy way out and stuck them on with a blob of glue, he’s pretty much useless as a robot. We added scrapbook paper, buttons and old keyboard keys to make Gordo feel a bit better about being a useless robot. Again, everything was attached (by me) with hot glue. I don’t know if this is the end of robot making for us. I feel like, with a bit more planning, and a lot more digging (through my grandpa’s workshop this time) we can come up with a pretty cool robot.

In the meantime, happy crafting!

Nessa Dee