Making a model from junk materials
Art & Design · Key Stage 1 · The School
Junk is still a material
Boxes, tubes, bottle caps and yoghurt pots are all materials, the same as clay or paper. Each has its own shape and strength. A tube is good for a body or a leg. A flat box is good for a base. Choosing well starts with looking closely at what you have.
Plan before you glue
Lay all your materials out first. Decide what each piece will become. Sketch a quick plan on paper. Gluing before planning usually means gluing something on, deciding it is wrong, and having to pull it off again, which weakens the model.
Choosing how to join pieces
Tape holds two flat surfaces quickly, but it can peel off. Glue holds better, but needs time to dry, so hold pieces still while it sets. Card tabs slotted into slits hold without any glue at all. Choose the join that suits the two materials meeting.
Building a simple robot from junk
Plan first: a cereal box body, a smaller box head, two tubes for legs, bottle caps for eyes. Cut a slot in the body and a tab on the head, so it slots in without glue. Tape the tubes underneath for legs, spread apart, so the robot stands on its own without toppling over. Glue the bottle caps on last, once everything else is already sturdy and standing up by itself.
Testing it stands on its own
Stand your finished model on a table and let go. If it falls over, the base is too small or too light. Widen the legs, or add something heavy at the bottom. A model that only stands while you hold it is not actually finished yet.