Scrap metal is super useful. You can sell it to a scrap metal recycling center, you can melt it into metal ingots for crafting projects or you can repurpose metal into fun objects. Have a kid who loves to craft? Then, grab some old metal and try one of these fun and easy-enough-for-kids projects:
1. Wind Chimes
Some old metal cutlery and a tin jug are all you need to make a fun wind chime with your child. To get started, drill small holes around the rim of your metal jug and through the handles of your spoons, forks and knives. Then wind fishing line through the holes so the cutlery is hanging from the jug.
If the jug has a handle, use that to hang it from a hook on your front porch, or drill two more holes into the bottom of the jug and create a loop out of fishing wire. Then, listen to the magical melodies of repurposed scrap metal. If your child likes the sound, hang this project right outside his or her bedroom window.
2. Crazy Fork Hooks
If you have lots of cutlery but no jug, turn your forks into a crazy set of hooks. Perfect for decorating a kids' room and helping to keep it organised, these hooks are relatively easy to make.
Bend the handle of your forks upward so that they form a hook shape. Lay the tines of the fork against a board painted the colour of your choice. Secure the forks in place with screws. Then, pull out the tines to simulate the effect of crazy hair, and let your kid decorate the forks with googly eyes and other parts to make funny faces.
3. Coaster Gears
If your kids don't have the attention span to do the above two projects, consider making coaster gears. Simply, take a few old metal gears from old bikes, hold them over a piece of felt and trace their shape. Cut out the felt and glue it on the bottom of the gear.
4. Spanner Dinos
If your kid prefers to create something wild rather than prevent rings on furniture, turn an old metal spanner into a dinosaur. To make your dino, orient the spanner so the handle forms the tail and the wrench forms the face of the dinosaur. Let your kid create feet and legs using washers, nuts and bolts.
You can hold all of this scrap metal together with thin wire or even pipe cleaners, but if your kid is dying to experiment with welding, build little scrap metal creatures and let your child weld them together.
Share
1 June 2015
Hi, my name is Christine. About a year ago, I left the city and moved to a remote corner of Australia. I noticed that while surrounded by natural beauty and peace, I was missing several amenities, and one of these was access to recycling. As a result, I started figuring out ways to expand recycling in remote areas. I also started researching how to advocate for bringing it to these areas and educating citizens about the importance of how it helps. If you want to learn about recycling, what it does, and why it can be hard to find in some areas, you need to explore my blog. Enjoy reading!
