Cupboard Crafts & Experiments: Recycled Balance Art

Supplies:

  • Paper towel cardboard tube
  • Stapler
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Pieces of cardboard
  • 2-3 bamboo skewers
  • Recycled materials and craft materials - can tabs, bottle caps, pipe cleaners, paper clips, etc.
  • Stickers- optional
  • Paint and paintbrush - optional
  • Markers - optional

Directions:

  1. Press down on one end of the paper towel tube and staple two times, closing up that end.
  2. Cut a small v-shaped notch in the middle of the closed end of the tube, between the staples.
  3. Decorate tube with paint, stickers, or markers.
  4. Cut out pieces of corrugated cardboard. One rectangle about 6" x 4" and smaller rectangles and triangles. Paint or decorate.
  5. Glue the open end of the cardboard tube onto the middle of the 6" x 4" rectangle piece of cardboard. Let dry 1-2 hours.
  6. After you've decorated the cardboard pieces, take a bamboo skewer and carefully thread the pointed end of the skewer through the wavy corrugated spaces inside the cardboard until the skewer comes out the other side.

    7. Do the same with another shape of cardboard on the other end of the skewer. Try balancing these two pieces by placing the skewer into the notch you created on the closed end of your cardboard tube.

  7. Add various other pieces of recycled materials to each side of your balance art. See if you can still make it balance. Find the center of gravity, which is the point where where all the weight of your art piece is centered so balance can occur.
  8. Decorate the base with caps or other recycled pieces.

Watch this project at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_spLdHMzeg