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Mr. Potato Head Robot

Mr. Potato Head Robot

Do you remember playing with Mr. Potato Head as a kid? I thought it was so fun to re-design him over and over again, and loved how easy it was to erase and start with a blank slate (er, face.)

This fun project is the robot + recycled materials version of that old favorite. This was a great opportunity to do two of my favorite things: 1) make a trip to the hardware store (my four-year-old daughter was FASCINATED by all the amazing things you can find there, and 2) make use of the random recyclables and other supplies I've squirreled away in our craft drawer.

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Materials you'll need

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1
Here is a picture of what we gathered together for this project.

Step 2
Affix the magnet to all the pieces your kids might want to use. Obviously using a hot glue gun is a grown-up step, but you can also use the magnetic tape for slightly lighter items (bottle caps, for example). And for the metal items (washers, screws), they'll stick to the magnets naturally.

Step 3
Add any extra embellishments you want. We glued pompoms onto the bottle tops and the corks, wrapped pipe cleaners around the screws and washers.

Final result!
Turn your little designers loose! We thought it was fun to document each creation with my phone before starting over, so my kiddos could tear apart their creations and start again. (I'll be uploading those as soon as I get them off my phone!)