Tin-Can Alley

Over time, our former test kitchen manager, Donna Bartolini, has opened tons of tins. Luckily, she recycles them into toys for her son, Ray. He very carefully sticks Mom-made magnetic features onto the tins to create a series of friendly, frowning, antennaed and alien faces. Then, after stacking his “robots,” Ray knocks them apart – to the accompaniment of karate whoops and all the satisfying clinks and clanks that tin cans make.

You need:

•Empty 284 mL to 1.36 L cans, clean and dry
•Hammer and wooden cutting board
•Scraps of lightweight cardboard
•Origami paper
•Glue stick (for paper) and Goop glue*
•Pencil and nontoxic markers*
•X-acto knife and cutting mat*
•Magnets*
•Wine-bottle corks, steel wool, chenille stems and foil streamers (all optional)
*Available at craft supply stores

To make:

1. On cutting board, hammer around tin opening to flatten any jagged edges.

2. With glue stick, glue sheets of paper onto 1 side of cardboard pieces. With pencil, draw features onto paper, then, with markers, draw in details. With knife, cut out. Glue magnets onto backs.

3. If desired: With glue stick, glue paper pupil onto 1 end of cork to make buggy eye; glue magnet onto other end. Twist steel wool into moustache; glue on magnet. Twist 1 end of chenille stem into a circle; trim other end to desired length, then bend into L; glue on magnet. Tie streamers together to make hair; glue magnet onto knot.