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.
