Summer Fun: Robot Piñatas

What da ya do when you have a whole buncha leftover candy and a whole lotta time on your hands? You make a piñata, of course. We still had a huge stash leftover from Easter, so the boys and I made mini robot piñatas out of tea boxes.

We made our robots so that each part could be stuffed with candy - the arms, the legs, the body, the head. We left the box tops accessible for candy stuffing. The arms, legs, and antennae got sealed up with grey tissue paper. That way you can still get at the candy without destroying the piñata. We can just punch through the paper, or open up the little boxes that are filled with candy, and get at the good stuff without ruining our awesome creations.

We started with our raw materials - tea boxes and toilet paper rolls. These are great building and creating materials. Storing them is sometimes a pain, but necessary for the kind of creative fun we like to have around here. I like to keep a large trash bag or box in my closet. When it gets too full, it's time to make something.





We visualized what we wanted our robots to look like and got to work painting the parts gray.

After the paint dried, we started decorating our robot parts with foil tape, duct tape, construction paper, and aluminum foil. This part was fun, but sticky.



We used a hole punch to make a couple of holes in the head and body, and ran some strong twine through them, so we could hang up the piñatas later.

Next, we used a glue gun to put our robots together. I squeezed the glue onto each part, handed it to the boys, and they held the part to their robot until it was just set. The glue sets surprisingly sturdy.

After the robots were completely set, it was time to stuff. This was the really fun part. Candy in the head. Candy in the body. Candy in the arms and legs, and ears. Yummy robots!

We sealed up the robot's toilet paper roll extremities by gluing a simple tissue paper circle to the end of each. I used a small baby food jar to make the circles.



Lastly, I gathered the twine we had strung through the body and head of each robot and tied them together about a foot above the robot's head. Now you have something to tie a longer rope to if you actually want to hit yours. You really need the twine through both parts of the robot for the best support and balance. You don't want your robot's head popping off before it's time for his festive bludgeoning, now do you?



Please read this next part in your best robot voice: These - cute - piñatas - are - ready - to - roll!!



This is what you'll need for this project:
- a plastic table cloth to protect your table
- 1 large tea box per robot for the body
- 1 small tea box per robot for the head
- 6 or 7 toilet paper rolls per robot for the arms, legs, neck, antennae, ears
- gray paint and paint brushes
- aluminum foil
- duct tape and/or foil tape (I found these at the dollar store)
- colored construction paper
- scissors
- pencils and crayons
- glue sticks
- a glue gun
- twine or thick string for hanging
- a hole punch
- a bunch of leftover candy
- gray or silver tissue paper

Ezra wanted to break his piñata the traditional way, so we strung it up, and let him at it.



We also printed out some robot coloring pages and turned our Thursday into a regular robot party day. Robot voice again: Party - on!