Tin-Can Wind Chime

You and your littles can make one of these!

This is a fun craft project to do with little ones. It's awesome because most of you will have all the supplies around your house, already. This is a great way to show your little ones how to reuse and recycle things that would otherwise be trash!!

You will need:

~ 4 or 5 Tin Cans (paper off and cleaned)
~ Hammer
~ Scissors
~ Yarn or string
~ Embroidery hoop or 2 wooden dowels or sticks (be creative!!)
~ Hot glue gun (optional, we didn't use it but you can)
~ Beads (optional, too)

~ A large keychain ring or S hook

~ A nail
~ Paint (we used acrylic)
~ Paint brushes

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Directions: After you have cleaned and taken off the label of your cans....

While you are letting the paint dry, you can get the hanger ready. We used two plastic rods we had laying around the house. You can use just about anything, two small sticks, embroidery hoop, 2 wooden dowels etc. Get creative and try to reuse something you have around the house.

(if you want to use glue instead of knots, go for it!)

Once you have the middle secure, you can start wrapping the rod with string. We started from the inside, wrapped the string around once and tied a knot. Then we continued wrapping the string all the way down the rod, and finished with a knot. Do this for all four rods...

(if you are using an embroidery hoop, or something round, you can just tie a knot or glue at a spot on the circle,wrap all the way around till you get back to the spot you started. Then, glue or knot the string to secure it)

Once the paint is dried on your cans,

Then cut some string at your desired length. Tie a knot near the end of the string, with the opposite end, string it through the hole you just made in the can.

*This next part is totally optional, but if your feeling fancy...

Now, all thats left to do is tie all of your strings, with your cans and beads attached, to your hanger. I also used an old key chain ring to use as a hook to hang it. You could use wire or an S ring, whatever you have that can hang things would work!

*It is good to tie your strings at different lengths and to adjust as needed so that it hangs balanced*

The finished product......

Like I said before, this a great project to get your kids involved with. My son is 5 and he did almost everything (I did most of the knots). I didn't worry about it looking perfect. For me its about the process and letting my lil one have fun, get creative and seeing how much he can do without my help. It really is amazing what kids can do if you just give them the space to try. They will amaze you!!

I got the idea from this website HERE, if you want to check it out for reference.

Hope you try it out and since this is one of my first DIY's, let me know how I did with explaining it. Feedback would be very helpful!

xoxoxo

Cate