Total Time 1 to 2 hours Ages school-age
Thanks to its jumbo rear wheels made from cardboard disks and old CDs, this green machine is surprisingly speedy. A seat cut from the corner of a soap box makes the perfect perch for toy tractor operators.
Download Soda-Bottle Tractor Template
by Amy Brown
What you'll need
- 8 (3-3/4-inch diameter) cardboard disks
- Yellow duct tape
- Black tape
- 6 CDs
- Pushpin
- 3 wooden skewers, cut into two 5-inch pieces and one 3-3/4-inch piece
- Glue dots
- Fabric measuring tape
- Clean plastic 20-ounce bottle
- Scissors
- Straw, cut into two 3-inch pieces
- Milk-jug caps (we used 2 yellow and 1 green)
- 5 small hex nuts (we used 7/16-inch)
- 3 yellow soda-bottle caps
- Empty soap box
- Large black bottle cap
- Black marker cap
How to make it
1. For each rear wheel, cover one side of a cardboard disk with yellow tape, then use black tape to cover one side of a CD. With the pushpin, punch an axle hole in the center of each cardboard disk, then use a skewer to widen the openings. Stack 4 cardboard disks and 3 CDs, as shown, lining up the holes and using glue dots to hold them together.
2. Using the tape measure and starting from one of the bottle's vertical seams, mark the axle holes as shown in the diagram. Mark the steering column hole about 3 1/2 inches from the bottle's nose. Use the pushpin to punch the holes, then widen them by inserting the point of the scissors and twisting (a parent's job). Push a straw piece through each set of axle holes. Insert a 5-inch skewer piece in the steering column hole.
3. To attach the rear wheels, push one wheel stack onto a 5-inch skewer piece and insert it through the straw. Use a pushpin to punch a hole in each yellow milk-jug hubcap. Press one onto the skewer, then use a glue dot to add a decorative hex nut. Add the opposing wheel, hubcap, and hex nut. Make sure that both wheels touch the ground and neither grazes the bottle.
4. For the front wheels, use a pushpin to punch a hole in the center of two yellow soda-bottle caps, then use the point of the scissors to widen them. Push one cap onto the 3-3/4-inch skewer piece. Insert the piece through the straw. Add the opposing wheel, then use a glue dot to attach a hex nut to each.
5. Cut a seat from the corner of a soap box, cover it with yellow tape, and secure it with a glue dot. Use a pushpin to punch a hole in the black bottle cap and widen it with the scissors. Push it onto the steering column and attach a hex nut with a glue dot. Use glue dots to make the exhaust pipe from the marker cap and green milk-jug cap and to attach it to the tractor. Screw the last yellow cap onto the bottle opening.
Crafts
