If you follow me on instagram, you know I love taking everyday waste items and turning them into something purposeful. That’s how this craft came about. I saw I had an empty pasta box and a bare paper towel roll. The shape of the box immediately made me think of some kind of robot, and numberbot was born! His food of choice? Numbers! When he’s full, take the numbers out and add them, sort them, create a pattern… whatever you want!
Here are the steps to create your own numberbot.
Step 1 – Materials
You’ll need:
an empty box with a see-through window
a paper towel roll
paint
straws or pipe-cleaners
glue/tape
scissors
Step 2: Prepare your materials
The paper towel roll will become our bot’s eyes. Cut two pieces of the roll, and then create slits like you see in the picture. When you fold the slits inwards, it will create a base to apply your glue and stick the eyes on to the bot.We punched some holes into the side of the box to give the bot arms and legs. This is where you can insert the straws or pipe-cleaners.
Step #3 – Paint and Decorate
My daughter loved painting the box, and decorating it with different patterns. And, I loved the time it freed up for me to do whatever I wanted :D. After the bot was painted and dried, we removed the plastic window (this becomes the bots mouth). Then we added pipe cleaner arms, legs and antenna.
Ta-daaaa (I never claimed we were artists :S)
Step #4 – Feed the Bot
Feed the bot numbers (we used foam numbers).Or, you could feed the bot letters and make the letter sounds as you put them in. Or take them out afterwards and create words with them.
Before you feed the bot, determine how to know when the bot is full. For example, we said our bot was full whenever it fell over. Alternatively, you could say the bot becomes full after eating 5 numbers, or when a timer goes off. It’s really up to you :).
Step #5 – Remove the contents from the bot
This is where the learning happens. Here are some ways to manipulate the numbers and create a learning experience:
