Cheap & Easy Robot Building Ideas – Maker Fun Factory VBS

Since this year’s VBS theme, Maker Fun Factory, focuses heavily on robots, we’re all going to be professional robot builders by the end of the summer!  I’ve looked at more robot building ideas than I care to admit, so I thought I’d share some of my favorites.  Thankfully, robots are cheap and fairly easy to put together!

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  1. To build a robot (or 100 robots), you’ll need to start with the robot’s body.  This can be anything from a cardboard box to an empty soup can to a secondhand Ikea metal locker.  Recycling centers are a great place to find robot bodies!

I found this secondhand Ikea metal locker on our local facebook sale site for $5!

2. After you have a robot body, you’ll be ready for the essentials.  Eyes are pretty standard.  You can find googly eyes in pretty much any size (and the self-adhesive ones are my favorite!).  I started on my metal locker by adding eyes made from black and white cardstock (I traced round lids in my kitchen to make circles).  I attached the eyes using scrapbooking adhesive.  They’re quick and easy to use!

3. Now for the fun part – accessories!  Does your robot need arms? legs? 3 eyeballs and one foot?  Robots can be anything you want them to be.  My husband took my robot and decided to make him arms from different sizes of disposable cups.  Hubby said he’s going to paint the cups, but they’re clear for now.

You can use anything you want to accessorize your robot, but there are some cheap craft supplies that are good to have on hand!  We’re building tin can robots one night at VBS, so I’m planning to make sure we have plenty of supplies so the kids can let their imaginations go wild!  If you have other ministries at church, you can make themed robots (for example, our Operation Christmas Child team is making an OCC robot with items that get packed in the shoeboxes).

Cheap & Easy Robot Building Materials:
Duct tape (Make sure no sharp can edges poke/cut the kids!)
Pipe cleaners

Googly eyes
Cardstock paper
Scissors (adult scissors, kid’s scissors, fun scissors)
Washers
String
Magnets
Nuts & bolts
Felt
Grass seed (I saw an ADORABLE picture of a tin can robot with grass planted in the can so it had hair made of live grass!)
Paint
Paintbrushes
E6000 glue or Aleene’s tacky glue
Sharpie markers
Flat back rhinestones or beads (Even robots need a little bling, right?!)
VBS stickers
Feathers
Pom pom balls
Scrapbooking adhesive

If you have other great robot building supplies, please share them in the comments!  It takes a village (to plan a great VBS)!

In case you haven’t already heard, this year’s VBS theme from Group Publishing is Maker Fun Factory {read more about the basics here}.  The VBS kits are now available for purchase and I HIGHLY suggest getting the ultimate starter kit that includes a digital copy of all the materials on a USB drive.

I am a long-time Vacation Bible School lover.  I’ve lead in several capacities throughout the VBS world and am currently our church’s VBS director.  It is a joy for me to be able to share VBS ideas and resources with others!  I will continue to share VBS ideas here as we prepare for Maker Fun Factory.  Follow the blog to see more of our ideas and planning!  Please let me know if there are any specific VBS items or ideas you need help with!

This article has 1 comments

  1. Lauri Reply

    Hi! We are using OCC as our mission focus this year for VBS. I would LOVE to see the robot that is built from shoebox items!

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