Draw, build and paint your own robot.
Robots make wonderful art subjects: boxes, circles, antennas and big personalities. These projects use things you already have at home, and each one ends with a robot that tells a story.
Draw a robot in six shapes
Start with shapes you already know. Every robot is made of them.
A rectangle body
Make it tall, wide or tiny. That decides the robot's personality.
A square head
Put it on top, on the side, or on a long neck.
Two circle eyes
Big eyes look friendly; small eyes look serious.
Lines for arms and legs
Bend them to make the robot wave, run or dance.
A triangle antenna
Or two, or a spring, or a light bulb.
A heart on the chest
Or a dial, a screen, or a button that says GO.
Cardboard robot
A box robot can be as small as a tissue box or as big as you.
Body and head
Cereal boxes, tissue boxes and shipping boxes.
Buttons and eyes
Bottle caps, buttons and paper circles.
Shiny parts
Foil around tubes for arms and legs.
Control panel
Markers or stickers for dials, switches and lights.
Painting ideas
Try a different technique for each robot.
| Technique | How | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Sponge stamps | Cut sponges into squares and circles, dip and press. | Rows of bolts and panels. |
| Tape resist | Tape a robot shape, paint over it, peel the tape. | Crisp, clean robot outlines. |
| Salt texture | Sprinkle salt on wet watercolor, let it dry, brush off. | Rusty, old-robot metal. |
| Collage | Cut shapes from magazines and glue them together. | A robot made of everything. |
Make it tell a story
Give your robot a name and a task. Does it water plants, walk the dog or sort socks? Draw a comic strip of its day in four boxes: wake up, a problem, a solution, the happy ending. Stories turn a drawing into a character.
Grown-up helper notes
A few tips make art time smoother.
- Cover the table before painting
- Keep scissors and glue guns for grown-up hands
- Save boxes and caps in one bin for robot days
- Display finished robots where everyone can see them
A robot art week
Five short sessions, one idea each. Every session fits in about thirty minutes.
Monday: shapes
Draw three robots using only squares, circles and triangles.
Tuesday: faces
Give the same robot happy, sleepy and surprised faces.
Wednesday: build
Turn the favorite drawing into a cardboard model.
Thursday: paint
Paint the model with one of the techniques above.
Friday: the show
Put the robots on display and tell each one's story.
Questions from grown-ups
Short answers to the questions that come up most.
What age are these projects for?
The shape drawing works from about age four with help. Cardboard builds and collage suit roughly five to ten, and older kids can add more detail, comics and moving parts.
My child says they can't draw. Where do we start?
Start with the six shapes. A robot is forgiving: wobbly lines look like dents and bolts, and there is no wrong number of arms.
What supplies are worth buying?
Washable paint, a glue stick, child-safe scissors and a roll of masking tape cover nearly everything. The rest can come from the recycling bin.
How do we keep the art?
Photograph the cardboard robots before they get squashed, and keep the drawings in one folder so kids can see how their robots change over a year.