Ideas for Kids' Homemade Art Sculptures

Kids love to create sculptures and come up with some interesting creatures and objects. To make the following sculptures, you will need commonplace, everyday materials, many of which you may already have around the house. Gather together scrap metal pieces, craft eyes, pipe cleaner, paper pieces and salt dough for your sculpture-making kit. You can then add on to the sculptures with other materials.

For each mask, use approximately an apple-sized ball of dough. Mix 2 cups flour, 2 cups salt, ½ cup hot water and 1 tbsp. powdered alum in a large bowl. When the mix achieves a doughy consistency, add 1 tsp. cooking oil and a few drops of food coloring for colored dough. Working on waxed paper, flatten the ball slightly. Use your thumbs to press in two indents for the eyes. For the nose, place two fingers in the dough and push down and inward. Use your fingers to pinch up two lips shapes. Use sticks or toothpicks to scrape any desired details of the eyes, nose or mouth. Let dry for two days or bake at 350 degrees for 3 hours. Paint the mask and place a small picture hanger on the back so that it can be hung up.

To make art sculpture robots, gather scrap metal parts such as nuts, bolts, washers, old game tokens, large paper clips, metal buttons and any other small metal pieces. When you have a design idea, hot glue the robot together, making sure that it has adequate "legs" to stand up alone. Extra-large washers and game tokens work well as a base. Add any details such as eyes or buttons with a thin-tipped permanent marker.

Create an art sculpture amusement park. Use a piece of flat, rectangular Styrofoam for the base of your park, and make sure it is at least an inch thick so that your rides have a sturdy base. Using pipe cleaners and plastic-coated, unbent paperclips for supports, create your rides and other amusements. Stick the pipe cleaner and paper clips firmly into the foam base. Use construction paper pieces, beads, foil and stickers to create design details, then attach the detail pieces with glue or by wrapping pipe cleaner around them. Make a sign for your amusement park out of construction paper and pipe cleaners.

Cut the lid off an egg carton, then cut the bumpy bottom part of the egg carton into two pieces. Snakes, caterpillars, octopus, lobsters, crabs, spiders and insects all work well for this project. For snakes, you might need to attach two egg carton strips together to make one long body. Do this using pipe cleaner pushed through the two pieces and twisted together. For a caterpillar, use only one of the egg carton strips. Paint the egg carton pieces the color of your creature with acrylic paint and a small brush. Attach pipe cleaner legs, antennae and wings. Use wiggle eyes or draw them on with permanent marker.

Create a homemade art sculpture coil or pinch pot. First mix salt dough as described previously. If making a pinch pot, roll the dough into an even ball. Use your thumb to create a hole in the middle of the ball, then use your thumb and index finger to pinch the clay and make the hole bigger so that the pot has an inside. To make a coil pot, fashion one long rope of dough from your ball. Make a flat dough spiral on the table about the size of the bottom of a soda can. To create the sides of the pot, lay the spirals of dough on top of each other rather than laying them flat on the table. Dry, bake or paint the pots as you like.

Use aluminum foil or very thin wire to create standing sculptures. With a foot-long piece of foil, craft it into the shape of your desired object. Add details with permanent ink. To create wire sculptures, use a long piece of telephone, floral or other very thin wire. For ease, you can twist and spiral the wire around a pencil or marker. If you need more wire, simply twist and attach another piece. For both of these projects, be sure to create flat feet or a flat base for your object so that it stands up. Glue on any desired details, such as eyes or hair.