Tin Foil Art

What You Need:

• Tin foil
• Scissors
• Optional: Invisible tape

What You Do:

1. Start your tin foil art by showing your child how sheets of aluminum foil can be folded several times to make long thin strips, or can be rolled into balls. Let him try it for himself also. He can also play around with sheets of foil to find a texture he likes working with, either smooth, slightly crumpled, or extremely crinkled.
2. After he has some long thin strips of foil, they can be arranged into shapes like squares, rectangles, or circles.
3. Have him think of some animals, people, objects, or shapes that he would like to create, like sculptures, using the aluminum foil. For example he could make a horse, a flower, a diamond, a person, or anything else he can imagine.
4. He can tear the foil or use scissors as needed when different sizes of sheets or strips are needed in his sculptures.
5. Show him how to pinch, crimp, and fold over ends to attach pieces of foil to each other. If these methods don’t work on his pieces, he can also use invisible tape to help hold the various pieces together.
6. When he has some finished sculptures, he can play with them, or he may wish to photograph his shiny, silvery sculptures and display them as art.
7. In many cities, aluminum foil can be recycled, so save landfill space and have him recycle the sculptures if he doesn’t wish to keep them. 
8. Congratulations, you may have helped inspire and encourage a future Rodin or Michelangelo!