H.U.M.P Day Robots

I may possibly have started a theme for the week without really meaning to. Vacations and Road Trips! We'll see if I can surf through all our awesome submissions and find related emails that fit. If you have a vacation/road trip themed Pinstrosity that you haven't sent in yet, send it our way!

Today's post is a "Hey! yoU Made a Pin-Spin!", submitted to us by Bethany. Here is the story she sent to us last summer:

"I am about to head off on a 3 week vacation with my 5 1/2 year old about to start kindergarten son (aka Captain Curious).  We're flying from California to Wisconsin for a friend's wedding, then meeting up with my dad & step-mom for a two week road trip adventure back to California.  I'm always a bit anxious about keeping Captain Curious occupied when he's forced to sit still for hours at a time, since this is a kid who likes to be exploring at every opportunity.  The idea of multiple days of 4-7 hours in a car with this kiddo had me wondering what on earth I could do besides numb him with electronic devices.  250+ pins on my Road Trip pinterest board later, I had more ideas than I could ever hope to accomplish, and some of them required far greater sewing/crafting skills than I possess.  But I did decide to create themed activity bags and bring them out at key points along our journey.  I scavenged around our house for stickers, paperback books, tiny toys, and other items to fit the theme of each bag (Robots, Dinosaurs, Fairy Tales, Animals, Exploring Nature, Space, and Ocean).  Then I figured out which bags needed more activities and went back to Pinterest for ideas."

"That's when I found a couple different options for mix-and-match robots.  The first one is here, which is a cute little cardboard & velcro dots creation with little stands so it can stand up on the table:"

http://www.serving-pink-lemonade.com/2011/03/mix-and-match-robot.html

"I thought that was cute, but I was looking for something flat that could be done on a cookie sheet/lap desk in the car."  

The second one I found is here:

http://www.imagineourlife.com/2012/04/22/led-robot-quiet-book/

"This one is just incredible!  It's a light up LED felt mix-and-match robot set for a busy book.  I was in awe, but I recognized that there was no way I could accomplish this one before our trip.  I thought the robots were awfully cute, though, and the creator had posted a link to the patterns they used.  I decided to try combining the two ideas - I'd make paper robots out of the giant stack of random scrapbook paper I'd just been given by a friend and use the adorable patterns from the LED robots."

"My original idea had been to use velcro dots to connect them the way the first blogger did, but I couldn't find inexpensive velcro dots.  I did have the scraps from a self-stick magnet sheet that had random shapes cut out of it from another project, however, so I decided to make these magnetic mix-and-match robots for Captain Curious to use on a magnetic whiteboard I'd bought for the trip.  I let Captain Curious pick out which papers he wanted to use on the robots.  You'll notice from the pictures that he has a fondness for the busy, colorful, and glittery patterned papers.  I managed to sneak in a few solids to keep things from turning too psychedelic.  At first we tried to closely follow the patterns, but we started having fun experimenting with various combinations.  Captain Curious wanted "blaster arms" and "jet feet" for his robots, so I had to get creative and try and come up with ways to make those.  I scoured the internet looking for images of robots to get some idea of what to do and found these and got a few more ideas for our paper robot parts:"

 

http://www.bluetadpolestudio.com/images/Mix_Match_robot01.jpg 

 http://www.bluetadpolestudio.com/images/Mix_Match_robot02.jpg 

"In the end, we made parts to make 4 different robots at a time, all cut from scrapbook paper with features glued on using scrapbook glue and a few details drawn on with a black scrapbooking marker.  I borrowed a friends' laminating machine and laminated the finished parts, then cut them apart.  Finally, I cut my scraps of adhesive backed magnets into small bits and stuck them to the backs of each robot part.  I used a small accordion-type coupon sorter to organize the assorted robot parts (heads in one section, bodies in the next, etc. etc.)."

"Captain Curious is very happy with the finished project, and was sad when I packed them away for the trip.  I just hope he's as excited about them when he's in the car!"

I LOVE this Pin Spin! This is what I feel Pinterest is about; getting inspiration from pins to fit your life rather than recreating pins perfectly. Way to take this and run with it Bethany! 

Travelling with a young'un this summer? Try out Bethany's idea! 

For other ideas on how to keep a Toddler busy while traveling, check out this post by Diedre. 

Happy Wednesday everyone!