Build this great Mars Rover with just a few items you can find around the house. This is a fun craft for kids, parents, teachers, and educators to learn how to build, and you can make it with very simple materials. Just follow the instructions for more information.

Always use your imagination and be creative when building this project or any other. It’s your creation, so get creative when looking for building materials, you might be surprised! As you build your project, experiment with new and different ways to put it together. The most important thing is to have fun! Find these or similar supplies!

• 1/2 gallon container of juice or milk
• Cereal box or some cardboard
• aluminum tape
• 2 straws
• 4 container lids
• Any additional items you wish to use for customization

1. Cover your milk carton with tape!

Start by completely covering the juice or milk container. I used foil tape for my Mars Rover body. Instead, you could use regular masking tape, color it in with a marker, and make your own designs.

2. Make the axes!

Next, make 4 holes on each side of your container that are slightly larger than the thickness of the straw. Insert the straws all the way in so they stick out from both sides. These will be the axles of the wheels. If they don’t turn easily, take out the straws and adjust the holes a bit.

3. Make the wheels!

You can make wheels out of a piece of cardboard. Simply draw four circles and cut them out. You can do this by taking any circular object and tracing around the edges of your cardboard before pulling it out.

I used four old instant coffee container lids that I had saved for my wheels. If you want to use container lids for your wheels, just make sure you don’t throw them away after using the container, and when you have four of the same kind, you can build your own crazy wheeled vehicle.

4. Add the wheels!

I attached my wheels with a hot glue gun. This is great for crafts like this. If you don’t have access to one, you can carefully tape the wheels by sliding them off and taping them to the axle with small pieces of tape. I put the rover on its side on my wheels. I then lifted the straws, sprayed some hot glue in the center of my wheel and pushed the straw down into the glue making sure it stayed centered and the rover body was also flat on its side resting on the other wheels.

5. Repeat on the other side!

Now repeat step 4 on the other wheels. Be sure to do your best to keep each wheel centered on its axle.

CLEVER! – has 4-wheel rover! You can start rolling it up or dressing it up. This is my favorite part of a project. I start going through all of our bins full of recycled supplies and again, VOILA! – a lid with a detergent button! Attach it to the top and it’s a futuristic outfit. For my windows I cut small pieces of cardboard from a pallet box into my window shapes and covered them with black tape then attached. So, have fun and see what you come up with.