DIY Tin Can Wind Chime
This DIY Wind Chime is made from emptied and recycled canned goods. Its a perfect family activity for spring, VBS, Earth Day, or as a quarantine activity to keep your family busy.
Equipment
- Drill and drill bit
Materials
- 3 empty, cleaned, and dried recycled cans these need to be 3 different sizes that fit inside each other
- 2 lids from the cans or metal pieces for the bottom of the mobile
- Floral or picture hanging wire
- Surface protector
- Craft paint or spray paint
- Paintbrush
- Ruler
Instructions
- Empty, clean and dry three metal canned pantry items.
- Find a drill bit that is just a little bigger than the wire you are using.
- Drill a hole in the middle of the bottom of each can.
- Drill holes in the sides of each can to let light through. (Random is better than a pattern.)
- In one of the can lids, drill a hole about 1/4in from the edge. (skip if you are not using can lids on the bottom)
- In a second can lid, drill a hole about ¼-inch from the edge and another one directly across from that hole to weave the wire through. (The holes should be directly across from each other, not side by side.)
- Paint the cans - they can all be the same color, pattern, etc or you can paint each one a different color.
- Allow the paint to fully dry before assembling.
ASSEMBLING THE WIND CHIME
- Get out a piece of paper to do a little math.
- Measure the length of each can, top to bottom.
- Write this down on the piece of paper and add it up.
- To that total, add 13 more inches - 5 for the top, 5 for the bottom, and 1 inch for each knot.
- Cut a piece of wire to the length of that full measurement. For me, it was 26 inches.
- Measure 9-inches from one of the ends of the wire and tie a knot.
- Thread on the smallest can to the long end of the wire, with the open end of the can pointing down.
- Measure the length of the second can and subtract ½-inch.
- From the top of the bottom can measure up that distance on the wire and tie another knot.
- Thread the second can on the long end of the wire, with the opening pointing down. It should overlap the bottom can a little.
- Measure the length of the top can and subtract ½-inch.
- From the top of the second can, measure up that distance along the wire and tie another knot.
- Thread the top can on the long end of the wire, with the opening facing down. The can should overlap the middle can.
FINISHING THE WIND CHIME
- Fold over the remaining wire in the top to make a loop. Wrap about 1-inch of the wire around itself to hold the loop.
- On the bottom wire, thread the lid that had 2 holes in it. Keep it simple, go in one hold, across the lid, and out the second hold.
- With the remaining wire, thread the other lid, with one hole, and loop back the wire.
- Wrap the end of the wire around its self to secure and hold.
- The Wind Chime should now be ready to hang.
Notes
- You need 3 cans that fit inside each other. It doesn’t matter how tall they are they just need to be able to nestle together. I used a spaghetti sauce can, green been can, and Rotel can - it doesn’t matter what was in them or how tall they are. They just need to be three concentric sizes that will fit inside each other.
- Also, focus on using up supplies or items you already have around your house - the pantry, craft closet, garage.
- If your kids are making these, you may not want to use the can lids if they have rough-cut edges. Instead, you could use anything metal that could be attached by the wire - a jelly jar ring, a canning lid, nuts/bolts, metal ruler. Just think anything that they could safely work with and not cut themselves