How to make Kids Can Stilts

I can remember my mum making these at home when I was little…..
When my kids requested to me to make some Can Stilts I thought “why not?”

You will need these supplies:

• 4 unlabeled empty cans (above I used 400g tins but the bigger cans will be better for little ones for balance)
• thin rope or garden twine
• electric glue gun and glue sticks
• Fiskars craft drill or hand drill
• Fiskars trimmer
• protective mat for your work bench – I used a heat resistant teflon sheet
• Patterned cardstock or paint/brushes to decorate cans

Step one:

cut widths of paper to the cans size with the trimmer
You could of course paint the cans but I’m impatient.

Step two:

hot glue the paper to the cans – BE CAREFULL hot glue is HOT!!!

step three:

there they are all covered. Now get someone to hold the cans still and drill holes opposite each other near the end of the can.

CAREFULL! – there maybe little bits of metal inside the cans – these can be SHARP!!!

step four:

Thread twine/thin rope through the holes.
Tip: twine is horrible at the ends so to stop it fraying I put hot glue on the end of the string so I could thread the twine through the holes.

Step Five:

Get your child to hold the string up and then tie a knot where they feel comfortable to hold it.

There they are done!

Final step:

Practice makes perfect. Keep the strings taught and walk on the stilts.
Yes there will be falls but the practice on hard ground is best.

My Daughter has it down already. I think my 4 yr old needs the wider cans to be more confident. Looks like I should buy big cans of fruit. Yum Yum!!!!

All the best and have fun!

Debbie Buckland

Comments

[TracyM]

These are really cool Debbie!!!

[Lyn Dwyer]

I remember having these as a child Debbie.....they are so much fun to make aren't they....love how you have created yours.....TFS!

[Debbie B]

Thanks ladies

[Diamond Drill Bits]

They are great Debbie..This post took me bach to my childhood..Me and my brother had a lot of such things created by us..And some of them exists even today..