DIY: Wind Chime

So with the 4th of July approaching I wanted to do a fun patriotic themed craft with the kiddos. I’ve been saving vegetable cans for a while and thought that this would be a great time to use them. I remembered that a few weeks ago I saw a pin on Pinterest where old soup/vegetable cans were used to create a wind chime. What an awesome idea, unfortunately I didn’t repin it…ugh! So I decided to search Pinterest in hopes to find it and of course I found several. I swear Pinterest never disappoints. So after reading through several crafters post on DIY wind chimes I decided to pull out my fav tips and wing it. Check out what the kiddos and I came up with…

Materials used:

Soup/vegetable cans (labels removed, cleaned and dried)
Spray paint
Acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Stickers, glitter, etc. used to decorate the cans
Ribbon
2 wire hangers
Hot glue gun
Nuts and bolts (to add variation in the sound of each can)
Hammer & nail (to poke holes in the top of the can)

Spray painting the cans red, white and blue.

Hammering a hole in the top of each can.

Close up of the hole.

The oldest getting creative.

My youngest decided that he wanted to paint his blue can with blue paint…lol

The middle son adding on the details.

I decided to use a two wire hangers to create the top portion of the wind chime. However, I did seen on Pinterest where someone used an old crochet loom and someone else used the top of an old lamp. I suggest that you get creative with this portion too…

The first hanger was fashioned into a circle.

Close up of the closure.

I decided to wrap the hanger with ribbon.

The top portion of the wind chime completely wrapped.

After the kiddos decorated theirs cans, I sprayed them with a clear protective gloss in hopes to protect the wind chime from the outside elements. I also added ribbon and washers/bolts inside each can.