March 10, 2008

Make a toy water well from a milk carton

Toy water well

One look is worth a thousand words. After numerous attempts to explain to my child what is a water well and how it works, the idea to make its working model popped into my head. I must say this is an original craft I'm very proud of :)

You will need:

  • milk or juice carton
  • round stick, cocktail straw or pencil
  • piece of cardboard
  • piece of wire
  • craft knife
  • scissors
  • thick thread
  • glue
  • plastic toothpaste or bottle cap
Milk carton and other materials

1. Cut away two walls of the carton, so that you have a square basin, a roof over it, and two poles one opposite the other to support the roof (see the photo). The roof supports must be wide enough to hold a spindle.

2. Make two holes, one opposite the other, in the roof supports to accommodate the spindle.

3. If you're making the spindle from a stick or pencil, cut out an oval piece of cardboard, it will take the handle. Glue that piece to the spindle so that together they form the letter "L", then attach the handle to the other side. If the cardboard is thick enough, make openings in it to insert the pencil.

4. If you're using a cocktail straw to make the spindle, just bend it so that it's Z-shaped, with one horizontal section long enough to be put between the roof supports. The other two sections of "Z" will make the handle.

5. Insert the spindle into the openings in the roof supports.

6. Cut out a cardboard washer and glue it to the other end of the spindle. This will secure the spindle in place.

7. Make a bucket from a bottle cap, attach to it a wire handle.

8. Tie the bucket to a piece of thread and fix the other end of the thread around the spindle.

9. Stick some play dough to the bucket's bottom to make it sink.

Now you can pour water into the well and draw it out with the toy bucket :)

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way too cool, thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

It's amazing! God bless you! I was looking for farm birhday party ideas and I found thanks!

Inna D. said...

Thank you very much! I'm glad you found it useful.

Anonymous said...

I made your toy well yesterday, and it works really well. I made it to use to teach 3-5-year-olds the story of the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus. Like you, I was having a hard time thinking of a way to explain a well. THANKS! - Heather

Inna D. said...

That's a great use for my little craft!

Anonymous said...

wow...thanks!
I have to do a project on Ancient Greece and the greecians invented the well. So I decided to make a well using the same directions but with wood(I wish they had milk cartons back then!)anyway thanks
wish me luck and I hope I get an A...yah I'm still in middle school

Inna D. said...

You are welcome and good luck :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you! It doesn't look diffucult to make, so we will try to embody this idea with my kid :-)

Dr Sonia S V said...

Oh I love this. Recently I had to make a wishing well and couldnt execute the movement part of it.. wish I had seen this post earlier then I could have made mine move too.! Here is the link to what i had made:http://cardsandschoolprojects.blogspot.in/2012/01/wishing-well-instructions-and-blends.html

Inna D. said...

Thank you, Sonia! Love your wishing well!

Evita said...

I am so in love with your craft, I was about to public something from you in my blog and then I noticed that you do not permit copy. Do you think that could be a way that, with your permission and referring to the sourse of course, to do that? Thank anyway for sharing! you are super! You can visit my blog http://evitathess.blogspot.gr/ and e-mail me, if you like, to evethess@yahoo.gr

Anonymous said...

Amazing love it. Just made in less than an hour. Using it for school bulletin board. We are raising money for Charity Waters. Thanks again.

Φωτεινή said...

So beautiful...just wonderful and so simple!!!Bravooo!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot ,i had to prepare craft work for my son sources of water and i was having a tough time as i am pathetic in craft work.this article really helped a lot

NIRMALA VENKATESH said...

SUPERB IDEA SIMPLE BUT ITS LOOKING COOL WITH LESS EXPENSE.

Anonymous said...

thank you for the idea!

Anonymous said...

I remember doing this craft in school way back in the second grade and wanted to teach it to my kids. Thank you so much for posting it!
Our teacher had us unbend a jumbo paperclip and stick it in the pencil eraser for the crank and a Dixie cup was the water bucket. Cute idea for Easter: glue Easter grass and silk flowers around the base after painting the well with any color paint, then fill it with jelly beans. :)

sa75ra said...

GREAT !!!!

Unknown said...

Incredible!!! I can't wait to see my little ones' faces when they see the water!!!!!Thanks for sharing!

kavita said...

Thanks for the creation , it was fun making it ,my son fees it was the best summer activity so far.

Aries said...

Simply superb idea!

María Elena López Ramírez said...

Muchísimas gracias, fue una idea fantástica para ejemplificar el uso de una polea de una manera divertida! EXCELENTE

María Elena López Ramírez said...

Genial idea para representar una máquina simple: la polea! Mi pequeño de 1° grado te agradece tmb!

Unknown said...

We made a larger version with large cereal boxes, a wooden dowel and a cup. This is the inspiration for a perfect 3rd grade simple machine project for my son!

Unknown said...

this is great!!!!

Unknown said...

Amazing!!!

Pearlangel said...

I made one of these 30 years ago and glued natural
small pebbles over the whole thing. I made the roof separate and covered it also. I had four corner supports and left the bottom carton intact. I made the roof with part of another carton. It looked like a real miniature. well. It held up for years and I kept an ivy plant in it.