Big Red

Moving Sculpture

Have you ever seen a sculpture move? Make a sculpture that can bend, sway, and shake!

What you’ll need

Pipe cleaners, playdough, a straw or pencil, small styrofoam balls, beads, thin colored plastic-coated wire (Twistees), colored construction paper, paintbrushes, paint, hole punch

1. Decide what shape you want for the base or bottom of your sculpture. A cube? A pyramid? A sphere? Another shape? Create a base out of playdough. Or you could experiment with making a base using pipe cleaners.
2. Connect the pencil or straw to the base by sticking it into the playdough. If you used pipe cleaners for your base, attach the pencil or straw to it with thin colored wire or Twistees.
3. .Find or make the shapes that will be attached to your moving sculpture. Use beads, styrofoam balls, or draw shapes on construction paper and cut them out with scissors. 
4. Attach each shape to the end of a Twistee or piece of thin wire. Beads can be strung onto the wire and secured at one end. Stick one end of the wire into the Styrofoam ball. Make a hole with a hole-punch through the paper shapes.
5. Attach each shape at different places along one piece of wire or Twistee. Leave a long piece of wire at the end to attach it to your straw or pencil.
6. Connect your shapes to the straw or pencil with a smaller piece of wire. Touch your sculpture gently and watch the way the shapes move. What does your sculpture remind you of? Show your moving sculpture to your friends and family!