Harvest Tractor

How to Make

1. Take two craft boxes and remove the lids. Turn them upside down, and glue them together, side by side, so it becomes a rectangular shape. At the back, draw a horizontal line 0.5cm from the bottom. Take a craft box lid and turn it upside down. Glue the side of the lid on the back of the craft box, just above the horizontal line that you drew. Take another craft box lid, and glue this behind on to the lid you just glued on to the box.
2. Cut out template A and cut the holes out too. Place it over the right side of your tractor, over the craft boxes, so that the lowest hole is on the front box. Using the template, draw the holes onto the boxes. Repeat this on the other side, using template B. On the lid at the back, measure and mark the centre point on the right and left side. Draw a hole the same size as the template holes over where you have marked. Use a sharp pencil to poke through all the 6 circles you have made, until the pencil is able to fit through. These will be the holes for your wheels.
3. Cut out template C and cut the holes out too. Place it over the craft box at the back. Using the template, draw the holes onto the box. Draw a cross in the bigger hole, like it was drawn on the template. Use a pencil to poke through the smaller hole, but don’t push the whole pencil through this time, as this hole will need to be smaller. Cut along the cross in the bigger hole, and poke through it, teasing the hole open. Use a wooden person to tease it bigger, so that the wooden person can sit in the hole, but not fall through. Once the hole is the right size, remove the wooden person for now. These holes are where your driver and steering wheel will go.
4. Measure and mark the centre at the bottom of the front of the tractor. Poke your pencil through to create a hole, but not all the way through, so that the hole is smaller. Take another craft box and remove the lid. Turn it upside down. This will be the roof of your tractor. On one side, draw a vertical line 0.5cm from the left. Do the same on the right, and then horizontally from the top, to form a frame. Repeat this on each four sides. Cut along the lines, so that you cut each side out but leaving the frame. Once you have cut out each side out, it should look like a table. Put this aside for now. Paint the whole tractor in your chosen colour, including the roof.
5. Once the paint is dry, you can make the steering wheel. Take a black pipe cleaner and make a small circle shape at the end. Push the other end through the small hole you made on top of the back box. Underneath the box, bend the pipe cleaner and wrap it round itself, so that the steering wheel sits and does not move.
6. To make your driver, choose your preferred colour pipe cleaner to be your woolly jumper. Starting from one end, leaving approximately 4cm at the end for an arm, start wrapping the pipe cleaner around the top of a wooden person’s body. Wrap it down the body. When you get near the other end, allow another 4cm for the other arm. Wrap the two arms together and stick them out facing forwards. Take a bumpy pipe cleaner in the colour you would like the hair to be. Cut just a fluffy part out and bend it over the top of the wooden person’s head. Glue this in place. Glue on two small wiggle eyes. Draw on a mouth using a felt tip. Tease the wooden person into the hole on the tractor that you created for it earlier. Place the arms onto the steering wheel. Glue the roof on top of the back box so it sits over the wooden person and steering wheel.
7. To make your wheels, draw round a wooden coaster onto a piece of back card twice, and round a jar lid four times. Cut the circles out. Glue the circles onto each wheel, which is two wooden coasters, and four jar lids. Cut out smaller circles with white paper. Glue these in the centre of each wheel. To attach the wheels, cut two of the lolly sticks 10cm long and the remaining lolly stick 8cm long. Use a pencil to push through all the holes on the tractor again, as they may have closed a little bit after painting.
8. Take one of your larger wheels (a wooden coaster) and mark the centre point on the back. Roll a thumb sized piece of blue tack into a ball. Stick it firmly where you marked the centre. Take the 8cm lolly stick and stick it through the centre of the blue tack. Alternatively, use a glue gun for a more secure finish. Push the other side of the lolly stick through the two holes on the side of your back box, so it goes through the tractor. Repeat this on the other wooden coaster and push it onto the lolly stick poking through the other side. Repeat these steps with the jar lid wheels and 10cm lolly sticks in the remaining holes on the front box and the lid at the back. All your wheels will now be in place.
9. Push a 20cm piece of string through the small hole you created on the front of your tractor. Tie a knot in the string on either side of the hole. This will allow you to pull the tractor along without the string coming out. Cut the string to a shorter length if necessary. Cut a black pipe cleaner into four pieces, 3cm long. Glue them vertically next to each other, along the front of your tractor.
10. Glue some natural raffia on the inside of the craft box lids, to act as hay. Cut a yellow bumpy pipe cleaner into pieces, so that each piece has the thinner bit at the bottom and the fluffier bit at the top. Arrange them to look like a bunch of wheat sitting in the hay. It is now time to fill the back of your tractor with harvest vegetables and decorate. Take your harvest festival sticker roll, leaf foam stickers and woodland foam stickers, and get creative!

Top Tip

Be sure to allow glue and paint to dry properly between each step!

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