Oatmeal Express

Getting Started Always use your imagination and be creative when building these kids crafts or any others. It's your creation, so be inventive when looking for building supplies — you just may be surprised! When building your project, experiment with new and different ways of putting it together. The most important thing is to have fun! Find these similar supplies! • 1 Oatmeal tube • 1 small box and some cardboard • Regular masking tape • Black and red tape (to customize it) • 4 Flexible straws • 1 small paper cup • 3 small sticks

1. Get started! Start out by trying different supplies to get the look you like. I ended up using An old oatmeal container for the steam engine part and a small box that fit perfect for the drivers compartment. Then I found a small paper cup for my smoke stack. This is a good time to make any changes or alterations. However it looks pretty cool just like this. So you could tape it together and VOILA` your done.

2. Make Your Wheels! I played around with using 4 sets of wheels and ended up liking the way it looked with 3 wheels per side. It’s your train so see what you like. After deciding on the size I traced around a plastic lid on some old cardboard and cut all 6 wheels out.

3. Make your wheel base! Cut a piece of cardboard that is the same length and width of your Train. This is for the wheel assemblies that you will attach to the bottom side and makes a great platform to assemble your Oatmeal Express parts on.

4. Make your axles! Cut 3 Straws the same width as your wheel base and tape them evenly on to it. Next I cut 3 skewer pieces about a 1/2-inch longer than my straws. Slide one skewer stick into each straw. These are going to be your wheel axles.

5. Attach your wheels! You will need to poke a small hole into the center of each wheel. Make sure it is no bigger than you axle sticks. Next carefully push your wheels onto the axle sticks. I ended up using a little glue on each wheel after I dressed up my Oatmeal Express to keep them from wobbling.

6. Put it together! I like to dry fit every thing before it gets all dressed up and put together. This is a good time to make any changes or alterations. However, again it looks pretty cool just like this. So you could tape it together and again VOILA` you are done.

7. Dress it all up! What I did was to cover all of my parts with tape before I assembled my Oatmeal Express. I added red duct tape on the engine assembly and drivers compartment black for the base and smoke stack, I also added a roof and some stripping. Looks pretty cool!

8. Add decals! I usually just hand make my signs and decals with colored pens on tape but I got carried away with my Oatmeal express. I made them in the computer, printed it and carefully cut them out and attached them in place. I like the way they look so much I think I will be using this technique from now on.

8. Final touches! I found an old tea box lid that happened to be red and attached it to the engine. Made cool steam pipes from some black flex straws. Added blue tape for my windows and finished it of with cotton balls for the steam coming out of the smoke stack look. As with most projects I build, there is never really a “finished” point. I could keep adding and adding smaller details to it, and so can you! At some point I stand back, look at it and say, “COOL! It’s done!”