How To Upcycle Tin Cans into an Old Fashioned Telephone

It’s Day 20 of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge and I’m still hanging in there crafting away.  Today’s project was decided on by both my girls.  I have a huge bag of items to upcycle and they picked the tin cans.  Originally I really wanted to turn the tin cans into candle holders with designs poked out in the can (kind of like a jack-o-lantern), but the girls were quite insistent that we make some old fashioned tin can telephones.  How can you resist those sweet faces when they’re so excited for a project???  I know I can’t.  So old fashioned tin can telephones it was.

To make our old fashioned tin can telephones I first removed the labels.  If your can still has some sticky glue on the outside then you can re-wrap the cans with some pretty wrapping paper and glue or tape it closed.  Next, take a nail and hammer a hole in the center of the bottom of the can.  Take some yarn, rope, or twine (I used super thin nylon rope) and cut to the length you want your kids to be able to stand apart with their phones.  I made mine pretty long so they could be in different rooms (about 10-12 feet).  Poke one end of your yarn into one of the cans through the hole you just poked.  Tie a knot inside the can so that the yarn can’t pull out.  Do the same with the other end of the yarn on your other can.  Voila!  You have an old fashioned telephone.  Ok, I’m sure you could have figured that out on your own, but you never know.  I’m not sure that these old phones actually work, but the kids have a blast with them and they swear that they work.  Have fun!

*This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post.*

Check out some of the other great posts from today below and be sure to link up your projects today too!!!  Just link to your blog post, Pinterest picture, Photobucket Picture, etc.  I'd love to see your tin can projects.