My Submarine To The Future: Kid's Craft: Make a Mars Rover Robot & Planet

It's amazing how something with humble beginnings can grow exponentially if given the right conditions to thrive. Nurture a spark of curiosity and it may become a lifelong passion.

Following a recent trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab our home has become a hive of activity. The planet Mars, the new Mars Rover, and space travel have become dinner table conversation. (Don't you just love when that happens!) I'm amazed by how much we all learned from our short visit, and have decided to make something creative to remind our son of the experience.

Using cardboard boxes and tubes

...aluminum foil, masking tape...

...and glue...

...we built our very own...

Mars Rover!

As you will notice, our version is considerably more shiny than the original, as a result of our "space foil". But we tried to represent all of the other unique features of the Mars Rover as accurately as we could.

Like the six wheels for climbing over rocks and rough terrain

And the arm (or as my son calls it, the "digger boom") which collects and analyzes samples from the rocks and soil.

Pretty sweet eh?

But no Mars Rover would be complete without it's own Martian landscape to explore, so...

...with a piece of stiff cardboard, glue, tape...

...parts of an egg box...

...and some left over takeaway napkins we knocked up a bumpy terrain that we could paint to represent the red planet.

Not sure whether Mars is quite this red though!

Just a quick tip - if you do make this project yourself, be sure to paint over your final Martian landscape with Mod Podge glue (the gloss version). It will seal everything down, so that no pieces will fall off. It also gives everything a nice glossy finish. Liberally spread the glue over the top of the paint, brush it all over and leave it somewhere with plenty of ventilation (it's not toxic but it does smell gluey!). In about 24 hours (approx) it will be dry to the touch and the white glue will turn clear.