How to Build a Clothes Pin Rubber Band Car

A clothespin can serve as the body of a race car.

Walk into the toy aisle of any store and you’ll find dozens of little cars ready to be ripped out of the packaging and raced across the kitchen linoleum. That’s fine if all you want is to grab the toy and play, but kids who’d like to take a shot at building their own toy cars need only a few inexpensive, common tools to make them. A trip to a clothesline can be a good beginning for such a project.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic or wooden clothespin
• Four buttons
• White glue
• Long twist ties
• Tape (colored or plain)
• Drinking straw
• Scissors
• Colored markers

Instructions

1. Take apart the clothespin. Glue the flat sides together to create the car’s body with the pointed end as the front.

2. Cut two pieces of straw slightly longer than the width of the clothespin.

3. Make the wheels. Thread a twist tie through one button. Twist the tie on the outside of the button to hold it in place, then push the rest of the tie through the straw. Thread it through another button and tie it in place. Cut off the remaining twist tie. Repeat to make the other set of wheels.

4. Glue the wheels in place at the front and back of the clothespin. Put a piece of tape over each axle for added durability.

5. Decorate with markers as desired.

Tips & Warnings

• The twist tie can be substituted with toothpicks or wooden food skewers.

• One clothespin can make two cars. Simply disassemble the pin and use each half as the car's body instead of gluing the halves together.

• Bubble gum balls can serve as a colorful substitute for buttons as the car's wheels.

• Use old newspapers to protect work surfaces from glue and markers.

References

• U.S. Scouts: Build a Clothespin Race Car
• Amazon AWS: Clothespin Race Car