How to Make an Alien for a School Project

Create an out-of-this world school project with your own alien. The design and construction of an alien is only limited by your imagination -- there is no set standard for size, shape or proportion. Many art pieces and science fiction works have been created that represent aliens, but these should only be used as a guide for your original piece.

Alien heads can be made from paper-mache. A blown-up balloon is a suitable material to create the basic foundation. Newsprint strips soaked in a water and flour mixture can be used for glue to keep the strips in place. You can also use a mixture of three parts white glue to one part cool water for the newsprint strips. Salt dough is another viable option to build an alien's head. This dough is typically made from salt, flour and water. The dough is pliable and can be painted in any color.

For larger, full-bodied alien projects, foam insulation and plastic trash cans are great resources. Patterns can be drawn directly onto foam and then cut out with an electric knife. Adult supervision may be required for cutting purposes. Foam insulation holds paint well, but works best with latex paint. Oil paint isn't recommended because it can cause the top layer of foam to melt; although, this melting does create an interesting texture that could be used to represent alien skin. Trash cans also make good aliens. They can be painted in various colors and patterns. Styrofoam balls can be painted and got glued onto the surface for eyes, arms, or just decoration.

Recyclers can make aliens out of found materials. Milk jugs can be used to create interesting alien heads. The wide bottom can be used for its chin area and the handle for its nose, or the milk jug can be flipped upside down so that the lid becomes the base. This gives the illusion of the face shape of a gray-skin alien. Upside down movie theater cups can be painted to construct an alien body. Styrofoam can be hot glued to the bottom for the alien's head.

Create an alien with its ship by hot gluing an upside down cereal bowl to a plastic plate. Run cord around the edges of the bowl and secure it with glue. Paint the ship with acrylic paints. Select a side of the ship to be the window portion. Paint a window and then paint an alien peering out of it. You could also paint a pot lid to look like an alien ship, and hang a construction paper alien from the bottom using embroidery floss and tape.