Paper Rods: Something from Almost Nothing

At this time of year I’m usually working in a summer programs, trying out new projects with kids without the time constraints of being in classrooms. The projects that kids connect to the most become part of what I do with my arts-in-ed sessions in the schools. Turns out that just because there’s no summer programs during this 2020 season, and there is not much chance I will have arts-in-ed work, that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped thinking about new projects. There are a few that I’m particularly eager to share, which is what this and some future posts will be about.

 

This exploration started with seeing a project posted by Chuck Stoffle in which Chuck made paper rods (he calls them paper supports) by rolling newspaper around a skewer and securing the roll with tape. I liked what he made so much that I had to try it out, but could I make them without using tape?

I started thinking about how, when glossy catalogs get wet, their pages stick together and thought that maybe this could be a tapeless way to make the rods.  Chuck’s method of using tape has the advantage of being able to use the rods immediately, whereas my tapeless method requires overnight drying time, but, hey, I’ve got time.

Here’s how it goes,

Make a 1-1/2 inch fold on the long edge of a page, then fold that in half, and repeat two more times, then start rolling

 

I start with one of the catalogs that are always showing up in my mailbox, looking for one with glossy pages (uh, they all have glossy pages), but also is not too thin or too thick, and also is colorful on the edges.. Turns out that the Lands End catalog gave me the results I liked the best, which is fortunate as they show up at my house frequently.

Here’s the work flow:  take out the staples, cut each page in half along the center line, then fold up a 1-1/2″ flap on the one of the long edges. Next fold the flap in half, then fold that in half again, and finally fold that last flap in half a fourth time. This last fold is quite tiny. Then start rolling.

Here’s a video of how it looks:

After the paper is rolled up, give it a shower right under a water faucet.

Choosing pages thoughtfully results in rods that are quite lovely.

Now this is where I really miss having groups of kids to play with. What I would like to do is to just hand the rods over to kids and watch what they do with them.

Fortunately my friend Mark Kaercher is a person who is like a group of kids. After we talked about this over Zoom he made a bunch, and figured out that he could use sections of pipe cleaners as connectors.

This is officially way cool! The paper sticks are very sturdy. Although the seams came undone on a few, but they still retain their shape. I just used fuzzy sticks (aka pipe cleaners) to attach at the vertices. Easy way to explore polyhedra with basic materials! #playwithmath pic.twitter.com/jcuf55EFxR

— Mark Kaercher (@shskaercher) July 23, 2020

I really like the way that the pipe cleaners worked to connect the rods!

One of the challenges I made for myself was to connect only three rods together, tripod-like, then see how many more I could add just using gravity.

Or what about building something over a tomato?

I, uh, think a group of kids would have done something more interesting than what I came up with using the tomato.

 

What about purely linear arrangements?

Or photographing a 3D structure a from above?

This photo is the aerial view of the second photo in this post. Oh, don’t scroll back, here it is again:

This structure has a few pipe cleaner attachments.

If there are no pipe cleaners in your life there’s lots of ways to improvise: I leave that to you.

Now all I need is a group of kids to play with….

 

Making Game Cards with Kindergarteners

5 year-olds in the summertime could use a bit of number play. Get them invested, make it a game, get them coming back for more.

Numbers PDF   

Kent Haines wrote about a card game that he played with his daughter using a deck of cards. No point in spending two bucks on a deck of cards when there’s twenty 5 year-olds looking for something to do, right? We started out making our own deck by coloring in numbers 1 – 10. Of course I couldn’t find the perfect typeface so I made one I liked.

We did the coloring as sort of side project to other activities, so a took a few sessions to color enough for forty cards, which was my goal. Full disclosure: I probably did about 10 of them myself.

Next, kids put the “right” number of plant items with the numerals. I photographed them, then put them through my graphic program.

I printed and cut out the cards at home, then we played!

My rules for the game were a bit different than Kent’s, though we both start our games with laying out ten cards (two rows of five each), and the ultimate goals of our games are the same, which, as Kent points out, is to give children practice with counting, cardinality and comparing numbers.

In my version of the game I make sure that all ten numbers are in front of the child, but hidden, and in scrambled order. A random card gets turned over then it’s up to the child to determine where it goes in the number line up. The card that’s now bumped out of its own starting place gets turned over and the child decides where it needs to go, and so on.  If it turns out that two cards just switch places so that there is now no new card looking for a new place, the child can turn over a random card. This sounds confusing until you play, then it makes perfect sense.

There is no winning or losing, just finishing. Sometimes the kids played in pairs, some were slow and thoughtful, some were super fast, but they all loved the game. YAY! And they recognized the cards that they had in hand in making, and loved this connection. Too much fun.

Since we are moving the cards around I’m calling this version of Kent’s game “Recycle.” So PC.

Here’s a couple of video clips:

and

Addendum April 10, 2020

Here’s the a PDF of deck of recycle cards 2 types that we made, that you can print out to use or to use to make your own.

Summer 2019 Projects with Kids Begins!

House with awesome roof and a patio

I’ll be working with kids twice a week for six weeks this summer. Today’s group was five year olds. I came totally prepared to do numerous projects. I’ve made a list of my priorities. We’re going to do paper folding with a focus on squares, explore symmetry, play games, make patterns, look at books and think about numbers.

My suitcase of supplies was totally full. And mostly went untouched. But what we did get to today felt fun and worthwhile. Actually I know if was worthwhile because I heard one of the 5 years-olds explain to an adult that we made a house out of a square! Was so happy to hear that remark, as what I’m emphasising with the paperfolding that we are doing is that we are transforming shapes. I get to use the names of shapes, as well as words like rotate, middle, bottom, and I get to teach folding skills.

The back of the house, showing the pocket to store pictures of yourself and friends

This house project is adorable. House on the front, pocket on the back, and only a few folds. Start with a square, make a triangle, then create a couple more triangles (see photo above) and you’ve got a house. The pocket in the back is to hold pictures of yourself and your friends. which, of course, you draw.

Drawing the house

This was a great project for me to start with. Touches so many of the ideas I want to talk about.

The time flew by. I worked with two groups of great kids.

Then my time was up. Time to pack up.

I packed up, but was a bit disappointed.

I had wanted to do something with numbers. But it was time for the kids to have time to free play.

So I did what something I sometimes do when I want to do a bit more with kids.

I sat by myself and started working all by myself, in this case I was coloring in numbers for a project that I will write about next week.

I really  wanted the kids to help color in 40 different numbers. That’s a lot. But I just started all by myself.

Then someone came along who wanted to color in numbers too. Then someone else. Then someone else. You get the idea.

Got nearly all the numbers colored in. We’re going to make a special deck of cards to play a game that Kent Haines wrote about. 

Which will be a story for next week. 🙂

 

Counting & Arranging, with 5 year-olds

Jeffrey’s Flower Person. Jeffrey is five years old.

I’m writing about two separate projects here that seems to have nothing to do with each other, but there was something about doing them, one right after the other, that worked so well that this is how I am going to be writing about them.

The first project is a structured bookish making project that references counting and the composition of numbers.

The second project is one I’ve written about before,, is recomposing natural materials to make images that look like people.

The first project is not a creative activity for the kids, rather it’s more about discovery, trying to get them used to the idea that the number 10 can be seen as a composition of smaller numbers. The second project, using flower petals, leaves and other natural materials, has loads of room for improvising. There was something about following the structured project with the unstructured project that really worked for these kids.

The pieces for the Composing 10 project. Needs 10 pony beads, yarn to string them on,a hole puncher and PDFs, which are posted below

The counting project is simple to assemble, Everything is printed on a heavy copy paper. The piece with the words on it is folded into a simple pocket. I did the folds for the pocket (which is just folding up an edge on the line, and then folding in half to so it becomes a folder), punched two holes near the top, and tied a piece of yarn to one of the holes.

Here are the pdfs if you want to make this with a group of your own:

five plus five

four plus six

seven plus three

eight plus two

NIne plus one

bead counting pocket

and here’s a pdf of all of the above in a single document, which will be trickier, but possible, to use if you want to use a variety of colors Bead counting all pages together

Here what it looks like assembled.

 

 

So, ten beads. Cards go in pockets, Kids separate the beads according to the card below it, then…

…they remove the card and compare the beads on the card to their own beads.  This card then gets put in the side pocket and the next card shows…

…and the activity is repeated.

I was floored by how much the kids liked doing every bit of this activity. They took it so seriously, counting the beads and checking, and doing it for all the cards. It was lovely.

No question, kids love using beads.

This took only about 25 minutes. For about the next forty minutes we made flower people.

Cora at work

Not going to say too much about these, other than OMG. Loved how these turned out.

I photograph these, then remove the backgrounds.

Lily’s flower person

Just today I finished taking away the backgrounds. Am making prints to give to the kids.

Kendalls

I just love this project. Kids worked very seriously on their creations.

I had plenty of materials to work with because I had put out a request on Facebook for people in my community to drop off flowers to our classroom in the morning. Tons of stuff showed up: it was awesome. 

So much variety!

Looking forward to doing this again next summer.

addendum Sept 16, 2018

Here’s a video showing how to make the beads book.