Toilet paper isn’t as hot a commodity as it was a few weeks ago, but we’ve got one more reason to think twice about this otherwise boring item: the empty cardboard rolls.
Today’s at home activity focuses on another way to upcycle those rolls into a STEM focused, spatial reasoning exercise for your little ones.
So save whatever cardboard rolls you’ve got and let your kids discover their inner architect.
Architectural Tube Towers
Goals:
Develop spatial reasoning
Exercise creativity
Children will:
Cut slots into each end of several tubes
Create a one of a kind architectural structure
What you’ll need:
5 or more cardboard tubes
Scissors
OPTIONAL: markers, paint, glue, and colored paper
How to:
Make a small cut, about 1 inch deep, on two sides of each tube. Try to keep these directly across from each other. One way to ensure they’re directly across is to lightly squeeze the tube and make a snip.
Make a second cut right next to the first one. Bend the small piece of cardboard in between these two cuts and tear or snip it off. You should now have two slots on either side of each of your tube.
Experiment with sliding the tubes together so that slots fit into each other. How high can you go? How can you make your building wider? Once you start building, you may find yourself rethinking where to place the slots on certain tubes.
Decide if you want to decorate your structure in some way. Take the tubes apart. Color them with markers and glue on paper. Cut additional holes for windows or add smaller tubes or paper in some of the slots.