newspaper fun

If you have a lot of newspaper (100 large, full square spread sheets), and some bored kids, this is a "geodesic dome" activity that Drake found in a book and determined that we just HAD to do it.  So, here is how you do it.

Take 100 full-size pages of newspaper.

Using a pencil...

... roll up four sheets of newspaper together at a time starting at one corner...

... until you have a "newspaper log".  Tape the tube shut.

Continue rolling newspaper logs until you have 25 tubes in all.

Once your tubes are complete, staple the ends of three tubes together to make a triangle.  Continue doing this until all you have 5 triangles.

Lay the five triangles on the floor like so, and staple the bottom corners together.

Using all but five of the remaining tubes, staple tubes along the other side until it looks like the picture below. I forgot to take any pictures of the next steps, but I'll try to explain it.  Take the five remaining tubes and staple their ends together so that they look like a star (or an asterisk if that makes more sense).

  Then you'll raise the triangles (or walls) off of the floor and staple the ends all together, stapling the free ends of the "star" (or asterisk) to the junctions of the triangles on the tops of the walls, if that makes sense.  And there you have it.

Your very own geodesic dome.

And a bunch of happy kids.

If your kids want to put blankets on top, make sure they're really lightweight blankets.

This should keep the kids busy for at least a few days... or hours if you're lucky.