Know what I love to do on days when it’s too cold or wet to go outside? Build stuff!!
This fun geodesic dome was built using rolled up newspaper to form rods — SO frugal! I basically followed the tutorial here, but made one important adjustment. Rather than using staples at the joints, I punched holes with a hole puncher on each end of the newspaper rod, then threaded a pipe cleaner through the holes. I twisted the pipe cleaner, which kept everything in place AND made our newspaper rods re-usable!! I made the first dome structure, then set the girls loose to build whatever they wanted.
The girls loved building, taking things apart, and then re-building different structures all afternoon…right up until dinner time!
Here’s another structure they built — a “rocket ship”! They loved decorating their play structures with markers. So fun!!
Clara’s little scribbles always make me smile!!
This was such a fun (and very frugal) way to bring geometry and engineering to life — all through play!
Have fun!!
October 4th, 2011 on 6:56 pm
Dear Valerie,
Am I going to come home to find a newspaper Eiffel tower in the back yard?
Love,
Mark
October 4th, 2011 on 10:02 pm
There you go, putting these ideas in my head….
October 4th, 2011 on 7:12 pm
We have had a lot of fun with this, too.
http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/building-big-dowel-designs.html
October 4th, 2011 on 10:03 pm
Love it!!! Your kiddos did some serious building!
October 4th, 2011 on 10:01 pm
Very cool! Must get my hands on some newspaper…
October 4th, 2011 on 10:04 pm
LOL — I actually used some of my neighbor’s newspapers for this!
Have fun!!
October 4th, 2011 on 10:08 pm
That would be fun to do……
October 4th, 2011 on 11:01 pm
Love the idea
October 5th, 2011 on 2:53 am
Great! I`ll keep this in my mind and next time we visit our grandparents we will make it. I should ask them to start collecting the newspaper
October 5th, 2011 on 9:37 am
It uses a lot of newspaper — which is great if you happen to have lots of it on-hand. Or you can do what I did and ask the neighbors if they have any to spare…
October 5th, 2011 on 5:25 am
I love this idea and think it would be great for monkey but I cant get the link to the tutorial to work.
October 5th, 2011 on 9:36 am
That’s odd — I just tested it & it worked fine for me. Maybe their site was down for bit? If you try it again, it might work.
October 5th, 2011 on 2:40 pm
I’ve been loving all your ideas for months now and figured it was probably time I told you so. Thanks for all the great, and cheap, ideas!
October 8th, 2011 on 10:35 pm
I’m SO happy to hear that, Elesa!! You’re very welcome!
October 5th, 2011 on 4:20 pm
I am so going to pin this for one of those rainy weekend afternoons
October 8th, 2011 on 10:35 pm
Perfect!!
October 5th, 2011 on 5:14 pm
I have seen this before, but I love your idea to have it with holes and twisted pipe cleaners. Makes it easy to store and reuse! I love this and am sharing the idea on facebook with all my friends. I hope to do this soon since we get a newspaper every week and never read it!!!
October 8th, 2011 on 10:36 pm
It is very easy to store.. Mark put the newspaper rods in an umbrella stand — works great! Have fun, and thanks so much for linking!
October 5th, 2011 on 5:19 pm
Totally Awesome!
October 8th, 2011 on 10:36 pm
Thanks, Melissa!!
October 5th, 2011 on 5:42 pm
Wow!! That is so fun! Would it be okay for me to link to this for my “Fun on a Dime” post tomorrow?
October 5th, 2011 on 5:47 pm
Absolutely, and feel free to use one photo — thanks so much for linking!
October 5th, 2011 on 10:16 pm
Yay!! Thanks so much! I love your blog, btw! I wish I could figure out how to combine my kid’s craft blog and my coupon blog to make a blog as fun as yours!!
October 6th, 2011 on 3:35 am
wow! What a great idea, we’ll definitely try this one, thank you:)
October 8th, 2011 on 10:37 pm
Yay!! You’re welcome — have fun!!!!
October 7th, 2011 on 5:03 pm
You could also take extra newspaper and cover it completely up except for a small entrance. Thinking about making this for my son!!
Awesome idea thanks!!!
October 8th, 2011 on 10:37 pm
That’s a great idea, Gina! My kiddos loved covered their structures with bed sheets.
There are SO many possibilities for this — enjoy!
February 15th, 2012 on 10:48 pm
Hiya Val! I couldn’t resist including this as part of the materials to recycle for your kids roundup
Saving my newspapers now!! http://www.handsonaswegrow.com/2012/02/34-recyclables-to-upcycle-for-kids.html
March 28th, 2012 on 12:54 pm
I helped my daughter’s Girl Scout troop make a couple of these for a city-wide 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts exhibit. We used blueprints instead of newspaper and reusable zip ties instead of pipe cleaners. I ended up drilling holes in the ends of the tubes because a hole punch was taking too long.
We made complete balls, making sure every hub had 5 spokes. They looked great! For decoration, the girls drew triangular posters about scouting and taped them to the openings.
Thanks for your inspiration!