Ms. May joins us to show us how to make a robot hand with just a few easy items.
For ages: 6-11
Estimated Length of activity: 60min
Supplies:
Materials
- Standard drinking straws (paper or plastic)
- Jumbo drinking straws
- White Card Stock
- Yarn (5 different colors, one for each finger)
Tools
- Scissors
- Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
- Tape
Instructions:
- Trace your hand onto card stock; make sure to trace past your wrists.
- Mark the location of the joints.
- Cut the hand outline out with your scissors.
- Then, fold the paper hand at the marked joint locations.
- Cut the standard straws into ¼, ½, 1, and 2 ¼-inch sizes. Tape standard straws onto the hand cutout, and tape the jumbo straw onto the wrist.
- Using a different color yarn for each finger, cut five strands of yarn into 2-foot-long pieces. Knot one end of each piece of yarn.
- Thread one yarn strand through each finger. Use a different yarn color for each finger. Have all colors meet at the wrist.
- Pull the strings individually and in combination to explore the world of robotics.
Recommended Books:
- Cinder by Marissa Meyer
- Homemade Robots by Randy Sarafan
- Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell
- Great Destroyers by Caroline Tung Richmond