Chick Magnet

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Dana Sheridan

This little farm is fun, but adventure takes on a new meaning when your pom pom chick starts exploring on his/her own, compliments of a magnet wand underneath the base!

We read Good Morning, Chick by Mirra Ginsberg, illustrated by Byron Barton (Greenwillow Books, 1989). A newly hatched chick explores a barnyard and learns about animals, sounds, and…getting wet! The plot is very simple, but this book reads in a lovely, fun, and engaging way – especially if you invite kids to make sounds and imitate movements along with you.

You’ll need:

1 small yellow pom-pom
2 tiny wiggle eyes
1 tiny orange construction paper triangle for chick’s “beak”
2 button magnets
1 flat corrugated cardboard base (mine was 7.5″ x 15″)
1 small box (mine was 2” x 3” x 3”)
Red construction paper
1 piece of brown poster board for barn roof (mine was 3″ x 4″)
1 piece of brown poster board for tunnel (mine was 2.5″ x 4″)
1 toilet paper tube
Green tissue paper
1 fence and sunflower template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
2 green pipe cleaners, cut into thirds.
1 small piece of blue cellophane (mine was 2″ x 4″)
Green construction paper
1 wooden spool
Markers for decorating
Scissors, white glue, and tape for construction
Hot glue

For this project, it’s important to make the chick first. You will need the chick to measure the various openings you create in your barn, tree, fences, and tunnel. It would be tragic to get everything glued down and then realize your chick won’t fit!

I prepped the chicks in advance, using white glue to attach 2 wiggle eyes and the orange construction paper beak to a yellow pom-pom. Then I hot glued the chick to the button magnet.

Now for the farm! We’ll start with the biggest object first – the barn. Here are the steps I used to create it. Your barn might vary slightly, depending on the size and shape of your box. The box I used had a lid at the top, and four tabs on the bottom that interlocked to create the bottom of the box.

I cut the lid off the box entirely, and then flipped the box over so the interlocking tabs were facing upwards (the above image on the right).

One important thing to note – the bottom of your barn needs to be open. Meaning, the “floor” of the barn is actually the corrugated cardboard base. This is so the chick magnet can slide in and out of the barn.

To make the roof of the barn, I cut two of the interlocking tabs into triangles to form the “front” and “back” of the roof. Then I folded the other two tabs together to form the peak of the roof. Trim and tape securely.

Next, I cut out the barn doors. Make sure you measure to make sure the chick fits through the doors!

Cover the barn with red construction paper, and add a brown poster board roof. Use markers to add some details.

The tree is next! Cut four tabs in one end of a toilet paper tube like so:

Then cut a entryway at the base of the tube for your chick. Make sure to measure!

To create foliage for your tree, ball up some green tissue paper and glue it to the tube tabs. Use markers to add a hole and some “bark” on the tree.

To create the pond, draw some fish and frogs on the corrugated cardboard base. Then tape a piece of blue cellophane over your drawing. Try to make the cellophane as flat as possible, so your chick magnet can glide over the pond and take a “swim.”

To make a sunflower garden, color and tape the flowers from the template onto the pieces of green pipe cleaner. Then bend the bottom of the pipe cleaner into an “L” shape and tape it to the corrugated cardboard base.

The fences on the template can go just about anywhere, but if you want to create a corner fence like mine, follow these steps. Cut the fences from the template, making sure to leave some space below the fence for your tab. Then, fold along the dotted line of the fence.

Now you have a tab that attaches the fence to the corrugated cardboard base.

Cut a slit in the middle of the tab…

Then fold inward and tape the corner securely.

Your corner fence is complete! And don’t forget…if you want your chick to get through the fence, make sure to cut a hole for him/her (and measure, measure, measure!).

For the tunnel, tab the bottom of each side of the brown poster board, and then fold and shape it into a tunnel. And…let’s say it all together now…don’t forget to measure your chick!

When all the pieces are complete, hot glue them to the corrugated cardboard base (the tunnel, however, does better if it’s taped). We used green tissue paper (crumbled and glued) and fringed green construction paper (secured with tape) for landscaping. We also added some details with markers (including worms for the chick to eat).

The final step, of course, is the magnet wand. This is simply a button magnet hot glued to the top of the wooden spool. HOWEVER…before you hot glue it, test it out on the chick magnet. Make SURE that the two magnets attract (rather than repel).

Once you’ve confirmed that the magnets attract, glue the magnet onto the spool.

To set the farm in motion, place the chick on top of the corrugated cardboard base. Place the magnet wand underneath the base and slide it over to the chick. The two magnets will connect through the base, and your chick can explore the farm!

A Real Page-Turner

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Dana Sheridan

This machine really DID turn a page – after automatically cranking a half-dozen ping-pong balls up two towers and dropping them randomly through a number of pathways until one ball finally hit a mechanism that turned…a single page. Then the process started all over again!

The machine was built by Princeton University Engineering students Sarah Tang and Tanner DeVoe. It was built entirely of K’Nex, was over 7 feet tall, and it took 45 hours to complete. Not to mention zillions of test runs!

The “Page-Turner” was the centerpiece of a Rube Goldberg program at our library. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist famous for illustrating crazy, intricate machines meant to make life “easier.”

In addition to the machine, we had student group Princeton Engineering Education for Kids constructing simple (and not so simple) LEGO machines with kids, an extensive marble maze set for younger kids to build and test, a video loop of OK Go’s music video This Too Shall Pass, and student artist Kemy Lin inspiring kids to draw their own machines using this Rube Goldberg template.

Here’s a way cute example of “How to Catch a Butterfly” by a budding engineer:

Pit Sweet Pit

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Dana Sheridan

Ah, the comforts of home…a rug, a chair, a reading lamp, a good book, and a pit to put it all in. Wait…a PIT?

We read Uncle Frank’s Pit by Matthew McElligott (Viking Juvenile, 1998). When Uncle Frank comes to visit, the family is somewhat incredulous when he claims – after some calculations with a coat hanger – that there is treasure buried in the backyard. Uncle Frank starts to dig. And dig. And dig. First, he brings in a ladder to help him climb out. Then a chair to rest in. Eventually, Uncle Frank moves into the pit – which is now fully decorated and wired with electricity. When the subterranean hot tub arrives, however, Dad puts his foot down. But the adventure isn’t over quite yet. Turns out Uncle Frank was right. There IS something buried in the backyard!

You’ll need:

1 large oatmeal container
Brown construction paper
1 piece of green construction paper (approximately 3″ x 12″)
A selection of patterned paper
1 rectangle of felt (mine was 2.5″ x 4″)
2 wooden beads
1 beverage cap
1 small box (mine was 3” x 3” x 2” but any small box will do)
1 rectangular kitchen sponge
1 pit decor template printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
1 small craft stick
Hot glue
Markers for decorating
Scissors and tape for construction

Start by covering the outside of the oatmeal container with brown construction paper. We created “dirt layers” with other shades of brown construction paper too, but that step is completely optional.

Fringe the piece of green construction paper and tape it around the mouth of the oatmeal container. This is the “grass” growing at the top of your pit. It’s OK if the grass doesn’t go all the way around the oatmeal container (after all, you need some room for your mailbox and front door!). I stuck flower stickers at the base of the grass to reinforce the idea that the pit extends underground, but flowers drawn on with markers work too.

The pit is complete, now for some interior decorating! Begin by using the patterned paper as wallpaper. Next comes the rug, which is a rectangular piece of felt, fringed on two ends (since little kid scissors don’t do so well with felt, we did the fringing in advance).

To make a lamp & table, color 2 wooden beads with markers. One bead is the lampshade, and the other bead is the lamp base. When the decorating is complete, hot glue the beads together. Then hot glue the entire lamp to the beverage cap “table.”

We also made some tiny books (in advance) by folding construction paper over white copy paper and stapling the spine. I couldn’t resist adding an oh-so-relevant title to mine.

To create a comfy reading chair, cut a small box into a couch-like shape (since our boxes were white, we decorated them with markers). Next, cut a kitchen sponge to create a bottom cushion, a backrest, two armrests, and two throw pillows. It’s best to attach the sponge pieces with hot glue (except the throw pillows, of course).

The throw pillows were a really nice touch, especially since they were created from the different sponge scraps already on the table.

Now for some art! Fill in the empty picture frames on the pit decor template and attach them to the walls with tape. And don’t forget to attach the interior ladder that leads up to your “front door!”

The last step to your fabulous dream pit is the mail box. First, locate the large dotted line.

Then fold the paper downward, along the large dotted line, like so:

Curl it over to the other side of the mailbox, and tape.

Next, cut the template along the small dotted line.

Then fold the two tabs down and tape.Finish by taping the flag on the mailbox and hot gluing the small craft stick onto the back of the mailbox.

Then hot glue the mailbox to the outside of the oatmeal container.Uncle Frank definitely finds something in the back yard, so as a final touch, I hot glued a “treasure” (i.e. an old foreign coin) at the bottom of each pit.

Pop Goes the Page

Creative Literacy & Library Love

Tag Archives: kids

Chick Magnet

A Real Page-Turner

Pit Sweet Pit