Cheap and Cheeky Challenges

NEWSPAPER

Grab a boxful of old newspapers and have a go at some of these challenges yourself, with brothers and sisters, or friends:

• Try and make a tower to reach the ceiling (or as tall as you can) – Start off with only the paper – who can make the tallest?
                 -    Next time make a tower of newspaper using sticky tape, or masking tape.
• Dress each other in newspaper costumes, including shoes, jewellery and a hat!
• Try and build a bridge that will take the weight of a shoe (or a brick if you want to be a true engineer!) - It can be made to span 2 chairs, or to be freestanding.

ALPHABET SCRAMBLE

Give each child, or pair, a newspaper (they don’t have to be the same). It is a race to see who can cut out and stick onto paper the complete alphabet. VARIATION: Cut out a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Eg, A 

NEWSPAPER SCRAMBLE

Give each child, or pair, a copy of the same newspaper (collect from kind neighbours or grandparents!) Beforehand, though, you completely rearrange each paper so the numbered pages are out of order. See who is the fastest to put their paper back in the right order.

EASY PAPIER MACHE

• Get the children to rip up lots of newspaper into small   pieces.
• Place in a bucket and send the kids out to play!
• Cover the paper with boiling water and leave to soak and cool.
• Use your electric hand held mixer to wizz up the newspaper into a fine pulp.
• Get the kids back to help squeeze the water out of handfuls of the pulp and place it into another old container.
• Drizzle plenty of PVA glue through the pulp. Get the kids to squeeze and mix it through.

NOW:
1. You can use this mixture to mould into all sorts of shapes. Let dry, then paint and varnish.
2. Squash into CHOCOLATE MOULDS to get all sorts of shapes - animals, stars, eggs, trucks, angels, etc. These can then be painted, varnished and a magnet glued on the back.
3. NECKLACES: mould shapes around string, or tie a piece of string into a circle, and stick the tied end into a ‘glob’ of pulp and mould it into a heart or a pendant. Paint, etc.

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