Use craft and a bit of science to create a puppet that can climb a rope
What you need:
- string
- scissors
- cardboard
- sticky tape
- coloured paper or markers (optional)
- split pin (optional)
What to do:
- Cut out legs and torso + head shape from the cardboard.
- Decorate these using the coloured paper or markers (optional).
- Put a hole in the bottom of the torso and top of the legs and connect them with the split pin (optional).
- Cut small pieces of straw and stick them to the back of the arms, angling them towards the head.
- Cut a piece of string about the length of your arm.
- Thread the string through the straws and tie a knot in it.
- Hold the string at the top and at the bottom.
- Using your top hand, angle the string in one direction, and then the other. Your puppet will climb the rope.
What happens:
The straws needed to point sideways because we are taking advantage of friction for this experiment. When you pull on one side of the string, the puppet tips sideways and the straw points straight up – this allows the string to move through this straw, but not the other. This causes the puppet to go up a little on one side – then the string is
pulled in the other direction, allowing the other straw to point straight up, and the string to go through until the puppet is right at the top.
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