Spirograph

I have always taken care of the little ones.  So one day I asked if I could be with the older kids.  There was no hesitation with my co-workers or the on-site supervisor, but...that gig only lasted two months.
This was a group that definitely needed complex types of projects.  I chose the spirograph because it seemed pretty straightforward; and therefore, I decided to let the kids do the erecting of it all by themselves.  They would have to learn teamwork and collaboration (which only worked to a small extent; but at least it WAS something).

Everything always looked so good on the Martha Stewart website. They must have practiced this project at least 10 times to get it right? On http://www.marthastewart.com, they showed this activity by video.  But I wasn't worried because these boys were going to do the spirograph--and they were gong ho.  I printed out the instructions, got the supplies and let them go at it. Actually, they did a pretty good job.  The project just needed a little tweeking here and there. But BRAVO!!

One of the boys was testing out the flow of paint from the bottle. The blue bottle wasn't working well, so adjustments were being made, such as thinning the paint and opening the nozzle more.

The yellow worked, but I don't have any pictures to present to you.

Here, the boys got the blue paint to flow through the nozzle just right.

I wanted to show you the top of the tripod of how it was tied off.

The little ones wanted to take in the action by placing chairs around the boys' project.

Supplies:
1. three bamboo poles for tripod
2. rope for binding poles
3. plastic bottles for paint with nozzles (ours were tops from glue bottles)
4. duct tape
5. single hole punch
6. newspaper
7. large white butcher or water color paper
8. scissors
9. large paper clip
10. box cutter
11. string
12. hot glue gun
13. measuring cups


Directions:
1. set up tripod with string (we had no rubber feet, which was fine)
2. one inch from bottom of plastic bottles, make incision with box cutter, and cut off the bottom of bottles with scissors
3. with hot glue gun, secure nozzles to plastic bottles
4. with duct tape, cover the bottom of the nozzles (to prevent any leakage)
5. fold over duct tape three equal distances on opening of bottle
6. punch one hole in each of the three duct tabs
7. thread each hole doubly with string (about two feet) and attached them to a paper clip to the string hanging from the tripod
8. prepare paint (one part paint to one part water)
9. pour paint into measuring cup
10. place plastic covering on floor for protection or newspaper
11. place butcher paper or water color paper on top of newspaper
10. add paint to plastic bottle (hold carefully)
11. holding bottle off the paper, test the flow of the paint; if okay, let the bottle swing and watch the patterns that it will create.

Note:
If my written directions have brought you into a fog, here is Martha's video:




Duration:
This project took one day