A flat surface works best for this version. All you’ll need is some plastic cups, a ball (rolled up socks if you don’t have one) and a hallway of some sort.

Have the kids take some time to make a pyramid. Use as many cups as you can, the bigger the pyramid, the more fun!

Have the kids roll the ball down, and knock as many cups over as possible.

Try to challenge them, maybe only give them two rolls to knock them all down, try it blindfolded, or say they have to bounce it off the wall before it reaches the cups.

This is a great activity that many children will be able to do independently. They can also take some time to decorate the cups before playing as well!

Activity by Matt McDonald, Hardy Site Coordinator
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.whatmomslove.com

Supplies:

• Paper towel tubes
• Cardstock/paper
• Scissors
• Tape (we recommend painter’s tape to keep painted walls intact!)
• Pom-poms

Instructions:

1. Start by taking some of your paper/cardstock and cut in half to make smaller sections. Gather your paper towel tubes as well.
2. Tape the pieces of paper onto the wall in the shape of a tunnel. It is now also the time to incorporate the paper towel tubes on the wall as well!  Make sure you are spreading them out and creating a course that pom-poms can follow!
3. Once all of your pieces of paper and tubes are taped on the wall in a course design, time to test it out! Take some pom-poms and start at the top. Have some fun!

Need inspiration?

• Have you ever seen George Rhoads’ audiokinetic ball machine sculptures at Logan Airport or the Museum of Science in Boston? Here’s a video of a similar Rube Goldberg-type ball machine at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
• You can also think about the cool marble run creations you’ve made in the past!

Tips: 

• Have bouncy balls or ping pong balls? Test those out instead of pom-poms!
• You can always un-tape the course and create a new design!

Activity by Kelly Moy, Schofield Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.toddlerapproved.com

Materials:

• Plastic straws
• Tape

Instructions:

1. Join straws together using one of two techniques (choose whichever is easiest for you):
   • Pinch the end of a straw and push it into the end of another straw, or
   • Tape the straws together
2. Repeat until your structure is done.

Activity by Rose Mattozo, Sprague Site Coordinator

Photo Credits: www.ehow.com & www.agirlandagluegun.com 

Materials:

• Toilet paper and paper towel rolls
• Scissors
• Glue
• Masking/duct/electrical tape
• A piece of cardboard (for the base)
• Markers
• Marbles or pom poms

Steps:

1. Decorate toilet paper rolls if desired!
2. Tape them together to make tunnels.
   • Cut the bottoms out of some of them to make slides.
   • Cut some in half lengthwise.
3. Glue or tape some of the slides to the base by cutting a fringe at the bottom of some of the tubes and securing them to the large piece of cardboard
4. Use marbles (or even pom poms) to test out your marble run and make adjustments as needed!

Activity by Stephanie Zafferano, Fiske Site
Photo Credit: www.powerfulmothering.com

Materials:

• Legos:  Small and medium size square lego “bases”, a variety of legos in different sizes and colors

Directions:

Kids can create their own mosaic art using legos either free hand or using a printable guide, such as this one from childhood101.com. Much like fuse beads (also known as perler beads, an after school favorite!), once they start creating their is no limit to what they can do!

Activity by Nicole Little, Floating Teacher

Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.childhood101.com

Secret Lego Zoo

Materials:

• Assorted Legos
• Paper and pencil

Directions:

• Have each child create their own zoo exhibit that would include an animal, a cage, and food. If more than one child is completing this project, give them enough space to work privately.
• Have them make an animal, but not tell anyone else what they are making
• Have kids and other available viewers walk around the room guessing what animal has been created at each station.
• Share guesses and reasons behind them when everyone is done!

Activity by Nicole Little, Floating Teacher

Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.legolibrarian.com

What you’ll need:

• Legos
• Paper
• Pencil

How to play:

1. First, you want to brainstorm some ideas of what you want to have written on the cards. They should be various tasks that you can build out of legos. You can make them range from simple tasks to challenging ones, however you want to do it! Some examples are:
   • your favorite food
   • an animal
   • something you can wear
   • an outside scene
   • use only 50 pieces
   • use only green legos
     Be creative!

2. Once you’ve brainstormed some ideas, write each task on a small piece of paper. Then you can put them all together either in a hat, a bag, or some kind of box or container.
3. Now you’re ready to play! First, you will pick a card and then you must complete the challenge! You can choose whether or not you want to have a set time to complete the challenge.

You can make it a competitive game and compete to have a winner, or you can make it a competition against yourself and simply work on completing the challenge. You can take turns picking challenge cards or if you’re playing by yourself, just pick a new card after you complete each challenge!

Activity by Steph Finucane, Upham Site