Pipe Cleaners - Page 8 of 16

Resistance Tear Push

Steps:

Adult Prep: Use scissors to cut one narrow, tight slit (about 1.5 inches long) into the plastic container lid. Secure the lid firmly onto the container using masking tape.
Give your child strips of construction paper. Encourage them to use both hands to tear the paper into small, rough pieces. Tearing this resistant material requires strong effort.
Take one pipe cleaner. Help your child bend and fold it until it becomes a short, stiff ‘poker stick.’
Ask your child to hold the container steady with their non-dominant hand. Place one torn paper scrap near the narrow slot.
Using the stiff pipe cleaner poker, aim carefully and push the paper scrap completely through the resistant slot.
Continue tearing, poking, and pushing until all the paper has been successfully delivered inside the container.

Safety Tip:
Constant and direct adult supervision is required. Torn paper pieces and pipe cleaners are small objects and pose a choking hazard for children under five. Ensure the pipe cleaner is bent safely before use.

Cardboard Tee Lacing

Steps:

Use markers to draw several dots onto the piece of cardboard. These dots are your targets.
Place the cardboard flat on a stable table. Challenge your child to hold the cardboard firmly with their helper hand to keep it steady.
Pick up a golf tee. Use a strong, controlled push to insert the tee straight through the cardboard at one of the marked dots. Feel the resistance!
Remove all the golf tees, leaving behind a set of neat, small holes across the surface.
Challenge your child to thread the pipe cleaners through the new holes. They must weave the fuzzy sticks in and out to create a colorful lacing pattern.

Safety Tip:
Constant and direct adult supervision is required. Golf ball tees and small pieces of pipe cleaner pose choking hazards for children under five. Ensure materials are used only as intended and collected immediately after play.

Coil Drop Target

Steps:

Adult Prep: Tightly coil 5 to 6 pipe cleaners into small, narrow spirals or loops to create the targets.
Clip one pipe cleaner spiral onto the open end of a clothespin. Repeat this for all the coils.
Fill a separate container halfway with water and add a few drops of food coloring to create ‘magic potion.’
Ask your child to clip the clothespin targets onto the rim of the paper cup, making sure the coils hang inside.
Challenge your child to hold the eyedropper with a neat pincer grasp, suck up the colored water, and carry it to the paper cup.
Carefully aim the eyedropper and squeeze gently to deposit the colored drops into the narrow opening of the pipe cleaner coil. Repeat until the coils are full.

Safety Tip:
Constant and direct adult supervision is required. Pipe cleaners are small materials and pose a potential choking hazard for young children. Ensure the colored water is not ingested.

Felt Tapestry Push

Steps:

Adult Prep: Use scissors to cut 8 to 10 tight, narrow, horizontal slits into the felt sheet.
Secure the felt tightly onto the cardboard using masking tape on all edges. Tape the cardboard base firmly onto the table.
Take two pipe cleaners and twist them tightly together to create one stiff, thick ‘needle’ for threading.
Hold the cardboard base steady with your helper hand. Use a strong pincer grasp to pick up the end of the stiff pipe cleaner needle.
Challenge your child to thread the pipe cleaner straight through one tight felt slit. Push it completely through, feeling the resistance of the fabric.
Continue threading the pipe cleaner into the remaining slits, creating a dense, woven tapestry pattern across the felt surface.

Safety Tip:
Constant adult supervision is required. Pipe cleaners are small materials and pose a potential choking hazard for young children. Ensure all materials are used only as intended.

Tension Tube Push

Steps:

First, an adult should use the scissors to cut 5 to 7 short, tight slits (about 1 inch long) across the surface of the paper roll.
Help your child take a large piece of playdough and push it firmly into the center of the paper roll. The playdough should be dense and resistant, covering the slits from the inside.
Place the paper roll on a table. Challenge your child to hold the paper roll steady with their helper hand to prevent it from moving while pushing.
Pick up a pipe cleaner from the container. Encourage your child to aim the pipe cleaner tip at one of the narrow slits.
Use a strong, steady push to insert the pipe cleaner completely through the slit and into the resistant playdough core. The playdough holds it in place.
Continue pushing the pipe cleaners into all the slots until the entire ‘tension tube’ is full. Then, try pulling them out for an extra workout!

Safety Tip:
Constant and direct adult supervision is required. Pipe cleaners and pieces of playdough are small objects and pose a potential choking hazard for children under five. Ensure the child only pushes the pipe cleaners into the designated tube.