Tell students that they will build a structure large enough for at least one student to get into (and might fit more). Their structure will only be made from newspaper and tape, and must stand up on its own.
Students work in groups of two, three or four.
Older students could be given the challenge with no further instructions.
Most students will need to be shown how to make rods, that they can then build a structure from.
Rod preparation:
Roll a sheet of newspaper snugly around a plastic/wooden rod (see photo), by rolling on a flat floor.
(Large structures will need rods made of more than one sheet of paper - the larger structures in the photos had 8-sheet rods.)
Then use three small pieces of masking tape to secure the ends and centre of the newspaper so that it forms a rod.
Remove the rod from inside the newspaper roll.
A sheet of newspaper can be rolled along its longer edge, or diagonally to make longer rods.
Make sure the rod is not rolled up inside (keep moving it outwards to keep one end of the rod exposed).
For making larger structures, optionally make a class supply of rods as a class before the building day. For large structures, the class needs about 50 rods for each group of four students.
Students may figure out how to join their rods, or optionally show them one method:
Flatten the ends of two newspaper rods. Hold the flat faces tightly together and bind them tightly with masking tape, to make a strong and flexible joint (see photo).
Two students working on a joint together will allow the strongest joints to be made, as some hand strength and coordination is needed.
If an additional rods needs to be added to a joint, flatten the end of the additional rod and added to the stack of flat rod-ends, then tape.
As more weight is added to a structure, weak joints will not support the load. Strong individual joints will ensure success of a larger structure.
Either before they start, or I prefer when they have been building a little while, show students that triangles are strong shapes: a square of four rods will collapse sideways, but by adding a diagonal rod to make two triangles it will be stable.
If the strength of triangles is discussed before building, students may want to make up triangles first, then build these into a structure.
During the building encourage groups to borrow ideas from each other.
Once the frame is in place, students may want to add a skin of a single sheet of newspaper.
