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Create mini marshmallow launchers with everyday household items. Get extra cozy with some hot cocoa and see how many marshmallows land inside your mug!

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Carefully cut out the bottom of the plastic cup. If needed, your grownup assistant can do this for you!

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Leaving the balloon deflated, tie a knot to close the opening. Then, cut about a quarter inch off the top of the balloon to create a large opening.

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Stretch the balloon over the bottom opening of the plastic cup. Give the knot a tug to make sure it is on securely.

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Now your marshmallow shooter is ready! Load up the marshmallows and give the balloon a tug to see how far they go!

balloons

mini marshmallows

plastic cups

scissors

Marshmallow Launcher

mechanics

KiwiCo crate box

motion

STEM

science project

pretend play

recycled craft materials

recycled

Explore engineering with this simple cardboard elevator. Then use your imagination to turn it into a parking structure lift, a dollhouse feature, or anything you like!

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Cut the lid off your crate. We'll use both the base and the lid in our lift construction.

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Cut a strip of cardboard from the lid, making it slightly narrower than the interior depth of the crate. If you're using a crate, this would be about 3 inches. Next, place the cardboard strip next to the box. Note where the sides of the box end, and mark the placement, going a little narrower than the width of the box. If you're using a crate, this would be just under 6 inches. You'll use this portion to create the inside of your lift. Score and fold the edges of the strip up. Make sure that both of your tabs are even in length. This piece will be the base of your lift.

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Next cut a thin strip from the remaining cardboard lid, about 1 or 2 inches. Place this strip next to the first wider strip and mark just inside the fold lines of the last strip you cut. Score and fold the flaps of this thinner strip down. This thinner strip will be the top of your lift.

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On the thin strip of cardboard, measure roughly a half inch from each side and punch a hole.

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Place the wider strip of cardboard on a flat surface with its tabs folded upward. Then, put the thinner strip on top and fold its flaps downward. The thin strip should fit just along the inside flaps of the wider base strip, creating a rectangular shape. Use hot glue to attach them together.

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Measure out and cut a length of string that is about twice the height of your crate when it's standing upright. Loop the string through the holes and tie your string together in a simple overhand knot.

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Now that all of your pieces are made, It's time to decorate! Use assorted cardstock and patterned tape to design your lift any way you would like!

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With the base of your crate upright, mark two holes along the sides of the box, about an inch from the top. Use a craft knife to cut these holes out, cutting them wide enough to fit the wooden dowel.

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Insert your dowel into the two holes. Your dowel should be level.

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Place the lift at the base of the crate, with the string and holes on top. Find the center of the looped string and tape it to the center of the dowel rod. It is important to get this centered or else your lift will not operate correctly.

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You now have a working lift! To make your lift go up, twist the dowel so the string wraps around the dowel, pulling up the lift. What fun objects can you find to put on your lift? What are some everyday machines that use a similar mechanism?

Want to make your elevator less work to use? Try cutting a cardboard circle and attach it to one end of the dowel. With the wheel added, you’ve turned plain old dowel into a wheel and axle mechanism. A wheel and axle is a super-handy simple machine used in everything from doorknobs to vehicles to — you guessed it — elevators. Together, the wheel and axle allows you to lift heavier loads than without it. If you’re only lifting pom-poms and cardboard, of course, it doesn’t make much difference. But if you were building a real elevator lifting thousands of pounds, you’d want all the help you could get!

crate or box

dowel

string / twine

tape

hot glue

craft knife

cardstock

hole punch

Cardboard Elevator

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day crafts

physics

animals

game

Use weighted popsicle sticks and rubber bands to create your own version of a classic arcade game, then challenge a friend to play!Download the printable <a href="http://images.kiwicrate.com/diy_ad/Kiwi-Co-Whack-A-Groundhog-Printable.pdf">here</a>.

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Cut out the objects on the printable. Then, set the groundhog cards aside and glue the gameboard to the top of the crate box. 

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Use the lip of the cup to trace a circle in the middle of each of the holes. 

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Cut out the circles on the top of the box with an X-acto knife. You will need a grownup assistant to help you. 

Cut slightly inside the marked circle so that when you place a cup into the hole it doesn’t fall through.

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 Cut a rectangle into one of the sides of a dixie cup. Do this to six cups. 

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Place the six cups into the holes on the top of the box. Then, glue them in place so that the holes you cut into the cups face the long sides of the box. 

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On the long sides of the crate, use a skewer to make holes that line up with the center of each of the cups and is about half inch from the top of the crate. 

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Widen these holes just enough so that a popsicle stick fits through them. 

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Glue quarters to the ends of the popsicle sticks. Let them dry. 

Slide the popsicle sticks into the holes on the side of the box as pictured. Then, double wrap rubber bands on both sides of the popsicle stick. 

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Push the rubber bands towards the middle of the popsicle stick so that they “hug” the side of the box. This will help keep the popsicle stick from sliding forward and backward when playing! 

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Glue the groundhog cards to either side of the clothespins. 

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Clip the clothespins onto the ends of the popsicle sticks in the cup. 

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Glue two cups together, sandwiching the pointy end of the skewer in between them. This will be your mallet. 

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Wrap yarn around the mallet until it is completely covered. 

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Play with your whack-a-mole! The quarters serve as weights to keep your groundhogs popping up even after you whack ‘em down. 

crate box

dixie cups (8)

popsicle sticks (6)

quarters (6)

clothespins (6) - small

white glue

x-acto knife

rubber bands (12) - tiny

yarn

skewer

pencil

Whack-A-Groundhog

spinner

origami

indoor game

Use four coins and colorful origami paper to create your own personal spinner to both amuse and amaze. Or, replace the coins with metal rivets for a sturdier version.If you already know how to fold an origami ninja star, skip to Step 19!

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Take 2 pieces of paper. Use different colors for a more whimsical look. 

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Tear along this crease to get two pieces of each paper. Put aside one set and work with the others first. 

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Fold the top of the pink piece to the left and the blue piece to the right. Use the previous halfway crease as a guide. 

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Fold the bottom half of the pink piece to the right and the blue piece to the left. 

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For the pink piece, fold the top part of the upper square to the bottom left corner. For the blue piece, fold down the upper square to the bottom right corner.

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For the pink piece, fold the bottom square up to the right corner. For the blue piece, fold up to the left corner. 

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For the pink piece, crease the top triangle inwards to the left. For the blue piece, crease inwards to the right.

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For the pink piece, fold the bottom triangle inwards to the right. For the blue piece, fold inwards to the left.

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Unfold steps 11 and 12. Flip the blue piece over.

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Tuck the upper right flap of the pink piece left, into the upper triangle of the blue piece.

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Tuck the bottom left flap of the pink piece right, into the lower triangle of the blue piece. Flip over

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Tuck the top flap of the blue piece down into the middle. 

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Tuck the bottom flap of the blue piece up into the middle. You created the first part of your spinner! 

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Use the thumb tack to poke a hole through the middle Repeat steps 4-19 to make the other half of the spinner

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Once you have both sides, use a hot glue gun to stick 4 dimes on the edges of one of the origami halves.

Have caution when using hot equipment. Exercise parental supervision during the gluing stage of this project.

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Put glue on the top sides of the coins and stick the top half of the origami spinner on.

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Bend a paperclip so that it is straight in the middle. Feed it through the holes you poked. Press down on the ends to create finger holds. Flick your spinner and watch the colors dance in the air! You can experiment with different objects glued to the ends and other papers!

What is going on?
Fidget spinners keep spinning for two reasons. First, many fidget spinners have a ball bearing at their center, around which the rest of the spinner rotates. Ball bearings use many small, metal balls to reduce the friction between an axis (the center of the bearing) and the object rotating around it (the spinner). Rolling objects produce less friction than sliding objects, so ball bearings allow fidget spinners to "roll" around their central axis, rather than slide around that axis.&nbsp;
Your DIY spinner doesn't have a ball bearing to reduce friction around its axis (the paperclip), but it does possess the second key trait of a good fidget spinner: a lot of rotational inertia. Inertia refers to an object's resistance to any change in its motion. The four, symmetrically-located dimes in your fidget spinner give the outside of the spinner a lot of inertia, so once it starts spinning, it strongly resists slowing down. By reducing friction and increasing rotational inertia, fidget spinners will continue to spin for some time.

Fidget spinners act like gyroscopes once they begin to spin, creating torque around the gyroscope's axis of rotation. Torque is a type of force that is created by the rotational movement of an object. If you're looking down at your fidget spinner, and you spin it counter-clockwise, the resulting torque will push the spinner towards you. Try rotating your spinner in different directions after you've given it a good spin, and see if you can feel the resulting torque.

Panda Crate

Sprout: Koala Crate

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World: Atlas Crate

Studio: Doodle Crate

Labs: Tinker Crate

Studio: Maker Crate

Labs: Eureka Crate

40 awesome toy design projects for kids

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