Jumping Frogs: Do try this at home!
A hole punch. Any adult can use a sharp object such as scissors to create a hole small enough for a split pin - we recommend some blutack or playdough underneath the paper/card to protect fingers and surfaces when poking your pointy object though!
Anything to decorate your jumping mechanism. Get crafty.
Today’s activity was all about Levers. Does using your crosses seem familiar? They’re like a pair of scissors! With a couple more scissors connected on the end. Scissors are a Double Lever - as you separate one end of the lever the other end will also open! When we connect more than one the opening motion brings all the pivot points (those are the pins in the middle of our levers) together to shrink the mechanism. The closing motion makes our mechanism grow or jump outwards!
Problem Solving and Extra Experimenting:
Mechanism a bit floppy? you may need thicker card to use it in the air. It should still work great on a clear table.
If your frog is getting caught on the paper/ card stips he may need to be smaller or thicker (you could glue him onto some card rather than redrawing!) - experiment!