Tuesday, 15 February 2011 by Irene Hoofs

The Long-Reach Gizmo by Teri from Giddy Giddy

This is a fairly easy project with household materials. And little engineers can get hands on experience with the concept of leverage and fulcrum...have fun.

What you will need:
*Cardboard
*Brads
*Scissors or x-acto knife
*Paint

Step one:
I cut cardboard into 8”x2” strips and poked 3 holes in each strip. For hole placements, put one in the center and the other 2 on each outer side.
Step two:
To spark ideas for how to transform our extendable arm into something fantastic, we started brainstorming toothy animal, robotic arm, and animal claws.
Step three:
We ultimately turned our “gizmo” into a crocodile and an angler fish by re-fashioning the upper and lower strips into the animal’s head. To do this, I sketched the upper and lower jaws on paper and cut them out first.

I had to refine the design until the upper jaw and lower jaw fit together nicely when you pivot the two pieces from the center fulcrum. The final drawing of the animal’s head was traced onto cardboard and then cut with the x-acto knife.
Step four:
Next, I painted on both sides of the cardboard. Finally, I assembled “x” shapes together and fastened each cardboard strip with metal brads.