Interactive Primary Newsletter 33 Pop-up Pals

Paper Pop-Up design A ‘paper pop-up’, is a simple alternative to the more traditional Jack-in-the-box. To make one of these requires very few resources - a craft knife, glue, card and cardboard. The steps in making it are straightforward: Cutting - For ease of assembly discretely label the pieces of cut card or cardboard (1-5) as follows:- Cut out two squares of card and one square of cardboard, each measuring 10 cm x 10 cm. In the centre of card(1) and the cardboard(2) remove a square of 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm. Set aside the other square of card(3). Next cut a strip of card 3 cm x 17.5 cm, mark and zig-zag fold every 2.5 cm along its length until you get a concertina bundle(4). Finally cut a strip of card                           5 cm x 12 cm(5) Figure 3 - Exploded diagram of pop-up assembly with labels Assembly - Glue card 3 to one side of the cardboard 2 and for card 1 with the hole, carefully glue around three edges to the other side. You should now have a cardboard square sandwiched between two pieces of card with a square hole in one face (1/2/3). Glue one end of concertina strip 4 to the bottom of this hole. Press the concertina strip down and slot card 5 through the unglued gap in the sandwich. Once fully inserted, this should hold the compressed concertina down. Draw a wee question mark on card 5 where it shows though the square window. At the other end which sticks out print “do not pull”. You now have a working pop-up (Fig.4). Children can decorate the top of the concertina; a not-so-scary face (Fig.4) and a little frog (Fig.5). Figure 4 - A pop-up with a ‘scary face’ that has popped up! You need not stick to the dimensions or materials suggested here. Indeed, it would be sensible to try materials readily available in school. The weight of card we used was 160 gms. This allowed about 6 or 7 folds to be made before the concertina ‘spring’ fell over. Figure 5 - Completed pop-up with frog on top   Jack-in-the-Box design