DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Egg Carton Kendama
contributed by Kaitlyn Guenther
Kendamas are such fun toys to play with. I've been playing with them for years but it wasn't until recently that I discovered it's a traditional Japanese toy -- I always just called it my cup and ball game when I was little.
When I was younger I had one that I played with all of the time, but then the string broke and I was devasted. I was thinking about that the other day and thought there must be a way to make my own version of a kendama!
This craft is tons of fun to make and even more fun to play with afterwards. Essentially it is a ball and a set of three cups. The goal is to try to swing the ball into one of the cups and you can even try bouncing the ball between cups! Just make sure you're in a relatively open space... *giggle*
Materials:
- popsicle stick,
- hot glue (this craft needs to be secure and hot glue is the best, but make sure to supervise the use of hot glue),
- string,
- paper (to crumple up for the ball),
- masking tape,
- paint and paintbrush
Instructions:
Cut out three seperate egg cartons and trim the tops so that they are nice cup shapes.
Glue the flat side of a popsicle stick to one of the egg carton cups using hot glue.
Glue the other flat side of a popsicle stick to the second egg carton cups using hot glue.
Glue the third egg carton cup ontop of the other two cups so that you have a sort of triangle shape at one end of the popsicle stick.
Crumple up a piece of paper into a ball and wrap masking tape around it to secure the ball shape.
Tie a string around the masking tape ball. I looped the string around it and secure the string with a loop knot.
Secure the string knot to the masking tape ball with a little bit of hot glue. (This process is important because the ball will be flung around when playing with the kendama and we want it to be securely attached to the string.)
Wrap a bit more masking tape around the ball to cover up all of the string.
Securely tie the other end of the string to the popsicle stick.
- TIP: Also wrap the string around the egg carton cups and through the hole between the top egg carton cup and the bottom two. (This will prevent the string from sliding down the handle part of the popsicle stick.)
- TIP: The length of the string is really up to you, but you should make it at least a foot long so that it can be swung into the egg carton cups.
Paint the kendama whatever colour you want. Feel free to get creative and have fun!
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