Paper Polyhedron

This is the coolest paper craft we've ever done. Cut paper and add a little patience and a lot of determination and you've made yourself a paper polyhedron ball.

Here's what you need for this project:

10 pieces of cardstock paper

Template to print on cardstock

Scissors

If your child's cutting skills lack precision, you may need to cut the pieces from the template for them (they'll need 30 pieces). My son is eight years old and not only struggles to cut along the lines, but lacks the patience to cut 30 pieces.

So I admit, I did all the cutting.

And it took awhile.

Before my son got home from school, I played with the pieces. I'm not going to lie. It took me a little while of fiddling and a few moments of intense staring at the pieces to figure out how to assemble them.

Here are some tips to (hopefully) make this project easier for you and your child.

1. Start by making a star, hooking five different pieces together around one hook/joint (see the top right photo in the collage below).
2. Every joint will connect either three or five pieces.
3. When you add new pieces, you will have to tuck the new piece under existing hooks when you attach it.
4. The pieces are NOT flat. Each piece (when attached) billows out in the middle.
5. If it doesn't seem like there's a logical way to connect pieces together, look at the joint. Whenever we got stumped, we realized there were four pieces connected at the joint and another piece needed to be attached there.
6. The last two pieces will be awkward to attach because space is limited. You may have to bend the paper slightly.

Remember, that this is a collaborative project for you and your child. Two minds are better than one. And the project will be more fun - and less frustrating - when you work together.

My oldest son was intrigued but nervous. The more he attached, the more his confidence grew. And when we were done, he was ecstatic!

I don't blame him. The result was sure impressive!