Walking through a postcard – Experiment

What’s the effect?

You cut a hole in an A5 piece of paper large enough for someone to climb through. (This is a good follow on activity from the “Coin through an impossible hole“.)

You will need:

• A piece of A5 paper
• Scissors

What’s the method?

Start by folding the A5 piece of paper in half lengthwise (see photo 1).

Now make cuts in the piece of paper starting from the folded edge and stopping 1cm from the opposite edge. You want the cuts to be spaced by about 1cm. The result will look like a paper comb (see photo 2).

Now turn the piece of paper around and make cuts from the opposite side. These cuts are made in between the cuts you’ve previously made. Again stop cutting 1 cm from the edge. You will now have created a zig zag shape as in (photo 3).

The next step (also shown in photo 3) is to carefully cut along the folds you made at the start. However, you want to leave the folds on the left and right edges intact. When you’ve completed these cuts and carefully unfolded your creation it should look like photo 4.

By carefully pulling the paper apart you will have created a large hole in the middle (see photo 5). You can then climb through it or have a volunteer climb through. You need to watch the paper doesn’t catch on clothing or it will tear easily.

This is a good activity when teaching about perimeter and area.