Not everyone has the chance to go to the gym or basketball court. However, there are lots of creative ways to still play basketball in your own home! This activity will leave children with a unique way to play the game, whenever and wherever. Not only does this craft keep children engaged, but it is a great way to practice hand-eye coordination skills, and when played with another friend, enhances important social skills! This activity is sure to spark children’s imaginations, and get them building and moving! Designed for school-aged children, this activity is also great for younger children with caregiver supervision.
Supplies:
- 3 bowls
- 3 spoons
- ½ measuring cup
- tablespoon
- warm water
- borax
- clear glue
- super glue
- 5 red solo cups
- black sharpie
- pencil
- scissors
- 3 sheets of orange construction paper
- white foam board
- markers (optional)
- stickers (optional)
Instructions:
Welcome everyone! Let’s start by making the basketball backboard for the game. Gather all the necessary supplies and pull up a chair to a table or hard surface of your choice. Go team!
Step 1: First, take out one sheet of orange construction paper and fold it in half (hamburger style).
Step 2: Next, we are going to draw a “backboard” on the paper! To do this, we will be drawing a hexagon shape. To start, draw an “arch” shape along the top of the piece of paper. Then, draw a straight line down on either side. Next, draw a short, diagonal line that goes towards the middle on both sides. Lastly, draw a straight line across to connect those two small lines together! Check out the example picture for a reference.
Step 3: Now, take out your scissors and cut out your backboard! You will notice that by folding the paper in half and cutting out the shape, you now have two backboards, which is exactly the goal!
Step 4: Next, follow steps 1-3 again with your other two pieces of orange construction paper to make more backboards. You will then have a total of six! For the example, you will see that we only used five backboards—however, you are welcome to use all six. Keep it up!
Step 5: Now that you have all of your backboards cut out, the next step is to draw a big square in the middle. Take out your sharpie and draw the biggest square you can for each backboard!
Step 6: Next, lay out all of your backboards in front of you. Choose what you would like each backboard’s value to be, or in other words, how many points you want each basketball hoop to stand for! For this example, the top two hoops will be worth 20 points, the middle will be worth 50 points, and the bottom two will be worth 10! You can follow the example OR choose your own point system. Whatever that may be, write in the center of the box with your black sharpie the value of each backboard.
Step 7: Now, take out your poster board and arrange where you want the backboards to be placed—but don’t glue them down just yet. We are going to make our basketball hoops first!
Step 8: To make basketball hoops, we will start by drawing the nets on the cups. With your black sharpie, draw lines going straight up and down, halfway around one of the cups. Next, draw lines going side to side across the lines you just made! Do the same for each cup
Step 9: Next, choose a cup and hold it tightly with one hand. Using the other hand, take your scissors and cut out the bottom of the cup. Do this for each cup!
Step 10: Let’s glue everything down now! First, start with the backboards. Using the super glue, glue down the backboards to the white foam poster board, following your preferred layout.
Step 11: Next, we are going to glue down the cups. On the back of the cup (where you did not draw the net) take the super glue and make a line down the middle. Place the top of the cup on the bottom of the square you drew in the center of the backboard. Press down for a few seconds or until it is dry.
Now, let’s make the basketballs! Get out your bowls, spoons, clear glue, warm water, paper towels, borax, and measuring cups. Great work, team!
Step 12: This next step is a little messy! Lay down some paper towels and place your bowls over top.
Step 13: First, using your ½ measuring cup, pour a ½ cup of warm water into all three bowls.
Step 14: Next, using your tablespoon, pour one tablespoon of borax into all three bowls.
Step 15: Now, using your spoon, stir the warm water and borax in all three bowls until the white powder is dissolved!
Side note: If the borax is not dissolving, go ahead and add some more warm water to help speed up the process.
Step 16: Rinse off your tablespoon because we will use it again in the next step!
Step 17: Once the water and borax are all mixed together, using the tablespoon again, pour two tablespoons of clear glue into all three bowls.
Side note: if you have some glitter or dye, you can add it to your glue to make your basketballs sparkly or different colors!
Step 18: Stir, stir, stir! You should start to see a gel-like substance form in each bowl.
Side note: The gel-like substance will clump together and still leave a lot of water (and maybe some glue) left over in the bowl. This is 100% okay! There should be water left over
Step 19: Pull out the gel and pat it down with a paper towel. Beware! It is sticky, just try your best to dry it as much as possible.
Step 20: Now, roll the gel on a table, or hard surface, around and around and around! This will help it form into a ball. Go ahead and give it a small bounce! There you have it, your very own bouncy basketball—how cool is that??
Side note: After some time, if the ball starts to “flatten” out, go ahead and dip it into some left over water and roll it around on the table to create that round shape again!
Now, let’s transition back to our board to add the finishing touches!
Step 21: If you want to decorate your board, now is the time to grab your markers, crayons, or stickers. You can spice up the board with some encouraging words or fun doodles!
Step 22: Lean the board against a wall, chair, or any object that will securely hold up the board. Now, it’s time to get your game on! Great work, team!