The kids have really been into cutting and pasting lately. I wanted to show them that their creations don't always have to be two-dimensional, so one day when we were all working side-by-side, I started manipulating my scraps of paper to make them stand out from the page in different ways. L and E were very interested and asked me to show them how to make these types of creations too...
E really enjoyed bending the colored paper and gluing it down to make a playground with slides, roller coasters, and things to bounce on:
Meanwhile, L worked very diligently on trying to duplicate my rainbow all by herself:
It turned out to be her own version, not just a copy of mine, and I'm very proud of how patiently she worked on solving the various engineering problems that she ran into.
This was a fun change from the usual cutting and pasting we do. I can think of a lot of extension activities we can do for this in the future, like building amusement parks, engineering roads and bridges, making pop-up greeting cards, etc..