Pop-Up Card with a Pull Tab

What you need

• Kid scissors, 1 pair
• Glue stick, 1
• Crayons or markers, a few markers
• Paper, 1 strip, about 1 by 8 inches (2.5 by 20 cm)
• Card stock, 1 sheet per card

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Check that the scissors cut well and the card stock folds easily. Sit the kids at a clear table.

1. Fold your card stock in half to make a card.
2. Cut two short slits on the folded edge, two fingers apart.
3. Fold the flap between the two cuts inward.
4. Open the card and watch the step pop out.
   Ask: What do you think will happen when you open the card?
5. Draw a monster, a cake or a rocket on scrap paper, then cut it out.
6. Glue your drawing onto the front of the step.
   Ask: Which way will your picture face when the card opens?
7. Cut a slit in the back page, just above the rocket's nose. Ask for help if you need it
8. Push the strip up through the slit from behind, and glue a star to its top end.
9. Push the tab up and pull it down: the star zooms above the rocket!
   Ask: What will your picture do when you pull the tab?
10. Write a secret message inside for someone in your family.
11. Give your card away, or make another! What surprise will you invent next?
    Ask: Who will you give it to, and what will your next card do?

Play it again

• Birthday card: draw a cake on the step and write a birthday wish inside.
• Rocket launch: make the pull tab shoot a rocket across the sky.
• Monster mail: hide a funny monster that jumps out when the card opens.