Japanese Shoe Swaps

Cut three pieces of wood (balsa wood is easy to work with and light in weight for a swap). The wood should be ½ cm thick. One piece should be approx. 5 cm x 2½ cm, and the other two pieces should both be approx. 1 cm x 2½ cm. Glue the two smaller pieces across one side of the larger piece, each of them one third along the lager piece, almost as if you are making a miniature table. This is an approximate diagram - the x's are the smaller pieces of wood.

--------------
|                   |
|                   |
|xxxxxxxxxxx|
|                   |
|                   |
|xxxxxxxxxxx|
|                   |
|                   |
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On the other side, take 9 cm of a pipe cleaner - color of your choice - and bend it in half. Glue it in the places marked with an x in the following diagram.

-------x------
|       /   \       |
|      /     \      |
|     /       \     |
|    /         \    |
|   /           \   |
| /             \ |
|x               x|
|                   |
--------------

To finish, glue a pin back on the bottom of your Japanese shoe.

In addition to making a swap, the girls can also practice using tools such as a small saw to cut the wood.

Contributed by:
Junior Troop 602, MiCasa Service Unit, Girl Scouts of Tres Condados, California

Instructions written out by:
Liz Watts
Cadette Leader, Girl Scouts of Tres Condados, California
Former Guider and County Hillwalking Adviser, UK
Member of The GuideZone team

Do you have any other ideas for activities? Contact The GuideZone Team with your comments or suggestions!

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This page last updated March 17th, 2000