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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Using Pool Noodles to Adapt Ring Stacks



I have been making a variety of different ring stacks over the years. I also use swimming noodles a lot when creating activities. The PT at work recently brought in some very nice old noodles while cleaning out her basement and I ended up making some rings to stack out of them.

They also work well when stringing them onto thick cord. I happened to have this plastic cane left over from some other activity. I wedged it inside the oatmeal container. The cane is very long and extends all the way to the bottom. Inside the container the cane is wedged inside a section of noodle that is wrapped up in a bag of sand. So this is now heavy enough to not easily topple over. I also added a bit of the red duct tape to make the tip of the candy cane softer.  

Below is a photo of a very simple noodle ring stack, obviously made by wedging the noodle inside a box. The rings can be cut out of various round cardboard containers such as the oatmeal box or  use round plastic cut out of detergent bottles or coffee can lids. 
One wonderful thing about these noodles is that you can push a motor from a pen or toothbrush inside it.Here is a picture of a vibrating ring stack with the blue noodle wedged inside an OJ bottle.  I had this pink spiral shaped object hanging around in the attic for years. It was originally part of a toy helicopter that involved pulling and shooting something into the sky.  There must be a lot of little toys like that around with such a spiral shape to use in a spiral ring stack like the one shown below. I wedged  and taped the pink spiral into a tube I had and then wedged that inside the noodle. Add tape to secure all in place and you can certainly adapt to the height and size that you need. 









2 comments:

School System Occupational Therapist in Virginia said...

Hi Barbara: Thx for the wonderful idea! I'm trying to find a way to make seat cushions for fidgety "seats" for the elementary-age student. Thinking of large bubble wrap covered with fabric so it doesn't "rustle." Then I think about using lengths of pool noodles contained inside a sewn-shut pillowcase. Do you have a post about making seat cushions? Your search feature isn't working and the one on my blog isn't either, so I think it's a Blogger problem. Thx, K.

Hilary Kimbel said...

These are such cute ideas! Where do you find the foam that you are using? Does it have to be a specific kind? www.swim-fitness.com