STEMs: Paper Tricks That Seem Like Magic

1. Cut a Hole Through a Paper That You Can Step Through!

Start by folding a piece of paper in half lengthwise. Then draw lines on the paper like the image below. Make sure you are leaving a small bit uncut at the end of each line.

Once all of the lines are cut back and forth, you are going to cut through the fold, making sure to leave the last two edges of the fold un-cut.

When you open it up, it will have a large opening that you can actually step through!

2. Make a Mobius Strip

A Mobius Strip is a band of paper that has only one side. It was created by a couple of German mathematicians in the 1800’s. You can easily make one by cutting a strip of paper about 1 and a half inches wide. Then take one end of the paper and twist it once. Connect it to the other end and tape it.

That is cool all on it’s own. But we are going to make it cooler! Take a pencil and draw a line through the center of the strip. You will end up going all the way around and back to the starting point. Now, Cut through the center line and see what happens! When you finish cutting you will end up with an even larger loop!

3. From a Double Twist to a Double Ring

For the next trick, we will start just like the previous one. Take a strip of paper, but this time twist it twice. Tape it and cut through the center just like you did last time.

Now when you cut it apart you will end up with two rings connected! Amazing, right?!