Here's a camp sweatshop activity I only just got around to holding earlier this week when school was closed and both girls were home last Thursday. We started saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls some time back in July for this one and probably could have done it over the summer, except for that fact that no store in my immediate area seems to sell magnetic tape anymore. Sometimes I get stubborn about things like this: "I know for a fact that I've purchased magnetic tape at a Target before; I am NOT going to order it on the internet." And then my carbon footprint grows and grows as I drive from place to place and waste hours of my life looking for it, when I could have just ordered it in the first place and it would have been in my hands sooner and with much less trouble for everyone involved (me and the approximately two score of store employees I asked in a dozen different stores). I've spent way more in gas than I ever would have in shipping and handling. So much for stalwart resolution.



I finally found the magnetic tape at Michaels craft store last week, but I had to ask four store employees before one of them could tell me where it was or even if they had it. Save yourself some grief and order it now.

Here's a version where the ball doesn't actually fall off at the end.



If you're going to try this at home, my suggestion is to get ping pong balls because they are lighter. We started with just regular plastic balls that we had in the house, but quickly realized that they were too heavy for the strength of the magnet tape and knocked about half the tubes off the refrigerator when they dropped from one tube to another. I could never figure out how to use the mini mighty magnets we have on the fridge to keep the tubes from falling off without stopping the balls from rolling (although now that I'm thinking back on it, I see a way... geez I'm dumb). The girls were pretty disappointed.

"Ping pong balls are pretty light," I thought, "it's too bad we don't anything remotely resembling a ping pong table in our house."

So I texted The KingofHearts at work and asked, "Can you stop by Wal-Mart on your way home from work and buy me a package of ping pong balls?"

It's a testament to his patience, either that or he's just way too familiar with the goings on in this house, that I can text him some random request like this with no explanation whatsoever and his response is not, "What? Why do we need emergency ping pong balls?" and "Do I really have to go five miles out of my way to get THAT so life can go on peaceably," but rather, "How many do you need?"

Future husbands and daddies take note: This is how you gain points in your families' eyes.