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knot theory posts

Super strong pencil Activity

by David Shaw, 4 January 2017 | 0 comments

Someone is wrapping a yellow string around a pencil.

In this trick, you’ll wrap a shoelace around a pencil and a strip of cardboard. The string seems to pass straight through both, tearing the cardboard, but leaving the pencil untouched!

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Tie your shoelaces properly Activity

by David Shaw, 18 August 2016 | 1 comments

A shoe with red and yellow laces, and a nice straight bow.

For many of us, tying shoelaces is something we learned long ago. And yet, a surprising number of people do their shoelaces incorrectly! So how can you tell, and how do you fix it? Read on to find out!

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Impossible plait Activity

by David Shaw, 23 September 2014 | 0 comments

A piece of felt that is platited into itself

You will need Felt sheet Good scissors Cutting the felt Cut a rectangle of felt about 6 cm wide and 20 cm long. Fold the felt in half so the short sides match up. Make two cuts, equally spaced, coming in from the folded side. Stop cutting about 2 cm before you reach the short edges of the…

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