"We are all wanderers on this earth...our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams." ~ Gypsy proverb

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Hoopla!

Joining Stephanie in Saturday's Artist, the kids and I made more hula-hoops this week!! This is so much fun and so easy, the "hardest" part is getting the materials.  If you want to try this, here is how :)!!

You can pick-up everything from your hardware store:  irrigation tubing (3/4" is fine),  3/4" couplings (a bag of ten is good), all colors of electrical tape, a pvc cutter, and popcorn kernals for noise if you would like.

First you need to measure and cut a length of tubing.  The general rule of thumb is to measure the tubing to the belly button. The smaller the hoop, the easier to hula! You will need the pvc cutter, which I have found can be a little tough to use, so no little hands on this one...


Then you heat up a couple cups of water in a pot, it doesn't need to be boiling, just hot enough to soften the tubing. Put in one end for about 10 seconds, slide the coupling in. This is the time to put in your kernals if you want any!! Then repeat heating and connect the other side.

Now you have a connected hoop and the fun part begins!! We decorate using electrical tape as I found it easier and more flexible.  We also have used designer duct tape, but we found that to be noisy, sticky, wrinkly--and much harder for the kids to use, though they are pretty.  We bought our tape at the hardware store, but you can also order cool, flashy tape here and here.

Just so you know, you will have a LOT of tubing leftover. You can make at least 10-12 hoops depending on the size. We have given them as gifts, as well as donated them to preschools, etc. The kids can even sell them if they want to make a few dollars! We love to hoopla around here.  I suppose we could go to the dollar store and just buy one, but where is the fun in that!!!

12 comments:

  1. That looks like fun and great exercise too. I think I need to find my daughter's hoop and use it for rainy days, when I can't walk. Which seems to be every day right now!

    ~Andrea~

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful! Perfect for this time of year. :)
    I have one that my girlfriend made for my birthday a couple of years ago... I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. that's awesome! I will put this into the "summer things to do" pile!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is awesome The only hula hooping I have done lately is on the Wii. I need a super cool hula hoop to do it right so thanks for the tutorial.
    Warmly,
    Tracey

    ReplyDelete
  5. These are great! I've been wanting to make hoops since last summer. Thanks for the tutorial on how to do so. Happy hooping!

    ReplyDelete
  6. So great! My kids are going to be so psyched to do this!

    ReplyDelete
  7. oooh, loving your bright and colourful hoops - looks like making them is almost as much fun as using them!! You've reminded me that now the warmer weather is here, we really need to dig our hoops out of the garage and have another go with them. It was all a bit beyond A last year, but I reckon she will love it this year, especially after all the hooping vids we've been watching online.

    ReplyDelete
  8. oh my goodness,thank you for sharing this,i know what we are doingnext weekend:0)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Homemade hula hoops are something I never would have thought to make, but those are fantastic! I absolutely love it, and may have to try this when Annabelle is a bit older!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great idea!
    They look like so much fun to make.
    My girls love to hula hoop.

    ReplyDelete
  11. We did that with a homeschool group a few years back.So much fun.A twist is to use holographic self adhesive book wrap (contact).It tends to be a little toucher too.Must do these again...we could use 12...ours are all on the roof out of reach!

    ReplyDelete

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
~ George Bernard Shaw