Make a skipping rope of plastic bags

What young child doesn't love to skip, and you can easily recycle plastic shopping bags into a fun skipping rope and provide the kids with hours of fun.

 

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This wonderful project on Childhood List shows you how a simple skipping rope is made by recycling plastic bags. Using the same method as that for making my plastic shopping bag...

1. Top and tail
Gather together all your plastic shopping bags and use a pair of scissors to top and tail them. Cut off the tops and at least 1cm at the bottom. The remaining part can be cut into strips 3cm wide.

2. Join the bags
For the purpose of demonstration I have used a yellow and white bag to show how to join all the bags together. Place the end of one bag (white) over the other bag (yellow).

Take the bottom of the yellow bag over the top of the white bag and through the yellow hoop that you see in the image above.

Grab the tails of both bags and pull gently in opposite directions. Repeat this to join several bags together to create a long length of plastic.

CONTINUES BELOW

 

 

3. Start plaiting
Fasten the end together with masking tape and secure under a heavy object. Braid six strips together into one very long, jump rope sized braid. Once finished braiding the first 6 strips together, repeat this step with the second 6 strips to create two long plastic braids. Twist the two braids together tightly so that the jump rope would has enough weight to swing when jumping.

4. Tape off the ends
After twisting the two braids together, tape the ends with duct tape to create a handle. We then took our jump rope outside for a test and it worked great. The plastic is surprisingly strong and seems to hold up well and the good news is I have plenty more plastic bags to make another one!