Climbing Jacob's Ladder

I'm going to be teaching the Jacob's Ladder book and box this weekend at MCBA. Each time I sign up to teach something new, it means creating the hand-out of instructions to go along with the class. I've taken classes in the past where I had to write my own notes and I didn't appreciate that, so I don't want my students to have to do it either. The "sequencing" of the pages is particularly important if you want your images or text to be right side up each time you turn the book over. For fun, I'm including some of the diagrams I've created for the hand-outs....and perhaps you can figure out how to put it together yourself!

As often as I've made this book (and its box cousin), it still fascinates me. When held upright, the blocks flip end over end to “tumble” down from top to bottom. Flip the top "page" back and they "tumble" down again. (Hmmm...maybe I'll have to make a little video of this!) The structure is named after the biblical story of Jacob (grandson of Abraham) who had a dream in which a number of angels moved up and down a ladder between heaven and earth. I think that I'll be dreaming about how to glue the pages of this structure correctly tonight.


I'll be sure to post pictures from class here after we're done!