Fidget Cube

It's time to make Christmas presents for the Primary children in our ward.  I found this idea as I searched for simple crafts to make for my grandchildren.  My first warning is that though these become easy to make.  They are not easy at first. Secondly, they take me about 25 minutes to make one so if you have a large primary, this might not be the ideal gift for you to make. They are fairly cheap.  Not including taxes, I paid approximately $.90 each.

Here is the fidget cube...

It is fun to play with and to put together.
I first saw these at this website. I couldn't quite understand by looking at her pictures so I went to this youtube video and was able to figure it out.

I did some things differently.

Materials needed:
72 pack small Wooden cubes (available at Hobby Lobby for $2.99)
6 rolls Duct tape (decorative and/or plain colors) (makes about 60 fidget cubes)
Xyron sticker maker loaded with permanent adhesive
CTR stickers  available here.  resized to fit
Utility knife with break-off razor blades
Scissors (Titanium blades are preferable but not necessary)*

*The scissors shown here are titanium blade scissors.  I used them because the adhesive on the duct tape does not stick to the scissors.  If you use other scissors, you will need to plan on cleaning them often.  I used Dawn liquid dish detergent on some normal scissors and that worked well.

Hopefully, I can make it clear how to make the fidget cube from still pictures in poor lighting. For each fidget cube, you'll need 8 cubes. I used colored cubes for this demonstration, but I did find that the natural colored cubes were actually more uniform in size.

I cut 4 pieces of duct tape approximately 3/4" wide.

I then laid 2 cubes that were together tightly on each piece of duct tape. Notice how close I put the duct tape to one edge of the tape. If you do that, you can use the leftover piece later on another cube.

If you cut the tape with the wood on top and the duct tape on the bottom, you can get a much closer cut.

If you look carefully at the purple cubes, you will see what I will call a hinge.

I am going to try to describe the next step with words.  Cut another 4 strips of duct tape.  You are now going to reinforce those hinges.  Fold the cubes.  Now place a strip of tape across the two cubes on  the sticky side of the hinge.

This is what you get... Reinforced, strong hinges (don't pay attention to the fact that the cubes have changed colors.)

We now lay our cubes in this formation with the original (floral) duct tape on top.

Using another duct tape piece, place a piece of tape as shown on this picture. You will do this on the outside of each set of four cubes.

Take the set of 8 cubes shown above and turn them over with that original (floral) duct tape on the bottom and no duct tape showing on the top.

Place duct tape across the top and bottom of the set of 8 cubes.  You are now joining the 2 sets of 4 together.

This next step is hard to describe. You are now folding the cube lengthwise and you're going to reinforce those two hinges that you just made.

Folding....

Folding...

Folded. You can see the unreinforced hinges on the top and bottom of the 8 squares.

Place duct tapes over the cubes to reinforce those hinges.

You are now going to reinforce the hinges that you made on the outside of the 8 cubes (in my pictures, it is the pink duct tape with white polka dots).  You do this by folding the cube so it makes a square. The duct tape that you just applied will be at the bottom on the side. You can see those unreinforced hinges in the center.

Here it is folded in the cube and you can see the unreinforced hinges really well. They seem so flimsy when they are unreinforced!

I have now put duct tape across those two cubes.

Here I am opening out the cube and refolding and having fun. You will still have uncovered pieces of wood.  At this point, use your leftover pieces to finish covering the cubes. You will no longer be covering two cubes at a time.  You will cover each individual cube.  If you do like I did, you will cover it so that whenever you turn the cubes so that all 8 lay flat, they will be covered with the same color/style of duct tape.

After all the individual cubes are covered with duct tape, you will be done.  Yay!!!

If you'd like to include a sticker on one side, choose an area that, when folded into a square, has each cube covered singly.  There will only be two sides that meet that criteria.

Cut out your stickers that you have sized and printed.  I used Microsoft Word to do this but you can use whatever program you are familiar with. Now run it through your Xyron machine.  It makes the sticker ever bit as sticky as the duct tape.

Center the sticker over the 4 cubes and press down.

Using the knife, carefully cut between each single cube.  You can clean it up a little with scissors if it gets a bit of a jagged edge.

There it is all cut and it looks great!

Now doesn't that look great!

Some notes:
**These cubes are a little sticky.  There is no way I've found to totally get rid of the stickiness that is left on the edges by the duct tape.  I figure that it is for kids and they'll only be using them for a while so it won't matter.
**I tried washi tape and it didn't have enough stickiness to hold together for more than a few minutes.
**I made some with and/or for my grandkids and I had 5 year olds ranging up to 15 year olds who all enjoyed them. My 15 year old figured out how to make it without me showing him anything but the cube.  I think that he's extremely smart, but maybe it's just that easy.