DIY ping pong

A has had it stuck in his head that he wants to play ping pong (table tennis - whatever you want to call it).  To the point that he made the net himself and he kept asking me to buy the bats (paddles? what are they called officially?).  Before I felt like going shopping for them I decided to have a go at making some.

Cut two handle lengths from a sturdy cardboard roll.

Cut slits on opposite sides (just eyeball it). 

 Use something round to mark out your circles.

Cut out the circles. 

Squish the circles into the cut slits on the tubes.

I have to say, these lasted longer than I anticipated.  I think we probably got a good 8 - 10 hours play out of them (over a few days).  If you want them to last longer you could use some duct tape to secure them as well.  I was just buying some time until I went to the shops (and also seeing if the desire matched up with the activity to be honest).  We had a lot of fun using these on our coffee table before we got annoyed with the small size and I relented and bought some bats and we are still using the net on our dining table now.  I have played many, many, many games of ping pong over the last week....

By the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I haven't been in this space for awhile so apologies for that.  I have some health issues I am dealing with but I won't bore you with the details - hopefully it will all be sorted out soon.  Aside from that, here's to a great year ahead!