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Here's a great idea for serving up sweets and treats the next time you're having a party.
You'll have no need to ever use boring old bowls and plates again!
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| This is called an Archimedes Screw Sweet Machine!
Just turn the handle, sweets fall into the spiral, travel up and then pop out of the end for you to munch.
Delicious!
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| It's called an Archimedes Screw Sweet Machine because it uses the Archimedes Screw mechanism, which was - perhaps unsurprisingly - invented by a Greek scientist called Archimedes over two thousand years ago!
It's such a clever idea that it's still used today.
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If you want to make one, you'll need to get hold of an empty two litre fizzy pop bottle.
This will be the housing for the Archimedes Screw.
Start by cutting the bottom off, like this.
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Next, you need the tube from the inside of a small roll of kitchen foil. This forms the main core
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| ...which sits on the bottle top, which you need to glue in place.
It goes in the centre of the bottom of the fizzy pop bottle that you cut in half two steps above.
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To make the tube sturdy, get hold of a piece of thick card. Turn the bottom half of the fizzy pop bottle upside down, and draw around the wider end onto the card.
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Then place the kitchen foil tube in the centre of the circle, and draw around that too.
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Cut the resulting shape out so that you end up with a donut-shaped piece of card that looks something like this.
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The donut-shaped piece of card makes a platform, which sits in the bottom half of the fizzy pop bottle.
Stick it in place, and it will hold the tube in place and keep it steady.
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Next, you need to make holes in the bottle so that you can get the sweets in and out of the screw.
So, draw one hole just above the platform, like this, for the sweets to go in.
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Then draw another hole at the top of the fizzy pop bottle - like this - so that the sweets can fall out!
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Carefully cut out both of those holes.
Remember that cutting plastic can be quite tricky - so do remember to ask for help if you need it!
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Next, make the ramp that goes inside the screw.
Take the kitchen foil tube, and leave a gap of about 3cm at the top.
Use a pair of compasses and make holes with the point, 1cm apart, all the way along the spiral.
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These holes are for cocktail sticks, which make the frame for the ramp that goes inside the screw.
You'll need to trim the cocktail sticks down with a pair of scissors, so that they're all an equal length, and so that the screw fits snugly into the fizzy pop bottle which forms the housing.
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Put the cocktail sticks in place and keep checking that the bottle fits comfortably over the top.
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Once all the cocktail sticks are in place, you can finish the screw off by doing some weaving!
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You'll need coloured string or similar for this.
Tie the string in a knot around the first cocktail stick at the top...
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...then work your way down the tube, weaving in and out of the cocktail sticks.
Alternate each thread!
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When done, it'll look something like this...
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...and the tube/ramp can be placed inside the bottom of the fizzy pop bottle.
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As you do this, make sure that the bottom of the weaved ramp meets the hole you cut at the bottom of the bottle.
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And when you pop the top on, the hole at the top of the bottle needs to meet the top of the weaved ramp, so that the sweets can escape.
When you're happy, stick everything together firmly with tape.
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To make a stand for the machine, you'll need two large water bottles like these.
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Take one, and cut the top off.
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Turn the body of the large water bottle on its side, and place the screw on top of it.
Draw around the screw.
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Cut the hole out. Again, do ask for help if you need it because cutting plastic is quite tricky!
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Once the hole is cut, test the fit of the screw.
You may need to enlarge the hole so that the screw will sit at an angle.
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To guide the sweets into the screw, you need to make a funnel.
This is where the second of those large water bottles comes in. Cut the neck off...
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...and then cut a section of the neck out.
Tape together, and stick the funnel in place above the screw, so that the sweets are guided into the screw when the hole is facing upwards.
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Before you fill the machine with sweets, stick the two parts of water bottle together with more tape.
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Finally, connect the screw to the body of the machine by tying some string or colourful shoelaces around, like this.
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Then all you have to do is fill the machine with sweets, turn the handle and enjoy!
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