What you need:
- Cardboard tube from a roll of paper towel
- Stiff piece of clear plastic
- Ruler
- Marker pen
- Scissors
- Elastic band
- Wrapping paper
- Things to put in your kaleidoscope - try sequins and colourful
see-through beads
- 10 cm square of black sugar paper (also called construction
paper)
- 10 cm square of cling film
- 10 cm square of baking paper
How to:
Make sure you ask an adult for help using a craft knife and
scissors.
1. Draw a 20 cm x 10 cm rectangle on the stiff plastic and cut
it out.
2. Draw three lines across the rectangle as shown. Fold the
plastic along those lines into a triangle shape. The small strip of
plastic goes on the outside. Secure the small strip of plastic with
sellotape.
3. Slide the triangle into the cardboard tube.
4. Draw a circle around the cardboard tube on the black sugar
paper and cut it out. Use the scissors to poke a small hole in the
circle.
5. Sellotape the circle over one end of the cardboard tube.
6. Place the clingfilm on the other end of the tube. Press
gently to create a dip.
7. Fill the dip with sequins and beads. Make sure they don't
fall into the tube!
8. Put the baking paper over the cling film. Stretch the elastic
band over the cling film and the baking paper. Make sure it's a
tight fit so that nothing falls out.
9. Use the wrapping paper to decorate the outside of the
tube.
Hold the tube up to your eye and look through the hole in the
black paper. Turn the kaleidoscope and describe what you can
see!
Looking through
kaleidoscopes
What's happening?
Light travels in a straight line through the air, but if it hits
something it changes direction. If the light hits something shiny,
the shiny object will reflect the light.
The sides of the kaleidoscope reflect the light of the beads and
sequins. The reflected light waves bounce around the kaleidoscope
making lots of patterns. If you turn the kaleidoscope, the beads
and sequins move. This makes a new pattern.