Kaleidoscope DIY

We were at the toy store last week picking out a present for a friend. Buddy and Jellybean were fascinated by some kaleidoscopes that we saw there. They were pretty neat. I asked Buddy if he wanted to try and make one at home and he was all for it.
After a quick online search, I found this tutorial from Skip To My Lou. It was pretty simple and I had most of the supplies already. I won't post tutorial pictures here, so check out Skip to My Lou for instructions.

A couple of tips: make sure that all of the objects you put in your kaleidoscope are translucent and that you don't over fill it. You want some movement. It took some trial and error to get the proportions right and some switching out of objects to get it to work correctly. I had a lot of clear beads, but not a lot of color, so I ended up punching out a ton of tissue circles with my hole puncher. It worked great for adding some translucent color.

My kids are a little too little to help with assembly, but I wanted them involved. So, I devised an art project to create a cover for the kaleidoscopes.

I've been collecting lids from jars as we finished them. I thought they'd work well for some stamping with paint. Unfortunately, Buddy refused to paint and this is what Jellybean decided to do instead:

So, I ended up making the covers myself. After the covers dried, I wrapped them around the kaleidoscopes.

Buddy's preschool class is talking about the sense of sight today, so Buddy decided to bring his kaleidoscope to school to show his class.

While we were taking photos this morning, Buddy saw something in the sky and got really excited.

He made me take a picture:

It's an "X" of course!

Jellybean was pretty excited about that, too. ;)

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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