Try changing the length of your tube, and the length of the sides of your reflective triangles. What did you discover? Is there anything you need to change? Draw a new sketch showing how a kaleidoscope works, now that you have made one. Look at your original drawing of how you thought a kaleidoscope worked again. You can decorate the outside of your kaleidoscope with colorful contact paper, paint, markers, or make patterns on plain paper and wrap it around your cardboard tube. Instead of beads, you could try small candy pieces, flowers and leaves, shiny scraps of foil or colored mylar, or colorful seeds. You can carefully remove the plastic end and look at other objects through your kaleidoscope. When you turn the tube, what do you notice? Can you see the beads shifting and reflecting to make colorful patterns? Look through the peephole while pointing the bottom of your tube toward the light. Use a hole punch or a sharp pencil to make an eye hole in the center of this circle, then cut it out and tape it to the open end of your tube. Cover the open end of your kaleidoscope with plain cardstock, and trace around your tube to make a circle on the cardstock. Then you can use the rubber band to hold it in place. If you are using plastic wrap, pull it up gently so it is tight. Put your cardboard tube on top of the plastic wrap or lid that contains the beads. If you used a Pringles can lid, or other plastic lid, tape a piece of plastic wrap over the top of it, to keep the beads in place. You will want your plastic wrap to be big enough that you can put your cardboard tube on it and pull it up to cover about 1 inch of the tube on all sides. Make sure that you can still see plenty of light through the plastic. Lay some translucent beads on the plastic wrap, and lightly wrap it over them, so they are held in place, but can still slide around. Take a square of plastic wrap– you can use a sandwich bag (if you don’t have plastic wrap, you can use a small plastic lid, like from a can of Pringles). To make a kaleidoscope, we still have a few more steps to follow. 
What do you see? Can you see reflections on the inside of the shiny surfaces? Try holding the tube up to your eye and looking through it.
If you need to, you can use a little tape loop or glue dots to hold the pyramid in place inside the tube. Slide your reflective pyramid, shiny sides facing in, into the cardboard tube.This part might be easier to do if you have one person to hold the pieces and one person to put the tape on. Use some clear tape to hold your cardstock pyramid together at the top and sides.You can stick the foil to the cardstock with a glue stick, tape, or glue. Try to make the foil as smooth as you can when you cover the cardstock. If you only have plain cardstock, you will need to cover it with foil first.You will have a flat piece on the bottom of the triangle, and the two side pieces will be standing up, sort of like a letter A. Arrange your three pieces of reflective cardstock so they make a triangle, with the shiny sides facing in.
Are there any other shiny, easy to cut materials you could use? If you don’t have reflective cardstock, you could use plain cardstock and cover it with tin foil. Cut three pieces of reflective cardstock after you have measured it.
If you are using a toilet paper tube, your cardstock would be about 4 inches long, and about 1.5 inches wide.
Measure your cardstock so it is about ¼ inch shorter than the length of your cardboard tube, and about ⅛ inch shorter than the width of the tube. Remember, if something isn’t working quite right, you can think like an engineer and make some adjustments. What makes the beautiful patterns? This is when you will think like a scientist and predict how your kaleidoscope will work. Procedure: How do you think a kaleidoscope works? Draw a diagram in your science notebook. Small and colorful translucent beads (approximately 10)Īluminum foil or silver reflective cardstock Objective: You can make your own kaleidoscope at home, using some simple materials you have around the house.ĭifficulty Level: Easy (ages 8-14), Medium with help (ages 3-8) Gather materials to build your kaleidoscope.
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