A fun way to reuse

and repurpose
Sometimes the simplest crafts are the most entertaining. Your kids will have
hours of fun with an upcycled old cereal box and paper towel roll transformed
into a beautiful kaleidoscope — no fancy supplies required!

What you'll need:

 o paper towel roll
o ruler
o multicolored translucent beads
o tape
o glue
o hot glue gun
o clear plastic fruit box
o marker
o scissors
o aluminum foil
o empty cereal box
o colored scrapbook paper

What you'll do:

 1
Step 1

Use the marker to trace around the end of the paper towel roll on the clear
plastic.

2
Step 2
Cut out the piece of plastic so that it is just small enough to fit inside the end
of the paper towel roll.

3
Step 3
Put a small amount of hot glue along the inside rim of the paper towel roll,
then slide the plastic circle into the roll so that the glue holds it in place.
(Caution — only adults should handle the hot glue gun.)

4
Step 4
Start dropping the translucent beads into the paper towel roll.

5
Step 5
Cut a second small plastic circle using the same method as the first circle.
Drop the circle inside the tube on top of the beads. Use your ruler to help it lay
flat if necessary.

6
Step 6
Drop the ruler down into the tube and measure the distance between the
second plastic circle and the top of the paper towel roll.

7
Step 7
Cut out 3 strips of cardboard from the cereal box that are 1 inch wide, and as
long as the distance that you measured. Wrap the 3 pieces of cardboard in
aluminum foil with the reflective side out. Use tape to keep the aluminum foil
in place.

8
Step 8
Tape the 3 pieces of cardboard together so that they form a triangle.

9
Step 9
Slide the triangle inside the tube so that it is resting on top of the second
plastic circle. Mine fit pretty snugly in the tube, but you can secure the triangle
in place with tape, if necessary.

10
Step 10
Cut the piece of scrapbook paper so that it is as long as the paper towel roll
and wide enough to wrap all the way around the roll. Attach paper to the
paper towel roll with tape. Point the kaleidoscope toward a window and spin it
to see the different colors and reflections.

What you'll need:

1 cup of maize cornflour

Half a cup of water

A large plastic container

A spoon

Instructions:
This one is simple, just mix the cornflour and water thoroughly in the container to make your own
instant quick sand.

When showing other people how it works, stir slowly and drip the quick sand to show it is a liquid.

Stirring it quickly will make it hard and allow you to punch or poke it quickly (this works better if you do
it fast rather than hard).

Remember that quick sand is messy, try to play with it outside and don’t forget to stir just before you
use it.

Always stir instant quicksand just before you use it!

What's happening?

If you add just the right amount of water to cornflour it becomes very thick when you stir it quickly. This
happens because the cornflour grains are mixed up and can’t slide over each other due to the lack of
water between them. Stirring slowly allows more water between the cornflour grains, letting them slide
over each other much easier.

Poking it quickly has the same effect, making the substance very hard. If you poke it slowly it doesn’t
mix up the mixture in the same way, leaving it runny. It works in much the same way as real quick sand.

Make Your Own Kaleidoscope

What you'll need:

3 pieces of mirrored perspex

A roll of duct tape or masking tape

Overhead transparency paper

Colored see-through plastic

A pencil

Instructions:

Take 3 pieces of mirrored perspex and tape them together to form a triangle shape. Make sure it is solid
and the tape is on the outside of the triangle.

Trace around the small triangle at the end of the kaleidoscope onto the overhead transparency paper
(add another 1cm all the way around the triangle to allow for folding).

Place the transparency paper onto the end of the kaleidoscope and cut slits at the corners so the edges
can be folded down.

Tape the transparency paper into place.

Draw another triangle, making this 2cm bigger than the last.

Decide what kind of colored see-through plastic you would like to put inside your kaleidoscope. Cut out
small pieces that will sit on top of the transparency paper.

Put the colored plastic over the end of the kaleidoscope that has the transparency paper, and on top of
that add the other (slightly bigger) triangle transparency paper. Tape the second triangle down on top
so that there is still just enough room for the plastic to move between the two transparencies.

When your kaleidoscope is finished feel free to design and decorate a cover using cardboard, felt pens,
glitter, tubing or anything else you want to use.

What's happening?

The patterns inside your kaleidoscope are made by light bouncing between the mirrors on the inside.
While you look through one end, light enters through the other and reflects off the mirrors. Varying
colors and patterns are formed thanks to the symmetric pattern created by the well placed mirrors.