Not familiar with Perler beads? They can be found at any craft store or here: Perler Beads. Simply hold the disc at the end of the kaleidoscope and rotate/move the disc around while looking through the scope. Perler Beads I made a couple of colorful Perler Bead discs for use with the kaleidoscopes.Use the circular, traingular and square versions and see how each of them affects the optics. Colorful Patterned Paper Tape several sheets of patterned paper to a window and look through the kaleidoscopes.These are things we had great luck with in creating cool effects: Since your teleidoscope is open ended here are some suggestions on what to look at to get started. For instance you could try one triangular teleidoscope and one circular one, or two triangular ones with the point of the triangle facing opposite directions. It would be fun to experiment with the orientation of the two teleidoscopes and how that affects what you see. We used a large nut but you can use another piece of cardboard tubing as well. To make a double teleidoscope glue a spacer between two teleidoscopes. The paper can have some designs on it, just be sure to use silver colored sheets. If you can’t find Mylar sheets use reflective papers usually found in the scrap booking section of a craft store. Use as highly a reflective material as possible.If you are using reflective paper you will want to score the BACKSIDE of the paper so that the reflective side faces the interior of the shape.If you make it too small, you can use tape to secure the shape to the interior of the tube. You want a snug fit so that the mirrored shape does not fall out of the tube. The dimensions I listed above worked for the tubes I had on hand but may not work for all cardboard tubes. To test out the size of mylar needed to fit within the tube score and trim a piece of paper first.If using plastic mirror make sure that no edges protrude past the tube! The corners are sharp!.

Fold along the scored lines and tape the ends together. Score the middle three marks and trim at the fourth mark. Square kaleidoscope Cut and score your 4” wide piece of Mylar as follows: Make 4 marks approximately 1 3/16” apart.

Score the middle two marks and trim at the third mark. Triangular kaleidoscope Cut and score your 4” wide piece of Mylar as follows: Make 3 marks approximately 1 7/16” apart. Secure the ends of the Mylar to the tube using a piece of double stick tape. Curl the paper into a circle and slip it into the cardboard tube. Step Three Score and cut the Mylar as follows for the interior shape desired:Ĭircular kaleidoscope Cut your 4” wide piece of Mylar equal to the diameter of the tube.First trim a piece it to match the length of the cardboard tube. Design snob over here had to cover that tube, though! This step can be omitted if you don’t care how the kaleidoscope looks on the outside. Using double stick tape, adhere the paper to the outside of the tube. Step One (optional) Trim paper for the outside of the tube.Mirrored Plastic Sheets or Reflective paper.DIY Kaleidoscopes/Teleidoscopes Materials This post contains affiliate links to products.

Self creating kaleidoscope image