Beautiful DIY Kaleidoscope

How to Make a Kaleidoscope

Materials needed:

*1 acrylic mirror (6” X 6”) with adhesive on the back.

*3 pieces of thin smooth cardboard (2”X6”) 
cereal boxes work well

*1 petri dish (90mm diameter)

*masking tape (also called craft tape or painters tape)

*assorted materials for filling the petri dish (beads, paper clips, toothpicks, dry pasta, feathers, rubber bands, buttons, etc.)

*tissue paper or wax paper 

Cut the mirror into three equal rectangles that are 2” X 6”
(The blue protective coating will be removed later.)

Cut three pieces of cardboard that are 2” X 6”.  

It’s important that the cardboard is smooth and not corrugated.  

Cereal boxes work well.

Peel off the backing of one mirror to expose the adhesive side.

Stick this onto one of the pieces of cardboard.

Repeat for the other two mirrors.

Use scissors to trim off any excess cardboard so that you only see the mirrors.

Lay the mirrors face down with a tiny gap between the pieces.

Tape them together on the diagonal.

Turn them right side up.

Peel off the protective blue covering from the mirrors.

Form a triangular prism with the mirrors on the inside.  

Tape all of the seams.

Check out how it looks.

Place a long piece of craft tape extending off of each end.  

They will curl backwards.

Tape on the top of the petri dish using these curly pieces of tape.

Fold over any long pieces to the inside.  

Just don't let them cover the opening.

Fill the petri dish with all manner of stuff 

that will tumble around to make the kaleidoscope patterns. 

Use a variety of shapes and sizes and don’t overfill.  

You want the materials to be able to move so that the patterns change.

Put the petri dish together.

Tape the petri dish closed with a few pieces of tape.  

Check to see how it looks.

Add or remove objects until you are happy with it.  

Tape all the way around the petri dish to hold it in place well.

Optional:  Cut a circle of tissue paper or wax paper 

to cover the end of the kaleidoscope.  

This gives a nice opaque background to your patterns.

Wagons West on Amazon

You can now buy my Wagons West book on Amazon.  

Here's the link 

I wrote this book in 1999 as a companion to a week long residency program I was teaching that immersed students in the culture of the American Pioneer of the mid 1800s through songs, stories, games, arts and crafts. Activities included: quilting, making old fashioned toys, making a banjo or fiddle, and outfitting a "covered wagon" to pull in the culminating wagon train reenactment.  I am not presently doing these residencies, but I would be happy to consult with you if you are interested in doing your own wagon train reenactment.  I do still present music programs and instrument making workshops.

basic music information

These two sheets have some basic information on the fundamentals of reading music including major scales, note names on treble (G) and bass (F) clefs and note equivilancies.

piano and staff note names

note equivilancies, time signatures, chords

Wagons West songbook

Wagons West - Exploring History Through the Arts
Listen on Soundcloud
This is an annotated songbook with activities related to westward expansion.  I wrote it to correspond with a week long residency program I used to do which culminated in a wagon train reenactment through Boyce Park in Charlotte.  You can contact me if you want more information about the reenactment.  You can download the entire songbook at the bottom of this post.  The contents of the book are listed below with links to mp3s for most of the songs.

   Table of Contents
1)      Chronology of Important Events
2-3)  Acres of Clams mp3
4)      Making a Journal
5)      Traveling Food
6)      Pioneer Recipes
7)      Home on the Range mp3
8)      A La Ru mp3
9)      Swing Low, Sweet Chariot mp3
10)    Preparing for the Wagon Journey West
11)    Patchwork Quilts
12)    Crazy Quilts/Making Your Own Quilt Square
13)    Sweet Betsy from Pike
14)    Instruments of the Pioneers
John Henry  mp3
15-17) Arkansas Traveler mp3
18)    Banjo Making Instructions web
19)    How to Play Your Banjo
20-21) Map of Expansion Routes
22)    Old Fashioned Toys and Games
23)    Goober Peas mp3
24-25)    String Games
26)    Cindy mp3
27)    Camptown Races mp3
28)    Oh, Susanna mp3
29)    Git Along Little Doggies mp3
30)    Dan Taylor
31)    Old Dan Tucker mp3
32)    Bought Me a Cat
33)    Skip to My Lou mp3
34)    Old Joe Clark mp3
35)    Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore  mp3
36-37) Little Old Sod Shanty on My Claim mp3
38)    All the Pretty Little Horses mp3
39)    Starving to Death on My Government Claim mp3
40)    How to Make a Paper Dancing Lumberjack  web

Download:
Cover
Table of Contents
pages 1-19
pages 20-40

Music of the Universe Songbook

Click here to listen on Soundcloud
Table of Contents
1- Music of the Universe - listen
2 - Make New Friends - listen
3 - Places in the World
4 - Don't Laugh at Me - listen
5 - Step By Step - listen
6 - All Mixed Up page 1 - listen
7 - All Mixed Up page 2
8 - This Land Is Your Land - listen
9 - Moon Shadow - listen
10 - Tennessee Stud
11 - Wish I Was  Mole in the Ground - listen
12 - If I Had a Hammer - listen
13 - I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing - listen
14 - I Love the Flowers - listen, Shalom Chaverim - listen
15 - The World is a Rainbow - listen
16 - The Cat Came Back - listen
17 - De Colores - listen
18 - Desert Pete
19 - Don Gato - listen
20 - Free To Be You and Me
21 - German Folk Dance
22 - En La Feria De San Juan - listen
23 - Freight Train - listen,  Peace Will Come - listen
24 - Blowin' in the Wind - listen
25 - Turn, Turn, Turn - listen
26 - I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago, page 1- listen
27 - I Was Born About 10,000Year Ago, page 2
28 - Peace Like a River - listen
29 - You Sing a Song - listen
30 - Bremen Town Canon, page 1 - listen
31 - Bremen Town Canon, page 2
32 - With Two Wings - listen
33 - Brother, Come and Dance With Me
34 - Kumbraza, Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
35 - Little Brown Dog
36 - I Think You're Wonderful - listen
37 - Joy to the World (Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog) - listen
38 - There's a Hole in the Bucket - listen
39 - Music Information Sheet, page 1
40 - Music Information Sheet, page 2

Instrument Making

If you are looking for some fun instrument making projects, here is a link to my website, http://www.satisfied-mind.com/ .
One of the instruments is a one string banjo.
These are videos of students playing their one string banjos: