THE TOOLS
MATERIALS:
- Gel Crayons (or pastels/crayons/markers)
- Paint Palette and small brush
- India ink (or a sharpie/Black felt pen)
- Mirrored paper cut to 3.5”X4”
- Cardstock (I used colored but you could use white)
- Wild Kaleidoscope Template Sheet
- Fun Washi tape for sealing the Kaleidoscope
- Scissors or paper cutter (NOT PICTURED)
- Glue Stick (Not Pictured)
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THEME: Wild Animal Kaleidoscopes
ART LINGO:Crafty, Gel Crayons, India ink, scoring and folding
APPROX TIME: 30+ minutes
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Any Age
Oh the magical world of Kaleidoscopes! They are wonderful, colorful and enchanting all at the same time! They turn anything into a pattern party with its mirrored reflection. These little crafty ones below are easy enough for my littles to make but can be creative enough that even my teens are impressed. There are many versions of this online but this one has served me well in the classroom and at our large community events (We once made 2000 of these in one day at a spring celebration, that was wild)!
You ready to get to it?? COME ON AND SCROLL DOWN WITH ME
STEPS
Step 1:
Get your mirrored cardstock and colored cardstock cut to size. You want to be sure that the mirrored cardstock is the SAME WIDTH as your colored cardstock but a few inches shorter in length. For reference my mirrored cardstock I cut down (Using a paper cutter but scissors and a ruler are great too) to 4” wide and 3.5” long and my pink colored paper is 4” wide and 7” long. (See photo 1) I like to have the colored cardstock longer because I am able to wrap it nicely around my mirrored piece with room to spare.
Go ahead and score (using a scoring tool) or fold (using a bone folder or a ruler) your mirrored piece in three equal parts HORIZONTALLY (See Photo 1). It doesn’t need to be perfect but as close as you can get. For example I measured on the backside 1 1/4” down and drew a line and then did so again 1 1/4” from that line giving me two lines to fold and giving me three equal(ish) sections. I made sure to fold them horizontally and not vertically so that the mirrored paper still lines up with the colored paper.
Step 2:
Design your pattern! This part is the most fun! Using your gel crayons/pastels/markers (whatever you have handy) go ahead and start adding layer on layer of pattern. Be mindful not to draw anything too specific (Animals/landscapes/objects, they will get folded over and it always makes the kiddos frown. I went with our animal theme here and started out adding some upside down rainbows/smiley faces/feather/scale shape lines and repeated over them with 5 different colors using my gel crayons, they came out so fun! (See Photo 2 & 3)
Once your pattern is looking real fun and wild go ahead and get your India ink/black marker ready and start adding the fun detail and last bold layers. I love using just a TINY amount of India ink (seriously the size of a dime for the whole project is plenty) and a super tiny brush to get those fun details in Photo 4 & 5. I always love to ask my kiddos “Add one more detail, one more layer…where will it take you” and we are always amazed at what adding just one more row of dots or a second line here and there will do to make a piece that was simple look beautifully complex! (See Photo 4 & 5). Let your ink dry completely
Step 3:
While your ink is drying go ahead and fill out our fun wild animal kaleidascope sheet using colored pencils or any fun coloring material you have! I love using this sheet to see our kaleidascope come to life!!! (See Photo 6)
Step 4:
Once your ink is dry flip your colored paper over and using a glue stick, glue the backside of your colored paper completely, make sure to cover the whole back with glue (See Photo 7). Place your mirrored paper (mirrored image facing up towards the sky) being sure to line up the edges of both papers at the top (See Photo 8). Press firmly!
Step 5:
Now comes the creation station! Fold the first section of your mirrored kaleidoscope to meet the end of the last section. I know this sounds confusing but it should make a nice triangle shape if you fold the top edge of the first section to meet the bottom edge of the last section (this is why it is so important to pre fold our mirrored paper back in step 1) (see Photo 9&10)
** I like to fold my mirrored pieces at the start of this step one more time during this stage to make sure I have nice clean fold lines giving me a beautiful strong triangle shape.
Continue to roll/fold your triangle shape until your colored paper makes it way all the way to the end (See Photo 11) I like to be sure to do this nice and taught to make sure my Kaleidoscope is sturdy and strong. Once it is all the way rolled up I use washi tape (I have some AMAZING disco tape I used) and wrap it around the seam where the cardstock meets to really secure it and then I wrap some around the top and bottom for some extra Pizzazz because why not, its magical disco washi tape! (See Photo 12)
Yay you did it!!!! You made an amazing creation with just a few unique supplies! I hope you love your wonder turner (kaleidoscope) and twirl it around with you the whole day to see all the amazing things you can find in your everyday the kaleidoscope way!
See you next month friends! Stay Creative!
xx
Mrs. K!
