Mice tail heart thaumatrope
You've never heard about this strange word but you surely have ever played with this funny object! A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in the 19th century. It is a disk which has a picture sticked on each side and is attached to two pieces of thread. When the threads are twirled quickly between your fingers the two pictures appear to blend into one due to the persistence of vision. Here, mice tails of each sides design a lovely heart!
Materials for making the love mice Thaumatrope:
- Corrugated cardboard
- String, yarn or rubberband
- Scissors
- craft knife
- Glue Stick
- Hole punch
Instructions for making your Valentine Thaumatrope:
- Print the two mice thaumatrope design template and cut each mouse design out along the dotted lines.
- Using your circular templates, trace the circle onto a piece of corrugated cardboard. The stiffer the material, the better the optical illusion will work. After tracing the circle you will need to cut it out. You can use a craft knife for this purpose, but this should be done by an adult, not a child.
- Glue one of the mice designs on one side of the cut out cardboard circle and glue the other mouse design to the opposite side of the cardboard cut out. Be careful about the placement of the pictures in relation to each other. It must align precisely with where you want the moving image to appear on the front image. To test and make sure that the pictures align correctly, you can attach them with a paper clip and flip the card rapidly a few times to get an idea for how they will match up.
- Make two holes an each side of the cardboard circle.
- Cut pieces of string or yarn or use a rubberband.
- Insert the rubberbands in each of the two holes. Put one end of the rubber band a little bit through the hole, then pull the rest of the rubber band through the loop that you just pushed through the hole, and pull tight. Alternatively, you can use string or yarn.
- Wind up both rubber bands. Hold a rubber band in each hand and have someone flip the card over and over until totally twisted tight. Pull each rubber band apart quickly and the card will start spinning. If you used string or yarn instead, pull them tight, holding the ends with your index finger and thumb, and rub the fingertips together to turn the string.
Your love mice Valentine thaumatrope creation is transformed into a single picture by the twisting action. This makes a unique gift for that special valentine or a cool Valentine for your friends. Your Valentine will be mesmerized.
