A Happy Mum | Singapore Parenting Blog

For Children's Day this year, I wanted to make a DIY gift for my kids. Something that was simple, colourful, bright, fun and reminded me of my childhood days.

Can you guess what it is?

Yes, I decided to make kaleidoscopes. I remember how much I love these when I was a kid and would be fascinated by all the colourful patterns, broken bits and reflections for hours. Living in an era dominated by technology and constantly surrounded by devices like smartphones and tablet computers, I wanted to remind my kids about the simple pleasures of childhood and how you don't need to have the best of things in order to be truly happy.

What we used:

1) Empty paper towel rolls
2) Scrapbooking paper
3) Clear plastic sheet (I used 0.2mm thick binding covers)
4) Shiny silver paper (I bought this from Popular Bookstore)
5) Assorted beads or confetti (preferably translucent)
6) Baking paper
7) Sticky tape, Double sided tape, Glue
8) Scissors
9) Pencil
10) Optional: Ribbons

Firstly, cut out a length of silver paper that is 1.2cm shorter than the length of your paper towel roll. In my case, my roll was 22.8cm long so I cut out a length of silver paper measuring 21.6cm. You need to form three rectangular strips so as to make a triangular tube and the width of each strip is 0.6cm shorter than your roll diameter. For mine, the diameter was 4.3cm so my strips had a width of 3.7cm each. Leave a 0.8cm wide flap so that it can be used to close the tube. Score along the lines or fold neatly with a ruler to form the triangular tube, making sure that it fits nicely into your roll. Fold in the flap and secure with sticky tape.

Tip: I don't have a paper scorer but I used more strength to press down when drawing the lines with a pencil and ruler, making it easier to fold.

Next, use the roll to trace out a circle on the plastic sheet. Cut it slightly smaller and ensure that it fits perfectly into the roll, letting it rest on the triangular tube with the 1.2cm gap at one end. Secure it to the roll using transparent sticky tape on the three sides, making sure that the tape is not visible from inside the triangle.

Fill up the space with your colourful translucent beads and confetti, be sure not to put in too much and let them have space to move around.

To close this end of the tube, cut out a piece of baking paper by tracing the roll and secure it neatly with transparent sticky tape. You would want light to be able to pass through this end.

For the opposite end, cut out a piece of thick coloured paper same size as the roll opening and trace out a small circle in the middle. Cut it out to form the viewing hole and stick the paper onto the tube by using glue or double-sided tape.

Tip: I used the small circle of a ribbon roll to draw out the hole. Use anything that is roughly the right size, like the cap of a glue or end of a marker.

Lastly, decorate the outside of the roll in anyway you desire. I simply used scrapbooking paper that came with patterns and glitter to wrap around the roll and attached some ribbons.

Ta-dah! Our kaleidoscopes are finished! How do you like them? Simply let your child hold them it against the light and peek in to watch the colourful magic, or for us, it's more to reminisce the good old childhood days.

Dear Angel and Ariel,

Happy Children's Day 2013! These kaleidoscopes are special gifts for you and although they are really just cardboard tubes, I hope they can teach you to find joy in the simplest things in life.

Like a kaleidoscope, life is filled with different kinds of moments, excitement, happiness, anticipation, devastation, anxiety, hope, pain and millions of other bits and pieces. These are the fragments that make up the colours of your life, that shuffle and fall in place to make your experiences unique, that alter and change at every turn to make you grow stronger with all the good and bad times. There are no two kaleidoscopes which are exactly the same and no moment which will be repeated.

Treasure each and every moment, admire the colours and breathe in the beauty of life, shine like a star on your own stage in life. No matter how life evolves, always remember the simple pleasures of life and how happiness can be all around you.

Love you lots and lots,
Mummy

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To fellow bloggers who have a fun craft session, DIY tip or creative idea to share, do join in the party! Highlight and press Ctrl + C to copy my button above, include it in your post/sidebar and add your link below. I will be hosting Creativity 521 every fortnightly and I hope you can join me on the 5th and 21st of every month. Remember: The sky's the limit when it comes to creativity!