The thaumatrope is a nineteenth century French invention that plays with your sense of perspective. The original
thaumatrope used the image of a bird in a cage. By quickly spinning the picture of a bird with the picture of an empty cage, it would look as if the bird was in the cage. Any similar images can be used though, such as a fish in a bowl. Here I have depicted a bird in a nest.
The simple toy can be made one of two ways, either flipping the device upside down using string, or rotating it side to side with a stick. Here I am showing the latter method.
Time: 15 minutes
Age: Under 5's, 5-10's
Level: Easy
Materials
Method
Draw a circle about 5cm in diameter, and cut it out. If you have trouble making it symmetrical, then you can use a template to draw around.
In the centre of the circle, draw a bird sitting down.
On the other side draw a nest in the centre of the circle.
Use Sellotape to secure a skewer underneath one of the pictures.
Put the skewer in between your hands and spin it round and round as fast as you can. It should look as though the bird is sitting in a nest.
