How to make a set of binoculars or a telescope

Create your binoculars, pack your back pack and head off on an adventure.

Step 1

Select a sheet of coloured paper, we used Super Colour 30 from Paper Poetry, they have some beautiful colours as part of their paper pack. Take the paper tube and place towards the edge of the paper leaving about 2cm (width of two little fingers) from the edge create a mark. Now create a mark at the other end again leaving a 2cm space (again, the width of two little fingers.)

Step 2

Fold the paper along the line you’ve just created and cut to size.

Step 3

Place the tube on the paper, roll the tube slightly and tape/glue in position, continue to roll the tube tight to the other end of paper and tape/glue in place.

Step 4

Evenly snip around from the edge of the paper to the edge of the tube. Now fold these edges inside the tube and glue into place.

Step 5

Draw and cut out a series of shapes from a sheet of coloured paper and glue these into place. You can create your own shapes or use the shapes below as inspiration. You can also personalise your binoculars or telescope by adding an initial to them.

If creating a pair of binoculars repeat steps 1-5 to create a set. If you are creating a telescope you can move on to the end. 

Step 6

If you’ve created a pair of binoculars, you’ll need to glue the two tubes together (a strong glue works well here and may require a grown-up to finish this last little step)

Finished

Pack your backpack and get ready to explore. Which way will you go and what will you see?