Thaumatropes for Valentine’s Day and Beyond

Do you know what a thaumatrope is? You probably do even if you aren’t familiar with the word. It’s a particular kind of optical illusion where an image is printed on each side of a disk and when you spin it, it looks like the two images become one.

Maybe you’ve seen this with a bird and a cage, which is shown in this video from Mr Henry’s Vids.

OWL Learning Channel has a video and printable templates you can use to make your own thaumatropes, including a spider and a web, a duck and a pond, some math problems and the word boat broken into two pieces (which is actually pretty cool).

These sorts of toys work because of what’s know as persistence of memory. The brain continues to see an object briefly even after it is no longer visible. Because of this, when you flip the images quickly your brain combines them.

If you want to see a Valentine’s Day themed version, check out this one from Team Cartwright. It has a heart on one side and the words Happy Valentine’s Day on the other, so when you spin it, it looks like the words are inside the heart. Babble Dabble Do has a similar project with a heart and an arrow, which is meant to be a gift tag, or you can just play with it.

This is a fun, easy and low-prep STEM activity to do in the classroom around Valentine’s Day, or it’s a fun one you can do with kids at home.

Once your kids understand the concept, they may want to play with making their own, which they can do with two different drawings, or like this example they can fill a heart with a different sentiment. Or they may just want to play with other printable thaumatropes,

[Photo: Team Cartwright.]

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Spiderweb Crafts for Kids - Halloween Activity

Learning about Hanukkah is important for people of all faiths as a reminder that December isn’t just about Christmas and that their are many other important holidays that happen during this time. Hanukkah unit studies can give you ideas for incorporating the holiday into your holiday studies that happen in December, or to use at home for learning about people of different faiths.

Homeschool Superfreak has a lot of basic ideas for how to build a Hanukkah unit study, as well as FAQs about what Hanukkah is and why it is celebrated. This list is a good stargint point but doesn’t include all the details you’ll need. For example it says you can play the dreidel game but doesn’t explain how to do that or why it’s important. (If you need that information, this post from Mama Smiles is a good source.)

Teachers Pay Teachers has lots of great lesson plans and activities if you’re willing to pay a little bit to get some good content. Two I really like are this Hanukkah PowerPoint presentation from Shelia Melton, which provides a good overview of traditions, food and the history of Hanukkah; and a virtual field trip to Jerusalem from MagiCore, which includes lots of videos showing the city and activities like playing dreidel, drawing a menorah and making latkes. It’s a Google Drive folder and also includes writing activities and more for kids in second to fifth grade.

Kids Activities Blog has some simple printables with facts about Hanukkah and things kids can color in like a Star of David, sufganiyots (jelly doughnuts) and a menorah. These are great for learning the basics.

Homeschool Giveaways has a printable ebook about Hanukkah complete with questions kids can answer after they read. This would be a good one for older kids with good reading comprehension.

NurtureStore’s Hanukkah unit study includes a printable mini book, tons of crafts, as well as math and writing activities. I love the dominoes game that’s part of the unit.

And check out our previous posts for more Hanukkah crafts and learning activities!

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