Optical Toys
Making a Phenakistoscope (Spinners)
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Learning outcomes
Competencies
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Target group 2 years and up
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Required materials
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Description of the activity (step by step)
Preparation:
Offer children a selection of optical toys: zoetropes, thaumatropes, flipbooks, and phenakistoscopes.
Encourage children to explore, manipulate, and play freely with the optical toys.
Implementation:
At the beginning of the activity, allow time for children to explore each toy independently. Then demonstrate how each optical toy works and explain its basic functions.
Provide pre-cut circular cardboard discs (10–15 cm in diameter) with a small hole in the centre, markers, cotton buds, and adhesive tape. Invite children to decorate the cardboard discs with markers.
Then guide the child to insert a cotton bud into the hole and secure it with tape. Assist if needed.
Invite the child to spin the finished toy and guide them to observe the visual changes created through movement and manipulation.
Variations and additional ideas
As an additional art stimulus, offer collage paper, fluorescent acrylic paints (glow-in-the-dark), pre-cut cardboard in other shapes, small coloured pompoms, glue, and similar materials. You can also organise an optical toy workshop for children and parents.
Background information and didactical perspective
This activity supports exploratory and experiential learning through play with optical toys that create visual effects and motion illusions. By manipulating the toys, children observe cause-and-effect relationships and develop visual discrimination by distinguishing colours, shapes, movement, and visual effects. The activity also supports divergent thinking and creativity through hands-on experimentation.
Experience from kindergartens
M. J.: "I spun the stick with a circle that had a chick on one side and an egg on the other. When I rubbed it really fast, the chick came out of the egg."
L. P.: "But chicks don't really come out of eggs. It just looks like that because we spin it fast. I spun the one with the fence and the bird. When I spun it fast, the bird landed on the fence, but it's a trick."
K. P.: "I really liked the toy where we put in the paper with giraffes. When I spun it, the giraffes walked and ran. I looked through the little holes and saw it. They were drawn on paper and can't walk unless you spin it."
F. G.: "I spun the spinner with little people and dots. When I spun it really fast, I only saw circles. Like a portal."
L. P.: "Like it takes you to a world with dinosaurs or even mammoths."
Photos of the activity
