This week’s construction activity is a collapsible telescope. But no ordinary collapsible telescope, one you can spin and (pretend to) focus just like a real telescope. You’ll be shouting about white whales before you know it. (I suppose you could use a toy telescope for something other than reenacting scenes from Moby Dick, but I wouldn’t know… I never get tired of stomping around like Captain Ahab).
You will need:
- Either 3 toilet-paper tubes, 1 and a half paper towels, or some combination of the two. (I find TP tubes to be thinner and easier for little fingers to cut and fold. Towel tubes tend to be thicker, resulting in a stronger finished product).
- Scissors
- Tape (or glue and patience)
- Colored Paper (optional)
If you’re using paper towel tubes, your first step is to cut each tube into two equal lengths. The goal is to get three short tubes of approximately the same length.
After you’ve got three more-or-less equal tubes, cut them down the middle on one side. Then trim about an inch’s worth from one of the tubes. We’ll call this one the skinny tube from here on out.
Fold the top and bottom sides of the skinny tube outward. I made the folded section of mine about a quarter inch, but the exact dimensions are less important than having a clean fold all the way across.
For the next tube (which we’ll call the middle tube) fold the top edge inward and the bottom edge outward (also about a quarter inch).
And for the final tube, fold both the top and bottom edges inward.
Then trim about 3/8ths of an inch (.125") from the one side of the flaps you’ve just made. You’ll need to do this on all the tubes to make sure that they’ll fit inside each other properly.
Nest the skinny tube inside of the middle tube, which in turn goes inside the final tube. Roll each tube up (so that it makes a complete circle) and tape it back together. The reason for nesting them first is to make sure that you roll the skinny tube skinny enough that both of the other tubes will fit around it. If you make it too big the final tube won’t fit around it, too small and it may fall out of the finished product.
As an optional step, you can wrap a length of colored paper around the skinny tube. This will not only make it look better but also stronger. For these purposes, it’s best to use smooth paper. Construction paper has too much texture and will cause extra friction when you collapse or expand the telescope. If you have no other option, color the paper with crayons. The wax from the crayon will smooth out and act sort-of like a lubricant. Make sure that the glue is dry before moving on to the next step or you’ll run the risk of gluing your telescope in a fixed position.
Fit the other two tubes in place and tape them together (wrapping with paper as needed) and you’re ready to start playing!
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