Binoculars Craft Project

My mother is an avid birder and loves to share her enthusiasm and knowledge with us. During her visit she made binoculars with Miss Leyba, a fun and easy project designed to introduce young kids to birding and give them a way to practice looking through their own, homemade binoculars.

Grandma began by cutting a paper towel roll in half. With the intention of wrapping a piece of paper around each of the paper towel tube halves, Grandma and Miss Leyba then cut the paper down to size.

Miss Leyba decorated each piece of paper with crayons and stickers.

They then glued the paper to the tube.

Grandma wrapped each tube with packing tape to seal the paper to the tube and to create a smooth surface to easily hold on to. My mom then stapled the two tubes next to each other lengthwise to form the binocular shape.

Phew! She can see out of them and they fit!

They then used a hole punch to make a small hole on the outside of each of the tubes.

They cut a piece of ribbon the length of a necklace (plus several inches for each side to tie on) and then attached it to the tubes so it could go around Miss Leyba’s neck.

Finally it’s time to head outside and practice looking through those binoculars!

The first step is to practice finding/focusing on stationary items like flowers, leaves, rocks, bird feeders, and trees.

Finally, out in the field “birding” with Grandma.

Since this activity, going out birding has become a favorite activity around here. Thanks for the great project, Grandma!