Homemade Telescope for Kids

A homemade telescope helps kids learn more about the stars and planets.

Telescopes have been used for centuries in one form or another. Pirates used telescopes to spy on their enemies and vice-versa. Astronomers and novices alike have gazed at the stars and planets through telescopes, whether to learn or simply to enjoy the view. Nowadays, kids can not only enjoy the wonders of a telescope, they can build one for themselves. With some recycled materials and two purchased lenses, kids can make a working telescope and then use it to explore the night sky or spy on one another in play.

Things You'll Need

• 1 cardboard paper-towel tube
• 1 cardboard toilet-tissue tube
• 1 convex telescope lens, about 1 1/2 inches across
• 1 concave telescope lens, about 1 1/2 inches across
• Hot-glue gun
• Poster board scraps
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Craft materials for decoration

Instructions

1. Slip the toilet-tissue tube over the paper-towel tube. If the fit is tight, slide the tubes up and down a few times to stretch out the outer tube. If the tubes fit loosely together, glue a strip of scrap posterboard around the outside of the paper-towel tube to act as a filler.

2. To place one lens over the eyepiece end of the toilet-tissue tube, put a bead of hot glue around the edge of the tube. Press the lens onto the tube and hold until the glue securely holds the lens onto the cardboard tube.

3. Place the other lens over the end of the paper-towel tube. The lens should be at the opposite end from the first lens, so that each end of the finished telescope has a lens over it. Apply a bead of hot glue to around the edge of the tube. Press the lens into the glue and hold until the glue holds the lens onto the cardboard tube.

4. Trace each lens end of the telescope onto scrap poster board. Cut the circles out. Then, cut a large hole from the center of each circle, leaving a less than one-half-inch border intact. Glue one poster board circle over each lens, using a hot glue gun. This will reinforce the lenses so they will not easily fall off the ends of the telescope.

5. Decorate the telescope with craft items as desired. Be sure not to obstruct the sliding action of the two tubes.

6. Slide the tubes close together to see an object up close. Stretch the telescoping ends apart, without pulling one out of the other, to see objects further away.

Tips & Warnings

• The terms convex and concave mean the direction of the curve in the lens. A convex lens is curved outward, like the curved surface of a ball. A concave lens curves inward, like the inside of a bowl. Both are available at craft or hobby shops or online.

References

• How Do Telescopes Work: Building a Telescope, Instructions with Illustrations
• Savvy Homemade: Homemade Telescope

Resources

• Cool Kids Craft Ideas: Telescopes and More
• Lifestlye: How to Make a Telescope