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Making binoculars

What you need

  • Two cardboard tubes such as toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls
  • Sticky tape
  • String or yarn
  • Crayons/pencils/markers to decorate

Benefits

A fun, creative activity for your child to make, that will encourage lots of exploring and going on adventures.

The experience

To make your binoculars, start by decorating your two cardboard tubes. Next, stick the tubes together with sticky tape or glue and poke some holes at the end of both tubes to thread your string/yarn through. This will enable your child to wear their binoculars around their neck, ready for an adventure! 

Take your binoculars outside on a walk or into the garden. Your child will enjoy looking through and talking about what they can see. You could go on a particular imaginative adventure together – maybe go hunting for safari animals? You could set specific challenges for your child to see what they can spot – ideal to do when out for a walk. Challenge them by giving them particular categories e.g. ‘Can you spot a man who is running?’ or ‘Can you spot a lady taking a dog for a walk?’ ‘Can you spot somebody wearing something purple?’ Make as specific as you wish to make it challenging and your child will have to use their keen observation skills. You can also work on extending knowledge and vocabulary e.g. ‘Can you spot a plant that is growing some flower buds?’ 

You could also create a game like ‘i-spy’, where you give your child a sound and they have to spy something that begins with that sound. When talking about sounds, use the sound rather than the name of the letter e.g. ‘I spy something beginning with ssssssss’, rather than beginning with S. When making a sound, ensure that you use the pure sound of the letter and not add an ‘uh’ sound to the end, e.g. it is sssss like the end of the word ‘hiss’ rather than ‘suh’.