A spoon kaleidoscope

Here’s a small experiment. It shows you how to turn a few pieces of cutlery into a nice little kaleidoscope.

Step 1: You will need three spoons, a rubber band, and a round object with a rim (e.g. a jar lid, a pot saucer, the lid of an ice cream tub).



Step 2: Tie the spoons together with the rubber band.



Step 3: Now arrange the spoons into a triangle on your round base. You will need nimble fingers for this. Tinker around until the whole structure is stable.



It is time to begin our experiment.



Dim the room and play around with light:



Share your spoon kaleidoscope pictures.
Post your artwork on Instagram with the hashtag #mathforkids

As an alternative, you can use three or four reflective Christmas baubles instead.
A somewhat more ambitious installation along these lines can be seen in the following video: