Magic Picture

A circle on a pencil: a little bird on one side, an empty cage on the other. Spin the pencil between your palms — and the bird ends up in the cage: your eye merges the two pictures into one.

• Easy
• 2 pictures
• 1 pencil
• 1 Letter sheet

Make it with your phone cameraLesson code: 5307

On VanGami the template appears over your sheet through your phone camera — no printer needed. Trace it, cut, fold and glue. Below are all the steps in text.

What you’ll need

• 2 Letter sheets — office paper, 80 gsm (20 lb)
• Markers
• Pencil — and eraser
• Scissors — small
• Glue stick — or PVA glue
• Tape — clear, wide
• Pencil — any long one — you spin it by this; the one you traced with works
• Glass — phone stand

Steps

Trace

1. Sturdy sheet from two. Apply glue stick over the whole surface of a sheet of printer paper, press a second sheet onto it, and smooth with your palm from the middle to the edges. You'll get a thick sheet — work on that one. Put it back in the same spot, edge to edge; don't move the phone.
2. Outline. Trace the two circles joined in the middle with a solid line. You’ll cut along this line — don’t cut through the bridge.
3. Fold line. The short dashed line on the bridge is where the circle folds: pictures facing out.
4. Draw. On the left is a little bird; on the right, an empty cage with a perch. Draw lightly; both pictures stand upright.

Color

5. Color. Bird in yellow; beak, wing, tail and feet in orange; cheek in pink. Cage bottom and perch in brown; go over the bars in black, a bit thicker.

Cut

6. Cut out: double circle. Cut with scissors along the solid line. Turn the sheet, not the scissors — the cut will come out neater.

Fold

7. Fold along the connecting strip. Turn the circle drawings down and fold it along the connecting strip: the edges of the circles line up, and the drawings stay on the outside. Crease the fold and open it back up.

Glue

8. Tape on the pencil. The circle lies drawings down. Lay the pencil point-first on the bird circle: the tip goes in ⅜–⅝ in, right down the middle. Hold it to the paper with a strip of tape.
9. Glue the halves together. Spread glue over the whole blank side of the cage circle, fold it over onto the pencil and press: the edges of the circles line up.

Spin

10. Spin the pencil. Hold the pencil between your palms and quickly rub your palms together — the circle flickers, and the bird ends up in the cage.

Done. Your magic picture is done. Draw your own pair: a fish and a fishbowl, a face and a smile, a vase and flowers — the second picture always goes in the same spot as the first.

Make it with your phone camera

More in Dolls & toys

Paper MakeupMediumMagic CircleHardPaper PhoneEasyDress-Up Doll: Gamer GirlMediumDress-Up Doll: SwordsmanMediumBlind BagMedium