Unplugged - Color and Light

Working at a college, I find myself constantly collecting strange things from colleagues that I think I might use someday. My office also seems to be a recycle and reuse depot, seeing as I can hardly bear to throw anything away. So I had a lot of things hanging around to use for this week's Unplugged Project.

First, E and I used some old transparencies to make stained glass windows. I cut up the acetate into shapes, using the pictures and graphs for color. Then I drew a church on an old manila folder, cut out the windows, and attached some contact paper to the back. Then E stuck the shapes to the paper...she graciously let Baby m and I finish covering up all the blank spaces, and then she colored the front with crayons. I also have a giant box of random slides that I can't seem to part with. I thought E might enjoy projecting them on the wall with a flashlight, but I didn't know how hard that would be! When I looked up "Make your own slide projector" on google, I came up with directions that involved many lenses, mirrors, jigsaws, hammers, and glue. Finally I figured out that all I really needed was a flashlight and a magnifying glass. The set up below shows the final product...flashlight, slide held up by a cardboard base, and magnifying glass held up by play-dough. The picture on the wall was not perfect, but good enough for E! In fact, I would say that she was a little bit TOO interested for this project. She wanted to move around the light and experiment with the magnifying glass. Every time she touched anything, though, the picture would disappear and she would end up frustrated. I'm now thinking that the guy who recommended a hammer and glue had a toddler! We did finally settle on one fun activity...E liked standing in front of the "projector" and seeing the butterflies tattooed on her body! That's my girl.