Thaumatropes feature a different picture on their front and back. When children spin a wooden dowel or chopstick placed between the pictures, they seem to blend together. Yes, you will see that it looks like one of the pictures has joined the other to form one picture. Your children will love watching the decorated images become part of a New Year’s themed optical illusion.
Creating a New Year’s Themed Thaumatrope
Getting Ready the Supplies Together
Downloading the Printable
You will need to download the New Year’s Thaumatropes Printable Set. Once you have downloaded the set, you can place a single word or the year of your choice on the back of the thaumatropes on pages five and seven. They have an editable space on them.
This set was designed to be printed out in black and white onto white cardstock. Your children can decorate or outline the pictures on their thaumatrope any color they like.
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Decorating Supplies
We used metallic marker pensto decorate each thaumatrope. If you don’t have any available, your children could use any of the following drawing tools to decorate theirs.
- Magic Markers
- Crayons
- Color Pencils
- Gold Foil Star Stickers
- gel pens
You will also need wooden skewers or chopsticks for each child.
Putting the Thaumatropes Together
Once your children have decorated the designs that that will use on their thaumatrope, they are getting to glue them onto the chopstick. Then they will glue the back sides of the design circles together.
Explore Their Thaumatropes
Children will need to place the chopstick between their hands. Then they will need to rub them together. Rubbing their hands together will cause the thaumatrope to spin.
Some experimentation will need to be done to figure out how fast the thaumatrope needs to spin for the two pictures to blend together.
If you like this New Year’s activity, here are some more you will love.
Printable New Year’s Eve Countdown Clock
New Year’s Eve Fizzy Baking Soda Science
Never thought about making something like this for New Years. Looks easy enough to make and use.
This is such a fun idea! My daughter would probably want to do something like this.
What a fun DIY for the kids. I remember playing with thaumatropes as a kid but we called them “magic pictures”. I know my kids would love this idea.
Magic pictures is a great name for this project.
I hadn’t heard that word before reading this, and had no idea what they were called. It’s a creative craft idea.
It is a tricky word to spell! I am so glad that you like this activity!
A friend made one with her kids for Valentine’s Day. I have been waiting for the right holiday to design one for.
My kiddos would love this. We usually go hang out at a friends house for New Year’s Eve and something like this would be fun for them since I do let them stay up till midnight.
This would be fun to do with a group of kids!
My kids are absolutely going to love this! We don’t have much planned, all our friends have young kids like us!
It sounds like you will have a fun gathering! We like to get together with friends too.
My kids would love something like this. So easy to make but I can see it providing so much entertainment.
I love projects that are easy to put together!
This is a fun idea to make for the New Year. My kids would get a kick out of this. And so easy to make, too. Thanks for the printable!
I am so glad that you like this!
This is such a cute idea to make with the kids. I will have to get the supplies I need this week to make some.
It is a fun project to work on during a school break!
This is an adorable craft to do with the kids while they are home for Christmas Break! Thanks for sharing!
Please let me know how they like it!
We made thaumatropes once when the kids were ou her. What a fun idea for New Years Eve.
What designs did you put on yours!
I wish I had little kids around to do this with. Mine is now a teen and would probably give me the side eye. Too cute though.
I bet they could draw their own pictures for each of the sides.
These are too fun! I’m hoping we’ll have lots of time for games and activities on New Year’s Eve!
We had the best time playing with these! It sounds like you will have a lot of fun counting down to the new year!
This is such a fun idea. My kids would have a lot of fun playing with these while ringing in the New Year.
Let me know how they go over with your kids
Looks like a craft the grandkids and I can re-create in an afternoon. I can see them coloring the ones they make. Sounds like a fun afternoon.
The designs have a lot of open white space! I wanted room for kids to color and decorate them.
Very creative kids would love this , and will have a great time on this. Something we can do on New Year’s eve , now time to shop for materials to use.
I know things get busy once kids are home on break. I wanted to share my New Year’s ideas early!
I didn’t know that’s what those things were called! We used to make them in art class in elementary school. I think I will add these to my daughters New Years Eve bags.
Let me know how they like them! I love that you put together New Years Eve bags!
This is something that fascinated me as a kid. Kids do love this kind of effects. The Thaumatrope printable set makes for a good gift that will bring smiles to the receiver.
It is super cool how the side sides blend together.
We love optical illusions! They are fun to create and explore!
Ya know…I never knew what these were called-thanks! This would be a great craft to do with my nephews.
I bet your nephews would love creating one of them.
I feel so dumb but I have never heard of a thaumatrope before. It sounds like something my boys would absolutely love so I will be printing this next week!
A friend introduced me to them. They were new to me!
What a cute craft to do with kids on New Years Eve! I love this idea and will share it with my mommy friends!
I am so glad that you like it!
What a fun and different idea for NYE! I love that it can be fun for kids and keep them busy!
I love to tie science to events and holidays!
Thaumatrope is a new word to me though I know the activity lol, this is really cool and the kids plus adults like me will love it
It really is fun! I had as much fun playing with it as my son.
Looks like an awesome project for little kids. My children are grown, but I will definitely share this with my friend who is a pre-school teacher. She can do this project with her students when they come back after the Christmas break.
Thank you so much for sharing this activity!
These are super cute for NYE for the kids!
I am so glad that you like this activity!
I never would have thought to make one of these. But I know they have something similar at California Adventure at Disneyland where you spin the picture and the two blend together. This does look like it would be fun.
That sounds like a fun activity! Kids love to watch the pictures blend together!