Valentines Thaumatropes Paper Spinners STEAM Activity

Delight the senses with super easy Valentines Thaumatropes you can make just about anywhere! My son loved this easy STEAM project and that’s saying quite a bit since he usually doesn’t like anything with drawing. When I showed him my sample Valentine’s thaumatropes he was pretty interested in how the two sides seemed to blend together when he spun the straw in his hands. He loves to move and he has a sharp eye. The perfect project for us.

Simple Valentines Thaumatropes for Kids

When I say easy, I mean easy! I didn’t realize just how simple this super fun toy is to make. No mess either. I am not too crafty, so I was impressed by how easily they came together. Plus my Valentines thaumatropes actually worked! Bonus, so YOU can do it too.

Thaumatrope Supplies Needed:

White computer paper
Drinking straws
Sharpies (or markers)
Tape

Make Valentines Thaumatropes

STEP 1: I used a large plastic party cup, roughly 4″ in diameter to trace two circles onto my paper.

STEP 2: Cut out circles.

STEP 3: Choose an image that can be drawn in two parts. To give the illusion of the images blending together, you have to draw to parts. One on one circle and one on the other. Our first one was a heart in the hand because my son loves the kissing hand.

Helpful Hint: Draw your first image and then put the blank circle over it to finish the rest of the image. You can see below that I drew a red heart, then I put the blank circle over it and drew the outline and arrow in black. When you spin the toy, the images will blend together nicely.

STEP 4: Attach the straw to the backside of one circle with tape. Make 2 tape balls/rolls and put on either side of the straw. Attach the other circle. You are done!

Step 5: Give your Valentines thaumatrope a spin!

We made a bunch quickly. I am saving my son’s thaumatropes for another post since he made monsters, caves, lava, volcanos, and jets! These are my fun and simple Valentines thaumatropes. You can see below that I made a heart in the hand (a personal favorite). Forgive my drawing skills, but it does show you that anyone can do it!

I also made a couple versions of the girl thaumatrope. The first had the eyes and hair on one circle with the nose and mouth on the other. My second one had the eyes and nose on one circle a mouth and hair on the other.

Here are my other heart and arrow Valentines thaumatrope. We also tried one with writing. I put the words I and You on one circle and the word Love on the other, taking care to match them up. It worked!

Plus I made some swirly patterns and designs on other thaumatropes. It was so easy, it was hard to stop making new ones. I have some other fun designs to share at another time with my son’s!

A simple toy from the 19th century that is pretty popular today. You may have seen them before but instead of using a straw they used a piece of string for spinning it.

If you can get your two images to blend together, you have made a thaumatrope! It’s a fun craft and STEAM activity to do with kids of all ages.