You can’t have a safari without binoculars! These easy cardboard binoculars are easy to create with materials out of the recycling bin.

You’ll need:

• cardboard tubes
• colorful paper tape or duct tape
• rubber bands
• sticky felt or other decorations (optional)
• ribbon or yarn
• hole punch

Tape is a fun material for this project since even very young kids can use it to decorate the tubes. We found it much easier to decorate each tube separately, and then tape them together afterwards.

My plan at this point was to just attach the tubes together, but my son insisted that he needed something between them so “my nose will fit”. So we improvised, and taped on a couple empty tape rolls. We had several to due to excessive tape usage in the first step.

Then, more tape around the whole thing to attach both tubes together.

At this point I was planning on punching a hole in each tube to tie on some ribbon, but again my son took over the project and decided to attach his new binoculars to a safety lanyard he brought home from camp. He then ran off to collect some toy animals for us to search for on our safari.

While animals were being fetched, I created a second pair for my 3-year-old, using slightly less tape this time. Instead of taping the two sides together, I used two rubber bands. To add a little extra reinforcement, I also taped the ends together with a piece of sticky felt

Finally, I punched holes in the ends and threaded some ribbon through, and we were ready to head out on safari!

We walked to the park with our basket of animals and took turns hiding and finding. Happy safari searching!

About Kiwi Crate
Kiwi Crate delivers monthly projects for kids ages 3 to 7, all materials and inspiration included. All activities are reviewed by experts and tested by kids to make sure they encourage curiosity, exploration, and creativity! Learn more.