Kaleidocycles are a three-dimensional paper sculpture you can turn around and round! Flexagons were first created by Arthur Stone at Princeton University in 1939, which were later published in 1959 to the general public in Scientific American.
These are simple to make and fun to play with. When I first showed them to my own kids, they immediately made one for each kid in their class, and also stumped the teacher that day when they asked how it worked.
Materials:
- scissors
- white glue
- toothpick or paperclip (to spread the glue with)
- paper or template (use this one or print out one from below)
Click to download the car template or the animal template, OR click here to make your own kaleidocycle template!
Now that you’ve made a kaliedocycle, let’s take it step further and make a flexagon. Flexagons looks like hexagons, but you can turn them inside out over and over. A hexaflexagon (this is the one we’re going to make in the next video) is made up of 19 triangles folded into six faces from a single strip of paper. You’ll need a strip of paper and the instructions below. (You can draw images on it when you’re done.)
Materials:
- scissors
- white glue
- paper or template (flexagon and hexaflexagon)
The video below is made by Vi Hart, a smart and spunky mathemusician who has made amazing videos about the history of hexaflexagons that are fast-paced and fun.