Make Your Own Thaumatrope!

In the 1820's, Peter Mark Roget used a thaumatrope in London to demonstrate the persistence of vision to the Royal Academy of Physicians.

A thaumtrope starts with two separate pictures. For instance, one picture is of a peaceful graveyard and the other picture is of a rising ghost. Rapidly alternating between the two pictures, it looks like the ghost is appearing in the sky above the cemetery!

During the Victorian age, thaumatropes were popular toys that children could make for themselves at home in the parlor with a bit of string and paper.

Kate created her own "Ghost in the Graveyard" thaumatrope for children to make during Sunday's "Scary Prairie" event. If you didn't have a chance to make one then, you can print the pictures and directions from Kate's Haunted by History website.