Pinhole Camera

This activity appeared like a great way to explore how light, our eyes, and brain simultaneously works together to produce images.
This simple activity also shows some of the interesting things about how our brain takes in information and processes. You can see this best when the image that the pinhole camera shows upside down, how then do we see the world right-side up?

downloads

activity video:

Pinhole Camera

subject

Optics

age range

duration

materials

  • Toilet paper or paper towel rolls (If you don’t have enough, or construction paper and tape it to create rolls)

  • Tape

  • Construction Paper (Use black if available)

  • Rubber bands

  • Scissors

  • Wax Paper (you can also try light tissue paper or tracing paper)

  • Awl or hole punching tool (The smaller the hole the sharper the image, but the dimmer it looks)

safety issues

keywords

arts and crafts, optics, cameras

source

Science Museum of Minnesota