There is not just one way to create these objects. Let students be creative and adapt the ideas behind examples on the site to their own creations.

The Bookstore offers some paper reproductions of the objects.

Panoramas and Dioramas  You can create a panorama of your neighborhood or your walk to school, showing all the houses you walk by. Or draw a 360 degree panorama of your room. Use changing light to create a diorama in which the image changes from morning, to noon, to night.

Tell a Story  Tell a visual story by writing a pop-up book, creating shadow puppets, or drawing a panorama.

Optical Illusions and Special Effects  Make images move with thaumotropes or flip books. For more of a challenge, see if students can create an anamorphism. An anamorphism is a distorted image that becomes a coherent image when viewed at an angle, or when reflected on a shaped surface, such as a cone.

Display Cabinet  Create a container for one of your collections and decorate it.

Magnets  The Magic Painter and Bluebird games use magnets to create an illusion that a mysterious force is moving the objects. Have students create a game that uses magnets in a similar way.

Role of the Artist -- What problems would these artists have had to solve? Can you think of specific examples today when artists collaborate with writers and scientists? Creating these objects was often a way for the artist to gain professional status and respect because they used scientific principles and the resulting illusions seemed magical.

Historical High Tech -- These parlor games surprised and fascinated people in their own day. Ask students what kinds of games hold our attention today? Why do they think we have a need for these kinds of diversions?

Transformations -- Many of these objects allow the user to manipulate appearances and create some visual transformation. For example, the Physionotrace allows you to change the appearance of a face, creating very different impressions of the person depicted. What kinds of social and philosophical implications are there to such transformations?