Build Your Own Periscope

I purchased this for my 8-year-old granddaughter to enable her to see out of the high-level Velux windows in her bedroom. The periscope is a masterful piece of paper engineering, well-designed, printed on both sides of two thicknesses of card, and very accurately laser-cut. My granddaughter and her 10-year-old brother enjoyed finding and popping out the pieces, but the folding and building was definitely a Grandpa job - without adult assistance it would be easy to end up with a complete mess! From start to finish was about 2 hours, and the young ones’ attention wavered (as did Grandpa’s patience!) However, once built, the periscope was strong, functional and very useful - “I can even see into next door’s garden,” said my Granddaughter as she proudly showed her acquisition to the rest of the family. Highly recommended.

Le plaisir du bricolage, comme lorsque j'étais enfant. Objet pratique s'il en est.

Lack of clear instructions

Absolutely love this Periscope! My 12-year old son was proud to build this periscope largely by himself. It is such a fun kit that can be enjoyed inside or outside. It works brilliantly (you can peep round corners, over walls etc...check up on whether homework is actually being done!). We have enjoyed lots of quality time together with this kit. Love that it's eco-friendly too. Highly recommend.

The concept of cardboard being eco friendly is good, but the execution of its construction leads much to be desired. Parts fitted often had to be undone to fit in another part and where this occurred the instructions failed to warn you. I found I had many torn tabs in the process and a reel sticky backed tape had to be employed. If you want hours of swearing and frustration then go for it. I gave up after 4 hours and had only reach step 11 of 48.