Thrifty Telescope!

Lately Aiden has been on a pirate phase.  He wants to be a pirate and explore.  He likes to check the maps constantly and sometimes we even draw a map of our errands for the day.  He was using a paper towel ring thing as a telescope so I decided to decorate it a little.

For this project you will need:

Center Cardboard from a roll of Paper Towels
Material (doesn't matter what kind)
Felt for the ends
Hot glue & gun
Sewing machine
Scissors

I measured and cut my material to size, making sure that the material would wrap around the power towel holder.  Once my material is cut, I hemmed three sides as pictured below.  

 I then took my hot glue gun and glued the unhemmed side first to the paper towel holder.  I wrapped the material around then glued the hemmed side.  This gave the entire thing a finished look.

If your material does not line up with the ends of the paper towel holder, that is ok.  The felt ends will cover what is left.

I then took me pieces of felt (one black and one yellow, they seemed like good pirate colors) and wrapped it around the ends leaving a little hanging off the ends.  I glued it in place and then wrapped the edges into the paper towel holder, gluing them into place.  I did this same thing on the other end with the black felt.

 Once completed your telescope should look like the picture on the left.  Easy, simple, and provides entertainment for imaginative three year olds.

 This is Aiden wearing his telescope.  He was exploring outside on the tricycle.  He would stop occasionally whip out his telescope, look around, put it back and peddle some more.  :) It's the little things...