Lesson
The Thaumatrope
Optical illusions are pictures that can be misleading. What we see with our eyes is communicated to our brain but sometimes what we see is different than what exists in reality, because of illusions in the visual system. Optical illusions occur when the brain tries to make sense of what our eyes see. An optical illusion is a trick of the mind in which our brain sees things that may or may not be real.
The thaumatrope was a popular children's toy in the 19th century. It is composed of a disc with an image on each side that is attached with two pieces of string or a stick. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers or the stick is turning fast enough it creates an illusion that two images seem to melt into one single image. The thaumatrope can be used to tell a story or display a particular motion.
In this lesson the students will experiment with motion and illusions. They will recreate a scene from a story or fable. For example, a fable is a story where animals are the main characters and they show certain human characteristics. In the example below we see prototype thaumatrope of a fox from the fable “The Fox and the Crow” who display human characteristics by wearing a top hat and bow tie. Students will be inspired by the stories of fables when creating their thaumatrope.
The thaumatrope was a popular children's toy in the 19th century. It is composed of a disc with an image on each side that is attached with two pieces of string or a stick. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers or the stick is turning fast enough it creates an illusion that two images seem to melt into one single image. The thaumatrope can be used to tell a story or display a particular motion.
In this lesson the students will experiment with motion and illusions. They will recreate a scene from a story or fable. For example, a fable is a story where animals are the main characters and they show certain human characteristics. In the example below we see prototype thaumatrope of a fox from the fable “The Fox and the Crow” who display human characteristics by wearing a top hat and bow tie. Students will be inspired by the stories of fables when creating their thaumatrope.
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Learning Objectives:
• Explore the use of motion and illusions in art. • Acquire knowledge of how to incorporate optical illusions in an image • Creates a thaumatrope which demonstrates an illusion and represents a fable story. • Learning to combine two images to an illusion of a single image. 
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The above documents are the lesson plans I wrote in both English & French.
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| optical_illusions.pptx |
Vocabulary
Fable: A short story, usually with animals as main characters, and teaches a moral.
Examples: The Crow and the Fox-The moral is, "Never trust a flatterer."
Story: An account of real or imaginary people and events told for entertainment.
Optical illusions (visual illusions):
• Are images perceived in a manner which differs from the reality.
• An illusion involving the human visual system (the eye to the brain).
Illusion: a deceptive appearance recognized as a different perception of reality.
Motion: The design principles that deals with the creation of the action and movement.
Thaumatrope:
• A toy that was popular in the 19th century (Victorian era in England).
• A disc with a picture of each side is attached to two pieces of string.
• When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers, the two images appear to merge into one because of the persistence of vision.
Fable: A short story, usually with animals as main characters, and teaches a moral.
Examples: The Crow and the Fox-The moral is, "Never trust a flatterer."
Story: An account of real or imaginary people and events told for entertainment.
Optical illusions (visual illusions):
• Are images perceived in a manner which differs from the reality.
• An illusion involving the human visual system (the eye to the brain).
Illusion: a deceptive appearance recognized as a different perception of reality.
Motion: The design principles that deals with the creation of the action and movement.
Thaumatrope:
• A toy that was popular in the 19th century (Victorian era in England).
• A disc with a picture of each side is attached to two pieces of string.
• When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers, the two images appear to merge into one because of the persistence of vision.
Optical Illusions (Francais)
A PowerPoint presentation I created for teaching kids about optical illusions and art.