Do you or the kids fancy a spot of astronomy but shudder at the idea of splashing out on an expensive telescope? The Build Your Own Cardboard Telescope kit is a neat way to get started at stargazing on a budget.
Except for the lenses and mirror, the kit is made entirely out of sustainable cardboard and is designed to slot together with no glue. Admittedly, that’s easier said than done as there were occasional points I found too fiddly to do on my own, so any 8-year-olds would struggle without an adult’s help.
However, once everything was slotted into place (with the help of a little sticky tape due to my cack-handedness) all the difficulty I had in putting it together was worth it for the ‘wow’ moment I had when I finally got it working.
The end result is a 72cm telescope with a sliding tube to focus, a viewfinder and an angle finder. Getting a glimpse of the Moon through a telescope I built myself was enchanting, and with 16x magnification, the view was clear enough to distinguish craters you can’t make out by eye.
As much of a challenge as it was to build, this cheap telescope seems like a great way to give budding astronomers their first taste of stargazing.
£19.99, buy now from Amazon UK
