Last Christmas, my mom got us this kit on sale at anthropologie (one of my favorite stores in the universe). It’s made by a New Zealand company called Seedling. I finally pulled it out of the closet.

Now that she’s a savvy three, I figured Sonya could do the kit with some guidance. And even more importantly, Leena is a trustworthy sixteen months— I figured she could watch us without tweezing and eating the colorful beads and gemstones (hopefully).

We taped together the three mirrors inside the long cardboard tube to make the prism for the “scope,” but then we couldn’t figure out how to attach this to the “kaleido” part— another short cardboard tube containing all the shiny choking hazards between two snug plastic discs. We needed a little of what we call Drexpertise to put the whole thing together.

Before leaving on his trip, Drex finished it. Full-on, glorious kaleidoscope! Leena likes to look through both ends and shake it like a rattle. Sonya calls it the “colorscope.” It’s a mesmerizing thing of ever-changing beauty.