An optical illusion is an image that plays a trick on your brain. When we look at them, we may see something different than what is actually there. Now think of your favorite animal and where its habitat is. Now it’s escaped! Let’s create an optical illusion to get your favorite animal back to its home where it belongs.

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Materials:

- Index Card

- Coloring Supplies

- Pencil

- Tape

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Procedure:

1. Fold your index card in half hamburger style.

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2. On one side of your folded index card, draw your favorite animal.

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3. On the other side of your folded index card, draw the animal's habitat, or where it lives.

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4. Place a pencil inside the folded index card, and tape the card closed. The card should not wiggle around.

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5. Place the pencil between your palms and rub them together to make it spin back and forth. Watch your animal return to its habitat!

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What's happening? The two pictures overlapping occurs due to a phenomenon called persistence of vision. Our eyes and brain work together all the time to process and understand the information that we are seeing.

When we see both pictures from the sides of the card so quickly, our brain doesn’t have time to realize that it is two separate pictures instead of one and puts them together. This fools our brains into seeing our animal back in its habitat.