Candy Lightbox

This is our first instructable. We live in France and have just entered our second period of lockdown. We set our 13 year old daughter a task to come up with something creative and after some searches on this website she came up with several ideas - this light box being the one we settled on.

We wanted to use halloween shaped candy but all we had at hand was the two bags pictured. Rather than going to the shop we used what we had, but at the next grocery shop we will find some candy with unique shapes and create a scene (e.g. a teddy with a bat and a ball or candy that are somewhat opaque so the colours shine on to the wall).

Cereal Box

Phone with torch function (or a torch or headlamp)

Pins

Candy with distinct shapes

Box cutter

Scissors

Ruler

Pen

Tape

Blank sheet of paper

Colouring Pencils

The phone we are using as the light source has the camera in the middle, so we want it placed in the middle of the light box.

Measure the box to obtain the middle point and draw a line down the middle.

Measure the width of the light source to determine the width of the cut to make to the box.

Make an equally distanced cut across the centre line that will let your light source (in our case the phone) fit snugly so it doesn't move about too much.

We made a series of cuts along the box so that we could experiment with placing the light source closer or further away from the candy.

Place the light source in the cut

Use pins to push through the box near the opening. Attach individual candy pieces to the pins in a pattern that is interesting. This would have been better with opaque candy or shapes that would have allowed a more interesting scene.

Insert the light source to check it all works (e.g. that the box is strong enough to hold the candy and the light source inserted).

Our daughter decorated a sheet of paper with a halloween theme

Use the tape to stick the edges of the paper to the box

Use the box cutter to add the cuts to the paper for inserting the light source.

To make it easier to see where the box cuts were, we put the torch function on the phone and put it inside the box.

Push the pins through and insert the candy in an interesting pattern

Insert your light source into one of the cuts through the box.

Turn off the lights and enjoy the light show!

To add a learning element, move the light source closer (further away) from the opening of the box and note what happens to the projected images. Explain to your children why the size of the projected image is different depending on the distance between the light source and the candy.