Who doesn’t love optical illusions? I mean really, is there anything more fun than tricking your eye with optical magic? Actually yes there is, trick your friends’ eyes with optical fun and do it with a holiday theme! That’s what I have for you here today: 5 Holiday Optical Illusions you can print and download and use to fool your friends!

I’m really excited to be part of a holiday series this year exploring the 5 senses. I’ve teamed up with 5 other awesome bloggers for this series and each week we will be exploring one of the five senses. When does it start? NOW!

The first sense we are exploring is sight. I immediately thought of optical illusions, which I have been fascinated with since I was a kid. So I recreated some popular optical illusions holiday style! Download and print them and see if you can trick your friends!

This post contains affiliate links.

Holiday Optical Illusions

DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE HERE

Materials 

• Template
• Paper
• Printer
• Scissors

Instructions

• Step One Print out the template
• Step Two Cut the cards into individual pieces using the guides
• Step Three Cut out banana cards along edges

Have fun!

The Illusions

Are the cubes facing up or down?

Answer: It depends on how you look at the image. Try and see it both ways.

Answer: Yes, they are! The diagonal lines trick your eyes into thinking they are slightly slanted but in fact the vertical stems are perfectly parallel.

Answer: They are the same size! They look like different sizes when placed in context with other snowflakes that are either larger or smaller.

Answer: Both! It depends on how you look at it. Try and see it both ways.

Banana Cards

These are my favorite. My kids were fooled every.single.time.

Here’s how you do it: Lay the two banana cards next to each other facing the same direction. Now ask which one is larger. Inevitably the one on the left looks larger. When someone points to that one ask them “Are you sure?” and then switch the cards. In fact the cards are the same size but the curve tricks your eye into thinking the one on the left is larger. To prove they are the same size stack them or turn one of them the opposite direction.

Looks Like

Bridget Riley. Bridget Riley is one of the foremost artists associated with Op Art. And she’s a woman. After my 30 Creative Women Post I was so happy to discover that Ms. Riley is yet another fantastic female creative I could have added to the list! She started creating op art in the early 1960’s and was part of a breakthrough exhibition in 1961 called The Responsive Eye alongside Victor Vasserely. Critics dismissed the show but the public LOVED it and Op Art became one of the most influential art movements of the 1960’s, having a profound impact on design, fashion, and more. During this time Ms. Riley was one of Britain’s most famous artists. She later started playing with more colorful palettes and to this day continues to paint, curate, and write. Check out more of her work here and here

Conclusion

Did you have fun with this? I never get enough of optical illusions and I hope this illustrates a how the brain can be tricked into seeing something that in fact is not reality. If you want to learn more about the science behind optical illusions start here.

You can also use these as holiday cards! I’ve added few more AND a holiday Flexagon that you can purchase and download here  

More in the Christmas Sensory Play Series

For more holiday fun exploring sight check out these posts from my fellow series collaborators:

Christmas Charades Printable from Childhood 101

Free Printable Christmas Glasses from Picklebums

Santa Binoculars from Meri Cherry Blog

Christmas Tree Craft and Matching Game from Nurture Store

Build a Photo Christmas Tree from Toddler Approved

See the series round-up here: