Kid's Summer Sunday School Crafts - kids 1940's style paper pilot goggles

You can make these goggles without ANY lenses! They still look great.

3,2,1 takeoff!

Seeing God's world through colored lenses is great fun. Point out white things that are now....what color are your lenses?

Pilots wore goggles in the early days of airplanes when the pilot sat in an "open cockpit" - a seat in the plane with no roof over it!

One famous pilot that flew this way was Charles Lindbergh:

and there were lady pilots then too. One was Amelia Earhart

and another unidentified lady pilot is shown here::

You can make goggles just like they wore.

How do you think the goggles helped? (not getting bugs in your eyes? Not getting wind or rain in your eyes? ) Notice the hat (helmet)? What do you supposed that helped with? (Hair flying in their faces perhaps?)

History of Goggles:

The Jeantet company seems to have pioneeered goggles.
In 1929 Leon Jeantet created a new eyewear for all motorcyclist, car driver or airplaine pilots. He called his new design "Aviator Goggles".

Airplane pilots quickly adopted use of goggles. Motorcycle drivers found goggles valueable too. Open racecar drivers and open car drivers (cars without a roof - like a convertable today) wore goggles. As aviation grew, barnstormer pilots and crop-duster pilots used them too. Aviator flying goggles went to war. The pilots of World War 1 (WWI) on both sides knew goggles were important in the open air cockpits. In WWII, both the Luftwaffe and American aviators wore orange tinted lenses in their goggles. One would think these helped with the sun as well as keeping bugs and dirt, weather and wind out of their eyes.

Years later, the Ray-Ban company created sunglasses to mimic the look of flyers goggles.

Use smooth card stock. (65lb or greater -whatever your printer can handle)

Do not allow children to walk up and down stairs with goggles on, nor to cross streets. Same rules that apply to halloween masks and superhero goggles apply here. Tip them above your forehead as shown by pilots.

For making the goggles, the cutting is quite easy (for those who completed grade2) including the eye centers, when you follow the instructions. Have the children take extra time to be sure all the white is cut out of the eyepiece center.

Goggles differ from glasses in a few ways, one of which is that the band goes all around your head, unlike glasses that have separate ears. You will glue the 2 bands together as the last step.

Show the class the pilot photos.

I recommend you pre-make a pair of goggles to show the class and to get a feel for the size of a pair of goggles.

You must follow the order of instructions.

Fit the glasses to your head before gluing them "shut". Add a piece if you need it now.

ADDED INFORMATION

Teachers ought to be sure the child prefits the goggles before gluing the bands together in case a piece needs to be added for a larger head.

The accordion pleats help with sizing. They act like a spring. As a teacher or helper, if the goggles are really loose, you can tape the pleats down for the child while the child has the goggles on and/or take the goggles off and fold more pleats.

Position of the tape is important. Top, bottom, right and left inside the frame.

Try not to cover the lens with tape. (this will blur vision)

Trim any tape that sticks out over the frame.

You can make these goggles without any lenses!
They still look great.

The standard goggles do say "VBS" in the squadron wings and "Faith is believing in things not seen". If you want Goggles without these words, use the Aviator goggles, motorcyle goggles, or racecar driver goggles.