Recycle Old CDs To Make These Adorable Animals

How many old CD-ROM discs do you or your parents have lying around the house? Thanks to music apps, CDs have kind of become a thing of the past. So, turn those old discs into something new, like a trio of adorable animal characters!

Using CDs, a few pieces of construction paper and glue, you can create some pretty cool rainbow animals. And you may be wondering, “Why do CDs have rainbows on them anyway?”

That rainbow color is actually caused by light reflecting off tiny ridges on the surface of the CD. When light reflects off or passes through something that has a bunch of small ridges or scratches on the surface, rainbow reflections and shapes called interference patterns appear. The same thing happens when you look at a puddle in the street after a rainstorm — the gas and oil also looks rainbow because of the same science going on! Pretty cool, right?

And these interference patterns will help our animals look pretty groovy in this craft. So gather together some spare CDs, and let’s get to work! Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Want more animal crafts? Check out how to make fish prints using bubble wrap and highlighters and how to make ocean creature suncatchers with coffee filters!