It may be September, but the summer sun is still shining bright! In the Arctic, the Inuit peoples created special snow goggles to help protect their eyes from the glare of the bright sun on the snow. These goggles, made out of bone from Arctic animals like caribou or whale, are called ilgaak or iggaak in the Inuktitut language.
What you’ll need:
- Paper towel roll
- Scissors
- Sharpie or permanent marker
- Pencil crayons or colourful markers
- String or twine
Step 1
Cut a paper towel roll straight across the long edge and flatten it into a rectangle. This will be what you use as the base of your snow goggles!
Step 3
Hold the rectangle to your face and use your marker to make a dot where your eyes and nose are. Turn these marks into two thin slits for the eyes and an arch for where the goggles will sit on your nose.
Step 2
Use a Sharpie or permanent marker to mark out the size that you would like your goggles to be. Cut your goggles to size with a pair of scissors.
Step 4
Use your scissors to cut out the slits and the arch for your eyes and nose.
Step 5
With your marker, draw a line on either side of your rectangle about half an inch in from the ends. Draw a circle or mark a hole on either end of the goggles. These will be the holes that your string will be tied through to wear your goggles!
Step 7
Use your scissors to cut out the holes you marked on the sides of your goggles in Step 5.
Step 6
Fold along the lines you’ve marked in Step 5 to create a 90 degree angle on either side of your goggles.
Step 8
Cut out two pieces of string or twine to hold your goggles on. Make sure the string is long enough to tie around the back of your head!
Step 9
Thread your string through the holes on either end of your goggles and tie a knot to keep them secure.
Step 10
Time to decorate! Use your markers to create designs and colour in your goggles however you want. Inuit iggaak were most often white, but the bone would be carved with a variety of designs and patterns. Once your goggles have been decorated, tie them around your head to protect yourself from the glare of the sun!