Imade a magic wallet for my four year old this weekend (I remember playing with them when I was a kid). Anyway he loved it (….and I mean really loved it). He loved it so much he took it to bed with him. My three year old didn’t really ‘get it’ but he thought it was ace too!!
For those of you not familiar with magic wallets here’s a quick explanation of what they do. Basically the wallet opens both ways. If you pop some paper money on top of the green cross, close the wallet, and open it again, it will appear underneath the green cross. If you close and open the wallet again it will appear underneath the yellow lines.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t make brand new bank notes appear out of thin air….blast!
If you are intrigued, and want to know how to make one, please find full instructions after the jump.
How to
There are quite a few steps in this tutorial but I promise it’s not as complicated as it looks. Once you have all your pieces ready it will take about 5 minutes to assemble.
Supplies
♥ Two rectangles of cardboard measuring approx 10 x 7 cm.
♥ Four 10cm lengths of ribbon in two different colours. (Paper strips are fine, but not as durable, so reinforce strips with sticky tape.
♥ Gaffa tape or sticky tape
♥ Ruler
♥ Scissors
Instructions
1) Cut eight squares of sticky tape it’s easier to do this before you start assembling the wallet. If you have electrical tape or gaffa tape then use that because it’s a bit stronger!
2) Place your first cardboard rectangle on a flat surface.
3) Lay your first two lengths of ribbon across the cardboard as shown.
4) Place your second piece of cardboard on top of the first so that the two lengths of ribbon are sandwiched between.
5) Fold the two right-hand pieces of ribbon over the top piece of cardboard and stick down.
6) Flip the entire wallet over (so that the back piece of cardboard is now the front). Repeat step 5.
7) Now open up your wallet and position as shown.
8) Place your other two pieces of ribbon on top of the right-hand piece of cardboard in a cross formation. It’s important to make sure that the left hand side of the (green) ribbon tucks under the (yellow ribbon).
9) Lift the left-hand piece of cardboard up and place over the top of the right-hand piece of cardboard.
10) Fold the two left-hand pieces of (green) ribbon over the top piece of cardboard and stick down.
11) Flip entire wallet over
12) Fold the two left-hand pieces of (green) ribbon over the top piece of cardboard and stick down.
13) Job done! Hurray!
Now play!
oooh thats clever! surely knowing how its made takes away some of the magic though huh. great tutorial : )
Very cool! And an Aussie $10! I never realised how bright they are until I lived overseas. It looks like plastic play money.
Glad you like it Cecile. My son really loves his. Yep…I hate spending lots of money on something when you know they will tire of it after a week or so!
Yeah…I love the Aussie notes. Also made of plastic so indestructible – just about!!
My boys will love these! I will get stuck in and make some at the weekend – will make a great ‘extra’ for my nephews too. Clever you. Love the ‘paper money’ – that is the real McCoy in these parts! My kids would be stoked to find one of those in their wallet x
Thanks MM. I tried to scan some real money in (so I could print some play money out for the boys) and my scanner told me off. Technology eh! Have a load of Aussie money in the loft from our time there…well not loads…but about 50 bucks! Looking fwd to being back there one day so i can spend it!
Thanks for the great tutorial – these would make great stocking stuffers for nieces and nephews and you could cover the cardboard in material to jazz them up a bit! Magic!
I have to try this with my son, I KNOW he will love it, thanks for sharing!
Wow, thanks for sharing this! Sounds amazing, will definitely give it a go later!!
Thank you! It’s really easy even for those who do not have fluent English. Kisses from Brazil
Be sure to visit if you do get over here 🙂
So fun! And they really would make great stocking stuffers.
Great idea for a gift card.
I’ve been looking for a diy for a magic wallet! Thanks so much kate! btw, my real name is kate 😀
Hello fellow Kate !
Oh I love this! Just did this today and the boys (8 y. o.) were so impressed! “That’s amazing!!” they exclaimed over and over. I remember having one as a child too. Brought back good memories. Thank you! I posted about it here: http://living.weelife.com/2013/01/diy-magic-wallet.html
Ha…have fun Cory. We are addicted to them too!
Very many thanks for those excellent instructions. I first made a magic wallet at the age of nine at
school, and never made one since then until this week. Now I’ve made 4 for my grandchildren !
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