Find your 'blindspot' activity

There is an area of the eye that doesn't contain any photoreceptors. This part of the eye is called the optic disc or blindspot. Most of the time, our brain 'fills in' the area in our field of visual where our blindspot is so we don't notice it, but this activity can enable us to 'detect' our blindspot.

This activity requires someone to help the person finding their blindspot - this can be another child/young person or an adult.

The materials you will need for this are:

  • A water bottle or something of similar height for the child/young person to rest their chin on (to keep their head still)
  • 1 piece of A3 plain white paper (or 2 A4 pieces stuck together)
  • 1 long strip of plain white paper (it is easiest to cut a strip off the A3 paper, about 3 cm in width)

(the pieces of paper don't need to be white but they do need to be the same colour)

  • A pencil
  • A ruler