For the Yo-Kai Watch party I'm planning, I made a Yo-Kai watch for each child. The watch even has a working light like in the show.

In the show, Nate uses the light to reveal yo kai. I wanted something like that for the party, some way for them to actually use the light.

I looked up secret message stuff on Google but couldn't find anything that would work for what I wanted. Then I thought about a toy flashlight my kids used to have that had attachments for the end to project images on the wall. I decided to try to make something like that so this is what I came up with.

you will need:

sharpie
clear plastic, I used a page protector.
scissors
tape hot glue
pen
cardboard
toilet paper rolls
party/garage sale signs
white wrapping paper
printer
exact knife
hole punch

Step 1: The Characters

Basically we need a black and white coloring book like image of the characters we want and we need to put these images on a transparent sheet so when we shine a light through it, the image will block the light and thus cast a shadow of that character.

I used photoshop to make and size the characters I wanted.

Now we need to get those images on the plastic sheet. I tried a couple methods.

First, I tried to print the images on the plastic sheet. I cut off a strip from both long sides of the page protector to make 2 seperate sheets. Then I rolled tape and placed it along all 4 sides and down the middle of a piece of cardstock, pressed the plastic sheet to it and loaded it in the printer. It was able to print on the plastic this way, but there are 2 problems: it wipes off super easily and it isn't dark enough to block the light effectively. I tried making the images as dark as I could in photoshop but it didn't work.

Then I just traced over the printed image with sharpie to make it dark enough. This works but the ink makes the sharpie stop writing periodically, so you have to wipe the sharpie tip when this happens. This was fine until my ferret crawled across the plastic and smeared some images.

So I had to just print the remaining images on plain paper, overlay the plastic and trace that way.

I would recommend learning from my trials and just trace from the get go. Be care though, it still wipes off easily.

Step 2: Make Frames

I made frames to hold the plastic sheet. After having finished this project, I realize that the frames aren't exactly necessary. I will go through the steps of making them but you can decide if you want to include them or not.

You need a sheet of cardboard, pen, toilet paper roll, scissors, duck tape.

First trace the circle of the inside of the toilet paper tube onto the cardboard.

Draw a square around it giving the circle plenty of room as seen in the photos.

Cut out the square.

Draw a second square enclosing the circle. see photos.

Use exacto to cut out inner square

Lay frame over a character to test the fit.

If it's good, trace that frame as many times as you need. Then cut them all out too.

Lay a frame over a character. Use exacto to cut the plastic film along the outside edges of the frame.

Keep the image face up and be careful not to touch it so it doesn't smear. Put a piece of duck tape with sticky side up on both sides of the film like in photo.

Lay frame on top and fold over duck tape to hold.

Add duck tape to the top and bottom of the frame as well.

You can see in the pictures that I tried it with the printed version and then had to trace it with sharpie. The difference is easy to see.

Repeat for all the characters.

Step 3: Make Viewing Tube

You need toilet paper rolls, scissors, hot glue, pen, cardboard, hole punch

Cut a toilet paper roll in half.

Trace the end of the tube onto cardboard.

Cut out the circle slightly larger than the outline.

Place the circle on the end of the toilet paper tube. Make sure it is large enough to completely cover the opening.

Trace the circle as many times as you need. I made 8.

Use the hole punch to punch a hole as close to the center as you can. The circles are just a bit too big for my punch to reach the center.

Use an exacto or a pen to enlarge the hole a little.

Heat up the glue gun and put glue around the opening of one end of the tube. Press the circle into place.

Step 4: Finish Viewer

Stand the viewer tube up on your work surface so the closed end is down and open end is up.

Put hot glue around the circumference of the opening.

Take the frame and turn it face down so the inked side faces the tube.

Align the frame with the tube so that the image is inside the tube opening and press firmly to attach.

Now the image is protected from smearing since it is inside the tube.

Step 5: Make Arm/holder

Now we need to make an arm to attach the viewer to the sign.

Print out the template. Cut it out. Make sure the cut out half circle accommodates your tube.

Trace the template onto sturdy cardboard. Cut it out.

Fold on the marked places on the template. Fold the top part by the cut out circle forward and fold the bottom part back.

This is the arm, the top flap holds the viewer and the bottom will be glued to the sign.

Take an arm and a viewer. Fit the tube of the viewer into the cut out space of the arm. It should fit nicely with the viewer circle end pressed against the outside of the hollow. Make sure the image is right side up.

Remove it and apply hot glue to the cut out edges. Press the tube into place and hold firm for a few seconds.

My viewers wouldn't stay flush with the arm, they kept popping up at an angle so I used a line of hot glue along the bottom edge of the frame to secure it.

Step 6: Prepare Signs

I used signs from the dollar tree that I've been using every year for my parties. They aren't plain though. Some are garage sale signs and some are birthday party ones.

I wanted them plain so I just grabbed a roll of white wrapping paper and wrapped them like a present.

Step 7: Glue on Sign and Attach Viewer

Print out the Yo-Kai Detected sign on legal size paper. Glue or tape it to the sign close to the top.

Hot glue the arm flap to the sign centered at the bottom.

Step 8: Add Sun Shield

Since these signs will be outside for the party there will be the sun to contend with. Hard to see the shadow cast by the little LED of the watch with the sun around.

So I just cut the flaps off some boxes and hot glued them at the bottom of the paper above the viewer to act as a shade so the image will be easier to see.

That's it. The magic reveal signs are finished. I can't wait to see how the kids like them at the party. If you make any, please share!