Build Your Own Sextant

This clever £17.99 kit lets you assemble a working cardboard sextant. It's crafted from pre-punched card stock and includes the solar filter and mirrors. You provide the glue.

"For years, this was part of the essential equipment on every ship, which helped the process of navigation.

A sextant allows you to work out the height of a celestial object, typically the sun, above the marine horizon, in degrees. By 'shooting the sun' as it is called, you can determine the point when the sun is at its highest, which is local noon, and also how high the sun is above the horizon in degrees, which allows you to work out your latitude."

Of course, none of this is particularly useful if you live just down the road from the local Tesco, but it could come in handy if you ever find yourself lost on the high seas in a 16th century ship. Well, except for the fact that the sea is really wet, and wet cardboard is absolutely useless.

Sextant Kit at Grand Illusions