Use a few inexpensive craft supplies to create a simple toy that will entertain a young child while also encouraging her to spend time outside by constructing your own plastic pinwheel. The pinwheel takes less than an hour to make and will allow your child to enjoy the warm summer breeze as she watches the pinwheel spin.
Things You'll Need:
- Scissors
- 12-Inch-Square Plastic Sheet
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Hammer
- Push Pin
- Wooden Dowel, 18 Inches Long, 1/2 Inch Diameter
- Permanent Markers
Measure and cut a four-inch square from the sheet of plastic.
Decorate the front of the plastic square with permanent markers. You might draw curved lines that go from the center of the square out to the edges or decorate the whole square with small doodles.
Draw diagonal lines connecting the the corners of the square using a ruler and pencil.
Cut along the diagonal lines from the corners in toward the center of the square, stopping a half inch from the intersection of the diagonal lines.
Fold the triangle corners toward the center of the square where the diagonal lines intersect in the following order: right-hand corner of the bottom triangle, the bottom corner of the left-hand triangle, the left-hand corner of the top triangle and the top corner of the right-hand triangle. Overlap all the corners and push the push pin through all the overlapped corners and the center of the square to hold the pinwheel together.
Tap the push pin into one end of the wooden dowel with a hammer to give the pinwheel a handle. Leave about a quarter inch of the pin outside of the dowel to allow the pinwheel to spin.
References
Writer Bio
Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Ainsley Patterson has been a freelance writer since 2007. Her articles appear on various websites. She especially enjoys utilizing her more than 10 years of craft and sewing experience to write tutorials. Patterson is working on her bachelor's degree in liberal arts at the University of Michigan.
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