This year I’ve been surprised when the flowers are blooming, and never quite sure how long they will last. So I thought it would be fun to share a craft where you can play with the wind, and also have something bright and cheerful. Pinwheels! Once you’ve made one of these pinwheels, you’ll find yourself wanting to create more and more till you have a whole bouquet of them!
First, gather your supplies. There are two patterns per page, and it’s a good idea to print extra-these are so much fun it’s easy to make a bouquet of pinwheels.
- Pencils with an eraser
- Small beads
- Pins (Mine are small and silver, but almost any sewing pin will work.)
- Coloring supplies (I prefer colored pencils and crayons.)
- Scissors
- Printed templates (Regular copy paper works best.)
I recommend decorating your pinwheels on both sides before cutting them out. If you cut them out first, coloring along the edge can be tricky. Decorate as many as you like then cut out along the outer edge.
Cut along the inner lines, towards the center but not all the way to the dot in the middle.
To finish the pinwheels, you will be using a pin with a sharp point. You may want to have your kiddos be the assistant here and have an adult do the actual poking part.
Fold every other corner towards the middle so they overlap, and press the pin through all the corners. I found this to be the trickiest part, holding all the corners in place while placing the pin. Having a helper hold the corners down while you place the pin makes this step much easier.
Place the bead onto the pin, behind the paper, then stick the pin into the eraser of a pencil. The bead will help the pinwheel spin without getting stuck. If you push the pin all the way through the eraser, you may want to bend the pin down, use wire cutters to snip off extra or put a drop of hot glue on the end to cover the sharp point. The key is to not push the pinwheels tight together but to give them space to move, which will allow the pinwheel to turn.
There you go, a pinwheel that will turn in the wind provided by nature and your child (or you).
