How to Make Your Own Miniature Wind Turbine for Kids

The first windmills were developed between 500 and 900 A.D.

Miniature wind turbines are wise ways to demonstrate the flow of clean energy. Children benefit from the activity through the educative and creative possibilities of the craft. Harnessing wind energy is a clean and renewable way to power the livelihood of common man and industry, a concept that has gained widespread recognition since the 1300s. Inspire a child's intelligence and imagination with a paper mache wind-turbine craft.

Things You'll Need

• 3 pieces of shipping-box cardboard, 6 inch by 6 inch
• 7 3/4-inch jumbo drinking straw
• Pencil
• Craft knife
• White glue
• Hole punch
• 3 shoebox cardboard blades, 1 inch by 4 inch
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• Pot
• Small bowl
• 1 inch by 3 inch newspaper strips (multiple)
• 1 inch by 3 inch paper-towel strips (multiple)
• Green and white acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Brass fastener

Instructions

1. Place three 6-by-6-inch pieces of shipping-box cardboard onto a work surface. Stand a 7 3/4-inch jumbo drinking straw in the middle of the first cardboard piece. Trace the base of the straw. Cut a hole in the cardboard along the trace lines using a craft knife.

2. Lay the first 6-inch cardboard piece atop the second piece. Trace the hole in the first piece. Cut a hole in the second cardboard piece. Repeat this process one additional time with the third 6-inch cardboard piece.

3. Bond all three 6-inch cardboard pieces together, one atop the other, with white glue. The 6-inch pieces act as the ground in which the wind turbine sits.

4. Punch a hole in the top of the jumbo drinking straw on one of its sides. Coat the bottom 1/4 inch exterior of the straw with white glue. Insert the bottom of the straw into the prefabricated holes in the 6-by-6-inch cardboard ground.

5. Punch individual holes in the ends of three 1-inch-by-4-inch shoebox cardboard blades at center. Place the blades nearby for use in later steps.

6. Boil 1 cup water and 1 cup flour into a pot for three minutes. Allow the mix five minutes to cool. Pour the mix into a small bowl.

7. Submerge a 1-inch-by-3-inch newspaper strip into the mix. Press the strip into the body of the wind turbine (the plastic straw). Continue until the straw, the ground and all three blades are covered in newspaper. Avoid covering the punched holes in the straw and blades.

8. Submerge a 1-inch-by-3-inch paper-towel strip into the mix. Press the strip into the body of the wind turbine (the plastic straw). Continue until the straw, the ground and all three blades are covered in paper towel. Avoid covering the punched holes in the straw and blades. Allow three hours for the pieces to dry.

9. Coat the body of the wind turbine and its blades in white acrylic paint. Coat the ground in green acrylic paint. Allow two hours for the pieces to dry.

10. Insert a brass fastener through the holes in the turbine blades. Attach the blades to the body of the turbine via the prefabricated punched hole. Adjust the blades so they are evenly spaced apart from one another -- similar to a "Peace" sign. Take the turbine outside on a breezy day and watch the blades turn.

References

• DLTK Kids: How to Paper Mache
• Illustrated History of Wind Power Development; Part 1 -- Early History Through 1875; Darrell M. Dodge; 2006