How to Make Toy Windmills

Make your own toy windmill.

Toy windmills provide children with hours of fun. They also give you an opportunity to teach your children a lesson in wind science. Unfortunately, they can sometimes be difficult to find in stores when they are out of season. You can solve this problem by making your own toy windmills and providing your children with year-round fun.

Things You'll Need

• 20-by-20-cm piece of paper
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Sharp pencil
• Blu-tac
• Paper fastener
• Bead
• Drinking straw

Instructions

1. Fold the piece of paper in half diagonally. Unfold the paper, then fold it diagonally again on the opposite end. This will create an X-shaped crease through the middle of the paper.

2. Measure four centimeters out from the center along each crease and make a dot with your pencil. Cut along each crease from the outside corner to the dot at the four-centimeter mark. You now have four slits and eight corners.

3. Roll a small piece of blue-tac into a ball and place it beneath the center point of your paper. Poke a hole through the center point into the blue-tac using your pencil. Poke a hole through the corner on the right side of each slit for a total of four holes.

4. Fold each corner piece in toward the middle so the outside holes line up with the hole in the center. Push your paper fastener through the five holes and the blue-tac. Place the bead on the end of the paper fastener.

5. Poke a hole through both sides of the straw two centimeters down from the top. Push the paper fastener through the straw holes you just made and open the end.

Tips & Warnings

• Use colored or foil paper to add a personal touch.

References

• The Little Experience: Windmill