Instructions for How to Make Giant Whirligigs

Making a giant whirligig is a fun craft project for kids.

A whirligig is a spiral-shaped, spinning wind charm or children's toy. It can be made from practically any material imaginable, though paper or thin card are the easiest to use. Making a giant whirligig is an engaging craft project to share between children and adults and to help pass a rainy afternoon indoors. When complete, giant whirligigs can be hung up to blow in the wind or pulled like a kite while running. Allow roughly 20 minutes to make a giant whirligig.

Things You'll Need

• Large sheet of paper or card, thin enough to cut
• Strong scissors
• Coloring pencils
• Yarn
• Pencil
• Marker pen

Instructions

1. Cut the paper or card into a circular shape using the scissors. You can trace around a large circular object before cutting for a better quality circle.

2. Make a dot at the approximate center of the circle with the marker pen. Slowly draw a spiral outward from the circle until it meets the edge of the paper.

3. Carefully push the tip of the pencil through the dot in the middle of the spiral to make a small hole.

4. Cut along the spiral line using the scissors until just before the hole in the middle of the paper or card. Do not cut into the hole.

5. Push one end of the yarn through the pencil hole. Tie a large knot at the end of the string so it cannot pass back through the hole.

6. Lift the whirligig by the string. It will fall open into a large spiral when held in the air. You can now hang the whirligig from the ceiling to catch the breeze or hand it to a child to pull behind them.

Tips & Warnings

• Use card if you plan on giving the whirligig to a child. It will stand up better to being pulled around.

References

• Origami Resource Center: Whirligig