What you need:
- A square of paper (colored or not, patterned or not, you decide! Maybe use white paper and cover it with cherry blossoms?)
- ruler
- scissors
- pencil
- push pin or straight pin
- small beads (optional)
- an unsharpened pencil with a rubber eraser OR a straw OR thin dowel
How to:
- Fold your square piece of paper corner to corner and corner to corner. Unfold. It will now have an “X” where you folded.
- Make a pencil mark about 1/3 of the distance between the centre and each corner along your fold lines.
- Cut along the fold lines, stopping at your pencil marks.
- Bring every other corner into the centre and stick a pin through all four points and the middle.
- Roll the pin around in little circles to enlarge the hole so that your pinwheel will turn more freely.
- Stick the pin into your pencil eraser, straw or dowel. (Optional: add a couple of small beads between your pinwheel and the stick so that it has some space to turn more easily.)
- Blow on your pinwheel. Which way does it turn? Does it work better if you blow it from the front or side?
Extend this: Use paper that is different colours on each side. What colours do you see when the pinwheel is moving very quickly?