Hands On Crafts for Kids - Plastic Canvas Whirler

by Lynda Musante

See the effects of the wind when you hang this whirler outside on a breezy day. Watch it whirl and spin as the air catches its colorful sails!

You will need:

Four 14" Long sheets of plastic canvas (pink, blue, yellow and green.)
12" x 1/4" Wood dowel
White plastic canvas yarn
White acrylic paint
Scissors
Tacky glue
Craft snips
Paintbrush
2 Large hole wood beads (to fit on dowel)

Instructions:

Paint dowel and wood beads white. Allow to dry. Glue a bead to one end.
Cut 12 strips of each color of plastic canvas, 4 holes wide by the length of the sheet.
Insert tip of scissor into the plastic canvas strip one hole down from each end and cut out a small square, 2 holes by 2 holes. The hole should be large enough for the dowel to slide through.
Slide each of the strips onto the dowel in the following order: 4 pink, 4 yellow, 4 green and 4 blue. Continue this pattern until all of the strips are on the dowel. Grasp the opposite end of the first strip you slid onto the dowel and slide it onto the bottom of the dowel forming a loop. Continue in order with each strip. This forms the whirler's shape.
Glue the wood bead onto the other end. Cut a 14" length of the white yarn and knot the ends together. Attach to the dowel with a half hitch knot.
Spread the strips of plastic canvas apart. Hang whirler outside and watch it spin in the wind!

Darice® Plastic Canvas & Plastic Yarn; Darice® Wood Craft; Elmer's® Craft Bond Tacky Glue; Delta Ceramcoat® Acrylic Paint; Fiskars® Student Scissors & Softouch Craftsnips.