Spinning Tops
Spinning tops are great fun for young children to make and play with, and so they are an ideal project for a rainy afternoon. Adult help will be required for preparing the dowel and using any sharp objects, but children will enjoy decorating the colourful tops and then seeing whose top will spin for the longest time.
You will need:
Ruler, compass & pencil
Scissors
Card (to cut up & decorate tops)
Glue stick
Felt tips/coloured pencils (to decorate tops)
6mm dowel, junior hacksaw & sandpaper
Pencil sharpener
Masking/sticky-tape (for a bit of extra support)
What to do
1. Using the compass & pencil, draw an 8cm circle on a piece of card.
2. Cut out the circle.
3. Decorate the circle either by colouring with pens & pencils or by gluing on cut up coloured card shapes (do not glue anything over the centre point as this is where the dowel will go).
4. Cut an 8cm length of dowel and sand any rough areas.
5. Using the pencil sharpener, create a blunt point on one end of the dowel (do not make the point dangerously sharp).
6. Pierce the centre of the card with the point of the dowel and push it a third of the way up the dowel from the point.
7. Secure the dowel to the card with a piece of masking/sticky-tape underneath.
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