African...& American Pinwheels {tutorial}

Every now and then we get glimpses into Ezekiel's life in Ethiopia 

Some are scary: like when our old pipes were knocking & he thought it was machine gun fire 

Some are sad: talking about his dad who passed away 

And some are all-out ridiculous: climbing mango trees and going to the bathroom...really?

{I don't care what country they're from...boys are weird}

A few days ago it was quite windy so he decided to show Anton how to make 

"African Pinwheels" - as he calls them

After they went to bed for the night, I sneakily grabbed one of the pinwheels and deconstructed it

What a simple concept. Roll up the paper halfway, tear through the unrolled portion & make holes.

Ezekiel had never seen a hole punch before today so they must have just poked sticks through

One ripped section goes one way, one goes the other

Add some sticks...

And voila! An African Pinwheel

Simply hold onto the center stick & run!

They had a blast racing back and forth

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On another note...

A few years ago I had gotten a bit addicted to making pinwheels, myself.

We had done a "vintage toy" birthday party for Laith when he turned 2.

And I literally made about 50 of them

They were everywhere...

{love you, sweet little Luke...miss you!}

I couldn't resist putting a few of these pics in. 

Strangely, I couldn't find any of Laith with Ben! 

Sorry Benny.

{so what do you do with 50+ pinwheels after the party is over? We still have some around}

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Have you ever made pinwheels before? 

They're actually ridiculously easy {and like I said before, addictive}

I used scrapbook paper rather than origami paper as my instructions recommended. 

Just remember that your paper needs to be double-sided.

I got the above pictures from this blog since I don't have any step-by-step photos of my making them.

{"american" pinwheels}

.  what you will need .

. double sided paper

. push pins

. wooden dowels

. scissors or paper cutter

. ruler

. directions . 

{step 1} cut paper to desired size, but make sure it's square

{step 2} fold in half diagonally

{step 3} then fold diagonally again

{step 4}unfold

{step 5} cut just over half way up each fold

{step 6} soak your wooden dowel or skewer {got mine at Hobby Lobby but found this place online} in a glass of warm water for awhile so it's easier to poke your pin through.

{step 7} gather every other corner together and place a pin through all four

{step 8} the above photo shows a brad being used, but this will not allow the pinwheel to spin. Instead, I used a cute push pins {map pins also work}, such as these, these or these. 

{step 9} attach skewer or dowel to pinwheel

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Whether it's African or American pinwheels you seek, have fun getting addicted!

TERESA