They say that "windy March and rainy April make May flowery and beautiful", I do not know how the plants will be next month because it is not raining what is necessary (and it is not for lack of clouds, for the record). What we do have some days is quite windy, so we have done some “Grinders” to give to neighbors and also to place on the balcony and terrace.
Since we cannot play with the rain, we do it by observing the direction and force of the wind, and this helps me to explain to the children how the wind is capable of generating energy. You can also try, now I explain how.
Materials needed (per unit):
- A Cardboard size DIN-A 4, scissors, ruler, pencil, sipping stick, beads for flat necklaces, eraser or square ball (about 3 millimeters) of “eva rubber”
How do we do it:
Well, first of all I leave you this link of “drawings to paint” so you can see it more clearly.
Take the cardboard and you turn it into a square folding one of the ends inwards until it coincides with a side, now we have a triangle and below it a small rectangle that we can cut and discard.
Now we will mark the diagonal dividing lines with ruler and pencil or folding the square twice diagonally, so we have the marks to cut and we also know where exactly the center is. Then we cut through the diagonals leaving 1.5 / 2 cm. until you reach the center.
Our square is ready for us to turn it into a grinder: we fold the four right corners (or the left ones) of the triangles delimited by the cuts, and take them to the center where we will hold them (all together) with a colored pushpin.
The pin is stuck behind the sip by inserting a flat and tiny necklaces in the middle (this is so that the paper does not rub with the drinking straw and does not stop the movement). We only have to protect the tip so that nobody gets pricked, this is when we need the eraser balls or the pieces of eva rubber.
Ready, we have our pinwheel and we can find a place to tie it up and check the wind action, or maybe we prefer to make a bouquet of pinwheels, give one to each classmate of the children, etc.
Observation:
* You can increase the attractiveness using decorated / metallized cards, and we can also get a nice gift for guests on a birthday, making the grinders with sheets of colored paper.
I hope you like it, we will return next Wednesday with one of our spring themes.
