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African...& American Pinwheels {tutorial}

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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}

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

"African Pinwheels" - as he calls them

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

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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

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One ripped section goes one way, one goes the other

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Add some sticks...

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And voila! An African Pinwheel

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Simply hold onto the center stick & run!

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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.

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And I literally made about 50 of them

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They were everywhere...

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

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

Sorry Benny.

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{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}

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

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

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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 thesethese, 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!

Take Joy,

Teresa