Make Garden Pinwheels

What You Need:

• Square piece of colored card stock or sturdy construction paper, about 8" x 8"
• Ruler
• Scotch tape
• Pencil with eraser top
• Thumbtack

What You Do:

1. Have your child choose a square of paper that represents the plants or flowers that the pinwheel will mark in your garden. For example, they might choose orange for pumpkins, yellow for sunflowers, or green for basil.
2. Next, ask them to use a ruler to draw a diagonal line across the square of paper, from the bottom left to the top right side. Repeat from the top left to the bottom right corner to form an X.
3. Now, have them make a mark about ⅓ of the distance from the center of the X on each of the lines.
4. Help them cut each line from the outer corner towards the center, stopping at the marks, so that the center third of the square remains uncut.
5. Invite them to decorate the points on the left side with the theme of the them of the specific plant or flower. For example, for pumpkins they can draw images of pumpkins, and write the word “pumpkins,” in addition to adding any other decorations of their choice.
6. In each quadrant, pull the undecorated right hand point to the center, being careful not to crease the fold. Tape the four points to the center to hold.
7. When the pinwheel is complete, poke a thumbtack through the center and push it into the side of the eraser on top of a pencil.
8. Invite your child to place the pinwheel in the garden.