Summer Pinwheel Tutorial

Today I’m so happy to be here at LCI to share the perfect summer tutorial – let’s make a pinwheel!

This is a quick and easy project that you can even get the kids in on! I’m going to make it even easier by providing you with a printable pinwheel template. So, let’s get started! In addition to the template, here’s what you will need:

Paper – I used card stock

5/16″ wood dowels – I purchased a pack of six 5/16″ x 12″ dowels at Michaels.

Upholstery Tacks – mine are from Walmart

Glue gun, scissors, tack hammer

Glitter and ribbon if desired

For your pinwheel, you will want both sides of your paper to have a design. Or, you could use a solid color card stock. I made sheet music pinwheels. I used a free sheet music graphic that I found at The Graphics Fairy website, downloaded it, and used my home printer to print it on both sides of my card stock. Now, here’s your pinwheel template.

Download this template and then use your home printer to print it on the card stock (the sheet music paper that you just created or any other card stock you choose). Follow the lines of the template and cut out the pinwheel.

Starting at the bottom, bring each left hand corner to the center and secure with a dab of hot glue.

Take your upholstery tack and poke a hole through the center of the pinwheel. Now use your tap hammer to gently hammer the tack into your wood dowel. Don’t hammer it all the way in, because you want there to be a space for the pinwheel to spin. If you want to add some sparkle to your pinwheel, use a small paintbrush to apply white glue to the edges of the pinwheel and sprinkle with glitter. I also added some ribbon to my pinwheel – just add the ribbon to the tack before hammering it into the dowel.