Colonial Toys: Whiligigs
"A whirligig is an object that spins or whirls, or has at least one member that spins or whirls.The American version of the wind driven whirligig probably originated with the immigrant population of the United Kingdom as whirligigs are mentioned in early American colonial times. George Washington brought ‘’whilagigs’’ home from the Revolutionary War. What type is unknown."
The idea for this simple toy comes from Rebecca at Simple as That. It can be made from materials you already have around your house.
Take a piece of heavy weight paper (we used cardstock) and make yourself a template (we made pumpkins, but you could make anything round, even just a circle). I folded a small piece of cardstock in half and cut a half pumpkin out of the paper, keeping the fold in the middle, so that both sides are symmetrical. Cut out 5 pumpkins from the heavy weight paper for each whirligig.
Decorate the pumpkins any way you would like, holding the folded piece so that it folds up toward you. This way you are sure to get the part that is facing outside.
Once you are finished decorating, start putting your whirligig together by gluing half of one pumpkin to half of the next pumpkin. Continue attaching one half of each pumpkin to the next. Before attaching your final pumpkin, place a length of string in the center. This is how you'll hang your whirligig when you're finished. We had to use Elmer's glue for this part so the string would hold firmly. Now glue that last pumpkin to the first one.
Now they are ready to twirl and spin.
