Galaxy Pinwheels

(Open ended play)

We’re in the middle of travel spree but let us observe a spiral-shaped galaxy about 30 million light years away from Earth.

Materials:

-Pipe cleaners

-Popsicle sticks

-Scissors

-Hole puncher

-hexagon paper with pointilism galaxy on it

Instruction:

-Cut out the hexagonal shape for the galaxy pinwheel and along the way from corner towards (almost) center.

-Punch holes: six around the edges and one in the center

-Turn the paper so it’s face-down and thread the pipe cleaner through the center hole.

-Going around the circle, fold each flap so the pipe cleaner goes through the hole.

-Tie a knot in the pipe cleaner to secure the front of the pinwheel.

-Wrap the other side of the pipe cleaner around a popsicle stick. Don't make it too tight, or it won't be able to move.

-Blow on it and watch the galaxy spin!

I introduced galaxy to our 2.5 years old daughter, Y, by showing a quick zoom out video from a farm on earth, solar system, and Milky Way galaxy in the universe. She loved the video and asked to watched it for more several times with some emphasize oh”Earth,” “sun,” “stars,” and eventually “galaxy.”

I then hand over our galaxy pinwheels to her. We just realized that it was her first pinwheels to blow with. I had to show her how to blow it. She eventually got how it works and played with the pinwheels while watching the video over and over again.

#galaxy #pinwheels #toddler #space