Patriotic Pinwheel

Make your own patriotic paper using paint and a home made sponge stamp! It’s easy and so much fun.

Patriotic Pinwheel

• Household sponge
• Scissors
• White printer or copier paper
• Blue and red craft paint
• Gold paint pen
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Pinwheel template
• thumbtack
• pony bead
• wooden dowel

How To Make It

1. Cut the white paper to a 7” square.
2. Cut a star shape out of a household sponge.
3. Squeeze red paint onto a palette or paper plate. Dip sponge into paint, dab off excess, and press onto paper. Repeat design in several places. Clean out the sponge and repeat with blue paint.
4. Use a gold paint pen to draw dots and curly lines on the paper to decorate it further. Let dry then turn over and decorate the other side.
5. Use a ruler and a pencil to lightly mark the paper along the diagonals. Cut diagonal lines toward the center, stopping about 1/2″ from the center for each cut.
6. The cuts have created four triangles, still connected in the center. Poke holes in the paper in the lower left point of each of the four triangles.
7. Insert the thumbtack into the wooden dowel to create a hole. Remove thumbtack.
8. Fold one of the corner (with a hole) toward the center of the paper. Insert the thumbtack through the hole. Bring the next corner up and under the first one, inserting the thumbtack. Repeat for all four, then push the thumbtack through the center hole.
9. Holding the tack and the paper together with one hand, turn over and place the pony bead onto the thumbtack, then insert the thumbtack into the dowel.

Helpful Hints

• You can use a new pencil with an eraser instead of the dowel.
• To shorten the dry time, only paint one side of the paper, then when you begin folding, have the unpainted side facing up at you so that when you fold over the corners, the designs will become visible.
• Do not use cardstock or poster board. That type of paper is too heavy and your pinwheel will not turn.