Wellington Wind Walk

It’s easy to make your own windmill, and what’s really great is you can make one from everyday items around the house.

You will need:

• a piece of medium weight paper
• a pair of scissors
• a sewing pin, (a pin with a plastic head is good)
• a ruler
• a stick (disposable chopsticks are really good for this).

Step 1: Cut a square shape out of your medium weight paper. Magazine covers are good for this, but make sure you ask your mum or dad first before cutting up good magazines. The template shown below makes a good sized windmill. You might like to decorate and colour your template before cutting it out. There is a blank template here that you can download and print out (pdf, 12kb).

Blank template for making your windmill.

Step 2: Cut along the ‘cut lines’ – stopping just short of the middle.

Step 3: Using the pin, prick each of the ‘pin holes’. Push the pin all the way through.

Step 4: To assemble simply push the pin through one of the corner ‘pin holes,’ then gently bend the paper steering the pin towards the central pin hole. Slide each of the other three corner ‘pin holes’ onto the pin as you go.

Step 5: Push the pin through the central ‘pin hole’ and onto the very end of the stick/chopstick. You can choose whether the blades are mounted to the side of the stick or the end. We’ve found that sticking the pin into the end makes the windmill stronger – and you’re less likely to get pricked!

Step 6: Bring your windmill along on the Wellington Wind Walk!

We are hoping that there will be lots of windmills made brought along so that we can plant a whole garden of windmills at the base of the turbine. There will be giveaways for the best windmills on the day.

I look forward to seeing yours at the wind turbine.