I don't love fads. I don't want to put any of my money towards the people who make money off of convincing children they need expensive trinkets. But I don't want my son to miss out on things either so the compromise is to make a fidget spinner. I don't care if they are cheap. Not buying one.
It was a great compromise. My little dude loved gathering supplies, picking out colours, tracing the template, etc. He was really into the whole process and proud of what we did. I had to do most of the intricate work and gluing but even when a parent does a part of a project with a child, the child still learns. My little guy learned about glue guns today. He was very keen.
We made two. One works better than the other. They are a little delicate but they work, even for a 5 year old.
So how did we pull this off? See the how to instructions below. If you try this, I hope you have as much fun as we did.
What You Need to Make One Spinner:
1-2 sheets of adhesive backed foam. Got this from the dollar store.
3 pennies
2 nickles
2 washers
A nut and a bolt that are small, fit together and the washers and 2 sheets of foam will fit in between loosely so they can spin.
Hot glue gun with glue
Scissors
Pencil and/or marker
A Template which can be found here. Thanks Draw So Cute!
Hole punch
Step By Step Instructions with Pictures
1. Cut out the template. I choose the small hands version.
2. Use the template to trace two outlines onto the back for the foam. Stab the center dot gently with the pencil so you can find it later.
3. Cut out the foam along the lines so that you are left with this:
4. Hole punch that center dot out.
5. Remove the white backing and stick the pennies close to the edge of each lobe. Remove the backing of the other foam piece, line both pieces together and place it on top of the pennies so they get stuck in the middle. Push all the adhesive together in the center.
6. With the hot glue gun, glue a washer around the hole on each side of the spinner to reinforce the hole.
7. Now it gets a bit more complicated. You need an axle for the spinner to spin around. We are going to use a bolt for this. Glue a blot to a nickle. The bolt head does not need to be flat, if its round just use more glue.
8. I fiddled with this step a lot but the best thing to do here was to screw the nut onto the bolt. Don't screw it on so tight that the spinner cannot spin. It has to be a bit loose.
9. Add some glue to that well inside the nut and place a nickle on top. Apply some pressure to make sure it sticks well and flat.
10. That's it. Give it a spin when it is dry :)
Here is how it spins. One was better than the other. We filmed the best one.
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