Windmills for a Rainy Day

Last week my 3 children began their Christmas Holiday, also known as "4 weeks of entertaining them at home"... so I thought I'd share something we came up with in the very early days at MyTwirl, before we even had dresses!

MyTwirl’s logo is the playful windmill of our childhoods. (Thanks to Lara Brehm for her gorgeous work on our logo and branding!) During their last school break, while trying to balance working from home and spending time with them, I had this eureka moment when I realised we could blend the two... I didn't put them to work sewing dresses or anything, it’s all about arts and crafts!

We made windmills.

Isabelle had received some origami paper as a gift, which works perfectly, but you can also cut squares of any paper and it will work as well. Here’s everything you’ll need:

• Paper – I used a 15cm square but you can experiment with your own sizes. Colour and add your designs to your plain paper, both sides!
• A straw
• A straight pin – the ones with a pearl head tend to work best

Cut diagonally from each corner towards the center point of the square, but not all the way! Stop cutting about 2-3cm from the center.

Fold each corner towards the center, without creasing the paper, and hold all points slightly overlapping in the middle of your square.

(Grown-ups should do this next part!)

Use your hands or small pliers to bend the top of your pin to a 90 degree angle, with most of the pin bent away from the pin head.

Stick your straight pin right through the center so that it holds your 4 corners in place, and then 

Carefully insert the pin into the front of the straw, only through one side and it will slide down the center of the straw. (Another option is to take it all the way through and then tape the pin carefully around the straw to avoid pinching little fingers.)

And voilà! You have a windmill! Think of MyTwirl every time you make it spin, and send us your image and we’ll post our favourites on our facebook and instagram pages. And please don't forget to tag us when posting pictures of your gorgeous girls twirling from playground to party.  Happy Twirling!