Making A Spinner

A lot of the games on my blog use a spinner. If you don't have one, here is how I made mine.

First I took a scrap piece of wood and a nail. I had this spinner face that we were using at the time (yes, this spinner is probably 14 years old). I stapled the spinner face to the piece of wood then pounded the nail in at the center of the face.

Next, cut an arrow out of a piece of construction paper and tape or glue it to a large paper clip. The other end of the paper clip slips easily over the nail and freely rotates for spinning.

When you need a different spinner face for another game, just make a small hole and slip it over the nail (take the paper clip off first, then put it back on).

To work the spinner, place one finger on top of the nail and flick the pointer/paper clip with your other hand. If the pointer lands on a line, sometimes we spin again, and sometimes we add the two numbers together -- depending on the game.

Card Stock

A couple days ago I was getting ready to print out some Thanksgiving games and realized I was out of card stock. I found a good substitute was to cut an old manilla folder to 8-1/2" width. The yellowish-tan color of the folder didn't affect the colors of the game very much, and it went through the printer just fine.

Levers

This week we learned about levers. On our way to the backyard I grabbed an old shelf and an empty 2 liter soda pop bottle with the lid on.

I set the board (lever) on the bottle (fulcrum) and placed 4 bricks (load) on one end. Then we were easily able to move the fulcrum closer and farther from the load to see what made the load easier and harder to lift.

Improvising

Sometimes you may not have exactly what you need to do an experiment (or something else) the way the book says to. We needed a balance scale. The book said to use a yard stick and told how to make a base for it. I didn't have a yard stick, but I did have this piece of wood left over from some project. I didn't have the materials to make the stand, so I walked around our home looking for a place to put a screw. I noticed that there was an existing hole in the end of the banister that was just the right size for the screw I had. Our balance scale worked great and it was the perfect height for K. to use. I put a screw in our utility closet so I can hang the scale out of the way, and when we need to use the scale, or K. wants to play with it, it is easily installed on the banister.