You’ll need

  • Small items that can spin, like a fan, an egg beater, a clothesline, a toy with wheels or a toy windmill
  • A piece of paper
  • String

What to do

  1. Gather the small items on a flat surface.
  2. Explore how your items spin – turn the wheels on the toy, or turn the handle on the egg beater.
  3. Scrunch or fold a piece of paper and tie it to the end of a piece of string.
  4. Hold the string in the air and blow on the paper – can you make it spin?
  5. Blow on the middle of the scrunched paper. Now blow near its edge. What makes it spin more?

Questions to ask

What do the items that spin have in common? How are they different?

Do the items spin by themselves? What do you need to do to make them spin? Which items spin the best?

What's happening

Items don’t spin on their own. You need to apply a force to make them spin. This force might be wind, like blowing on a piece of paper tied to string. It might be mechanical, like turning a handle or poking something.