A fun yard toy that can be used two ways! You can put a dowel into the ground and stick it on that or you can also hang it from a tree. Either way, when the wind blows it spins like crazy! You can see it in action below.
Supplies
- 2 Liter Soda Bottle with straight sides
- X-acto type knife
- Wipe off marker
- Goo Gone
- Acrylic paint
- Dowel 5/8" diameter, 36" tall or longer. (for staking into the yard)
- Nut and bolt and fishing line (for hanging rather than staking)
- Drill if you're hanging it.
Roy designed this for me as follows:
1. Marked around the bottle in 4 even spots for where the cuts would go. He used tape but its not necessary. 2. Roy made a nice pattern to cut the opening with. You can also just use a nice curve. If you want to use his pattern you can download it here as a pdf. 3. Trace the pattern at the 4 spots you marked around the bottle. You are only tracing ONE side though he cut a full pattern. The pdf above is only one side. 4. Using an X-acto knife cut out the designs you traced. 5. Fold the design flaps outward. We found that two tongue depressors work well to help with this so you get a straight fold. 6. Fold back the flap. 7. Step 7 below shows the flap pulled out though it's a bit hard to see. This allows it to catch the wind. 8. Paint on any desired designs you wish. 9. For placing on a dowel in the ground hot glue the lid upside down inside the bottom of the bottle. You can use the dowel to help get it in place.
If you wish to hang your spinner rather than place it on a dowel in the ground do the following: 1. Drill a hole in your lid. 2. Place a nut and bolt in it as shown. The hole needs to be larger than the bolt to allow for spinning. 3. Attach fishing line to the bolt for hanging.
Hammer your dowel into the ground. You can whittle the end to be sharper if the ground is hard. Place your bottle over it making sure the end of the dowel goes into the lid that is hot glued inside the bottle. 
This shows the hanging version. 
14 responses
Very fun idea!! Thank you. I must be sleepy still, how did you get the bottle cap inside the bottle to glue it in there?
Hi yona I want to know how to make the wind spinner from a pop bottle??
so cute did the stones and crystals work ?
I love this… cute, fun with the kids and best of all it’s recycleing !! Thanks for a great idea.
I think I might go a step further and hot glue pretty stones/crystals on fishing wire, inside and see if we can get a pleasant ‘tune’ ‘pitch’ that is different to each one
Thanks very much for the inspiration!
I do love an up cycling togetherness project!
Thank you so much Tina! Those are excellent ideas… I’m so glad we were able to inspire you!
Hi,
I’m wondering if you tried the stones and crystals and how that worked out? I’d imagine crystal beads in the string would work, but adding stones with glue would be too heavy? How did it all work out for you?
What a fun idea!!
Thank you for sharing
You’re very welcome Rozie. Glad you enjoyed it!
What a cute idea! Love it,
[…] This is a super easy project. The kids paint the 2 liter bottle however they want and get to see what designs it makes when it spins. The kids will probably need help when it comes time to cut the bottle. It’s a great tool for teaching them about wind and weather (you could pair it with a rain catcher), and will certainly be something they will want to watch day after day. Get the instructions at Our Peaceful Planet. […]
Thanks so much. I really appreciate the kind words!
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For the purpose of demonstrating, a green bottle would have been better
That’s actually true.