DIY Paper Top Is The Perfect Hanukkah Craft!

 This evening we lit the 7th cup of oil on our Hanukkah menorah, and that means that there are still two full days of Hanukkah, and certainly time to squeeze in one last activity that everyone is sure to enjoy: DIY spinning tops made from strips of paper and toothpicks! These tops might be little, but they sure do spin, and if made correctly, they can spin for quite a long time. And whether of not they spin well, they sure are great looking! So get out the simple supplies and have a little crafting fest to end Hanukkah on a creative note! Ready, let’s get spinning!

You’ll Need:

• 1/4″ paper strips, I cut mine from the length of A4 sheets of colored cardstock
• toothpicks
• white glue

How To:

It is really important that the first strip is tightly wound onto the toothpick and glued well. I recommend wrapping just the first round onto many toothpicks and giving them a little time to dry before adding subsequent strips. Add a few dabs of glue to the end of the first strip and begin to wind strip around toothpick, roughly 1/2″ from tip. Add more glue to strip as you go, and try to keep toothpick as vertical as possibly. After wrapping first strip, set aside to dry and start 3 or 4 more tops.

As you can see from my photos I made my tops in three ways:

1. A disc: all rows are wrapped in identical fashion. the results are great looking and top spins well
2. A small disc with stepped up sides: spins fairly well
3. A tiny disc (one or two rows) with stepped up sides: spins the best no contest!

So, have fun experimenting, but do make sure to add glue as you wrap new strips so that the whole top won’t collapse after all your hard work! I didn’t do this but would recommend brushing the whole top with decoupage medium or watered down glue to give it extra stability. Of course that would mean that you’d have to wait quite a few hours to actually play with them, so you decide!

 I just love how these little tops look, and they are fun to play with too, really! Now I need to try them with a skewer and wider strips, so stay tuned for that! And here is a photo of our top spinner in action, enjoy!