Make a Garden Windmill
Wind farms are big news today – and your children can learn to appreciate the power of a wind turbine by making a windmill for the garden at home.
Provide some material
Think big. Although the windmill might not survive the first serious downpour, you want your child to feel they’ve created a substantial structure. Don’t fiddle around with ice-cream sticks and little bits of paper, go for sheets of cheap wrapping paper, cardboard, old fence posts or short lengths of two by two, twine, pea sticks or bamboo canes ... you’ll find the shed is full of bits of stuff the kids can be given to work with.
Plan ahead
You can find loads of windmill designs on the web, but let the kids do it by trial and error first, only stepping in if they’re clearly struggling.
Pick a place
Select a point in the garden where their design will be a focal point – obviously it needs to catch as much wind as possible too.
Be creative with colour and sound
Small bells can be hung from the ‘sails’ and colours can be chosen to blur and blend as the windmill spins, or you can trail short ribbons from each sail which will give a good indication of wind speed. Glow in the dark stickers or paint make the windmill into a night-time extravaganza, so let your children be as creative with paint, glue and glitter as they can.
Set it up
Let them help you set the windmill up, but ensure you’ve done the preparation first – if you’re setting up a pole, ensure it is well hammered down into the soil, or if they’ve build a solid structure, try to fix it down, possibly by nailing it to a couple of thin struts and then pegging them down into the soil with wire bent into a U shape.