How to Build Yard Spinners

Making a Yard Spinner

• 1

  Wash and air-dry an empty two-liter plastic soda bottle, removing as much of the label as possible. Screw the top back on the clean soda bottle.

• 2

  Cover the middle section of the bottle with different colors of electrical tape, forming a stripe-like pattern with at least six sections of tape. The top tape strip should be at the point where the soda bottle is straight, not curving into the opening hole. The bottom tape strip should be about two inches from the bottom of the bottle.

• 3

  Wrap a cloth tape measure around the top strip of tape and make a mark every ¾ of an inch with a marker or pen.

• 4

  Cut a vertical strip down the length of the soda bottle with a craft or utility knife at each ¾-inch mark, beginning at the top tape strip and extending the cut all the way to the lower edge of the last tape strip, or about two inches from the bottom of the bottle.

• 5

  Set the bottle upright, and push down on the top so that the strips flare out. Create a fold in each strip by pinching the plastic together.

• 6

  Fold the top of each strip at a 45 degree angle to the right and the bottom of each strip at a 45 degree angle to the left so the yard spinner can spin in the air.

Making the Hanger

• 7

  Remove the cap from the soda bottle yard spinner.

• 8

  Straighten out a paperclip. Heat one end of the paper clip and push it through the soda bottle cap to make a hole, wiggling it a bit so the hole will be large enough to reinsert both ends of the paper clip. Remove the paper clip while the melted plastic dries.

• 9

  Slide one end of the paper clip through the end of the ball bearing swivel. Center the ball bearing swivel in the middle of the paper clip and twist the paperclip together to form a loop.

• 10

  Insert both ends of the paper clip through the hole in the soda bottle cap and twist the two ends together, then fan them out to hold it in place.

• 11

  Attach a loop of string to hang your yard spinner from a hook or tree branch.