Handmade spinning tops with everyday materials! Easy ideas you can enjoy for New Year’s too
As New Year’s approaches, you may find yourself wondering what kinds of games to enjoy with the kids.
Here, we introduce ideas for handmade spinning tops that you can easily make using familiar materials found at home.
Using items like bouncy balls, paper plates, plastic bottle caps, and origami paper, you can make them right away without any special preparation.
They’re designed to be easy for small children to spin, and you can have fun decorating them in bright colors, so the excitement lasts from the making process through playtime.
This New Year, why not have both kids and adults try making spinning tops together?
Handmade spinning tops with everyday materials! Easy ideas you can enjoy for New Year’s (1–10)
A spinning top made from a paper cup and a paper straw
How about a simple spinning top made from a paper cup and a straw? First, slice the paper cup horizontally into three sections.
You’ll only use the bottom part; the rest can be discarded.
Make a hole in the center of the bottom using an awl or similar tool, insert a cut paper straw, and your spinning top is complete.
Be careful not to injure yourself when making the hole.
It looks cute if you decorate the sides or the straw with origami paper, and if you use pre-designed paper cups or straws, you can make a colorful top without any extra decorating.
Easy and fun! Two spinning tops using marbles
In the Reiwa era, digital music and subscriptions are the norm.
For the moms and dads who spent their youth with MDs and CDs, and the uncles who made mixtapes on cassettes, there are lots of memories tied to music devices.
Sometimes an old cassette tape suddenly turns up and you realize, “I don’t have anything to play this on!” And of course, some people say, “I don’t really listen to CDs anymore either.” For people like that, here’s a fun recommendation: a spinning top made from a CD and a marble.
Just glue or double-tape a marble to the center hole of a CD and you’re done.
When it spins, the CD’s shimmering surface looks surprisingly cool.
Even if you’re not good at crafts, give it a try!
Craft you can play with! Paper plate spinning top
A handmade spinning top using a paper plate is super easy to make and highly recommended.
Unlike a classic top in both look and play, it starts whirling with just a gentle puff of air, making it a fresh, sure-fire hit with kids.
Fold the paper plate so that it’s creased into eight equal sections, then cut along the rim.
Fold the cut sections diagonally, and you’re done.
Add stickers or draw designs as you like to create your own original top.
It’s also fun to imagine how your drawings and stickers will look when the top spins.
You can buy paper plates at 100-yen shops, so give it a try!
How to make an acorn top
In autumn, when you go into the fields and hills, you sometimes find acorns.
Of course, you can also find them in nearby parks or suburban picnic areas.
It’s delightful when an acorn still has its cap attached, and the joy of finding a slightly larger acorn is something else.
Let’s make a spinning top using those acorns.
If you boil the acorns once and then dry them, it sterilizes them and helps prevent pests.
After that, just use an awl to make a hole in the top and insert a toothpick.
Applying varnish will give it a beautiful finish.
Making an old-fashioned acorn top like this might even make you want to sing a nursery rhyme while you work.
Cute with origami! Handmade spinning top
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1gAEoYprHa/Let’s try making a cute-looking spinning top using origami that you can find in any household.
This top is made with three sheets of origami paper.
You can use the same color, but using different colors makes it more colorful and fun to watch as it spins.
First, make the base of the top.
The key is to make crisp creases; this will help the later steps go smoothly.
Once the base is done, make the part you’ll spin with your fingers and the part that connects it to the base.
Combine all the pieces, and you’re done.
It’s a project that’s fun both to make and to play with once it’s spinning.
It spins so well! A buzz-top made from a milk carton
When it comes to New Year’s games, nothing says it like the top! Spinning tops have long been a favorite pastime for children.
Because they spin steadily with a straight axis, they came to be regarded as good-luck charms symbolizing that things will go smoothly.
Let’s make and play with a buzzing button spinner using a milk carton and string.
Open up the milk carton and cut out a shape with two connected ovals.
Draw a Daruma face, stick the pieces together, then make a hole in the center and thread the string through.
It’s simple to make, which is nice and easy.
When you pull both ends of the string, it spins vigorously—you can just picture how delighted the children will be.
Fits right on the wall! Paper plate spinning top
It’s not a top you can spin, but an idea I’d like to recommend as a wall decoration.
You’ll need four things: a paper plate, construction paper, round stickers, and crayons.
First, cut the paper plate in half and attach a strip of construction paper about 2 cm below the cut edge.
Then decorate the construction paper with round stickers and add patterns to the remaining white part of the paper plate with crayons.
Finally, cut out the top’s spindle from construction paper and glue it to the back of the construction paper strip to finish.
Create it with your favorite patterns and designs, and decorate your wall!
How to make an easy spinning top from a milk carton
Here’s an idea for making a spinning top using a milk carton, a plastic bottle cap, and a straw.
First, open up the corners and flatten the milk carton, then round-cut all four sides at a point 10 cm up from the bottom.
Decorate it by drawing pictures or adding stickers, and then attach the plastic bottle cap to the center of the milk carton.
On the back side, stick a short piece of straw at the same position, and it’s done.
The sides of the milk carton act like fins, making it easy to spin, so it’s great for small children.
A playable spinning top made from a paper cup
How about making your own traditional New Year’s spinning top this year and playing with it? You can easily make one with a paper cup, a straw, and a plastic bottle cap, so give it a try.
Leave about 5 millimeters of the bottom of the paper cup and cut around it with scissors.
If a child is making it, please have a guardian watch to prevent any cuts.
Once you’ve made slits all the way around, spread them out and draw your favorite patterns.
Make a hole in the bottom of the paper cup, insert a straw cut to about 6 centimeters, and secure it to the cap—that’s it! Spend a fun New Year with a one-of-a-kind spinning top!
Just paper plates and a bottle cap! A spinning top that even 1-year-olds can make
Koma (spinning tops) are perfect both for New Year’s games and for everyday play.
This top is easy to make: paste small torn pieces of origami paper onto the surface of a paper plate, then glue a plastic bottle cap to the center.
A tip is not to use the paper plate as is, but to fold it in half twice to make creases beforehand.
Doing this creates a central shaft-like area, making it spin more easily.
Hold the cap and try spinning it on a hard floor.
For a more festive look, use not only solid-color origami but also traditional Japanese patterned paper.