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?
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Handmade spinning tops with everyday materials! Easy ideas you can enjoy for New Year (21–30)
How to fold the panels of a traditional work
This is how to fold a spinning top you can make just by punching a hole in the center of a traditional “menko” piece and inserting a toothpick.
First, place the origami paper with the white side facing up and fold it in half.
Fold the left and right edges so they meet the top and bottom edges.
Crease it into a square by aligning the corners with each other.
Make a second identical piece.
Place the second piece on top of the first, crossing them, and tuck the corners into the gaps to complete the menko.
Make a small hole in the center of the menko with an awl or gimlet, and finally insert a toothpick to finish!
A spinning top with a helmet-like shape
An origami spinning top you can make and play with! Please prepare three sheets of your favorite origami paper.
The inside of the top and the handle can be made simply by repeating the “zabuton” fold.
The outer part adds helmet-like decorations along the edges, so the steps are a bit more detailed, but if you can fold a crane by yourself, you should be able to complete it without any problem.
In the end, you’ll assemble the parts you made to finish a single top.
Using different colors of origami paper for each part lets you enjoy the color effects when it spins.
Be sure to have fun with top battles, too!
Make Your Own Spinning Tops with Everyday Materials! Easy Ideas You Can Enjoy at New Year (31–40)
Let’s blow and play! How to fold a blow-top (spinning top you spin by blowing)
This is a fun blow-top origami that spins when you blow on it.
First, prepare two square sheets of origami paper, and place one with the colored side facing down.
Fold it in half into a triangle, then fold it into a triangle once more.
Open it up, then fold it in half into a square and continue with the “zabuton” (cushion) fold.
Using the closed side as the axis, fold up the left and right edges on both sides.
Fold down the triangles on the two faces.
Make two of these and fit them together.
Try blowing on it with a “fuu—.” Blow strongly or gently and enjoy the differences in how it spins!
One sheet of origami! How to fold a spinning top you can display and play with
This is a spinning top you can make using steps similar to the classic crane.
Please prepare a toothpick-like twig for the handle and axle.
Prepare one sheet of origami, fold it into a triangle twice, then squash the pocketed part into a square.
Next, crease and change the shape into a diamond.
Up to this point, it’s the same as the crane, right? Turn a layer of the paper to change the face, then fold up the bottom corners on both sides to make the origami into a triangle.
Now that you should have four triangles on the sides, make a mountain fold along each triangle’s center line and collapse it sideways, flattening it so each triangle becomes half its size.
When it looks like a pinwheel, flip the origami over and fold the collapsed sections inward to create a spiral pattern.
Insert the toothpick-like twig into the center, and it’s complete.
How to fold a spinning top using two sheets of origami paper
Here’s how to fold a spinning top that twirls with just a light touch.
First, fold into a triangle twice to make crease lines.
Fold all four corners to the center to set the creases.
Turn the paper over so a corner faces you, then fold that front corner up to the top crease.
Open it and turn to the front, then use the “Kannon” fold to make guiding creases.
Fold the corners along the creases so they overlap into a square.
Shape it into a three-dimensional form like a spinning top—this completes the shaft.
Using another sheet of origami paper, start from the “zabuton” fold to make the body.
Finally, stack the two pieces together and you’re done!
How to fold a playable spinning top
Here’s a simple spinning top idea made with two sheets of origami paper.
If you can do the “zabuton fold,” where you fold all four corners toward the center, you can make it.
Use the first sheet for the body of the top and the second sheet for the handle.
For the body, do one zabuton fold, then flip the paper over and fold the same way.
Flip the paper over once more and do another zabuton fold.
Then fold the four corners that have gathered on the back outward into triangles, and the body is done.
For the handle, do the zabuton fold three times in a row without flipping, then valley-fold along the diagonal and press it flat.
Insert the handle into the inner, folded-back section of the body to complete the top.
Cute to display! A flat spinning top
Perfect for wall decorations, too! This is a flat spinning top made from a single sheet of origami.
First, fold the paper into a triangle to make a crease, then open it and rotate it so the crease runs vertically.
Next, fold both lower edges in to meet the crease, then flip the paper over.
Fold the top corner down into a triangle to make a crease and unfold it, then fold the top corner down again along that crease.
Using the crease, make two roll folds on the same section, then flip the paper over.
Fold the bottom corner up so it sticks out slightly above the top, then fold the left and right corners to shape it like a spinning top.
Turn the origami to the front, and fold both sides to the back so the colored section forms a triangle.
Finally, make a step fold at the bottom corner to finish!