Wheel Top-Shoebox Crafts

This week Crafts Paper Scissors is featuring some of my favorite shoebox crafts for Operation Christmas Child. 

 With my family, I have always found my boys harder to shop for than my girls. The same is true for my shoebox gift packing. While I always have tons of ideas of things I could make or buy for girls shoebox gifts, boys were more difficult, and then I saw a simple top made from a wooden wheel. I knew this would be a perfect toy for either gender! It’s fun to see a child’s face light up when they finally perfect spinning a top. 

Supplies used: 

• Wood wheel 
• Dowel that fits snugly into center of wheel
• Wood Glue
• Pencil Sharpener
• Sand paper
• Paint and brushes-I used Apple Barrel Multi Surface by Plaid in Wild Grape, Primary Blue, True Green and Candy Apple

To Create Top:

• Cut dowel rods to create handles, for ease of spinning I found cutting length no longer than diameter of the wheel worked well
• Using pencil sharpener “sharpen” one side of the dowel rod. Sand down the point to keep it from being “too sharp” 
• Paint pieces as desired
• Insert dowel into middle of the wheel, adjust dowel to have a 1/3-2/3 ratio above and below the top.
• Glue into place

Special Thanks to Plaid Crafts for providing materials to help with this project! 

For more information on Operation Christmas Child, visit:

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/