This week, CraftPaperScissors.com is featuring easy craft projects that can be donated to Operation Christmas Child.

By Betsy Burnett of Aim Happy

Operation Christmas Child gives kids all over the world a tangible gift of love in the form of a shoebox stuffed with essentials and comforts.

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.

DIY Spinning Top

Materials:

• 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

Instructions:

• Cut dowel rods to create handles. For ease of spinning, I found cutting a 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 and adjust dowel to have a 1/3”-2/3” ratio above and below the top.
• Glue into place

How to Get Involved

Readers can check out the Operation Christmas Child website. There they will find shoebox stories, information on how to pack a shoebox gift, find the nearest drop-off location, have free resources sent to them, and more! You can even friend Operation Christmas Child on Facebook.

If you would like to hear more about my personal adventures as the #CrazyShoeboxLady, you can visit my blog and click on “Shoebox 1K.” I’m also on Facebook!

How do you like to get in the spirit of giving around the holidays? Let us know below in the comments!

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Craft Paper Scissors is a creative hub for DIY enthusiasts, devoted hobbyists, casual crafters, and serious artists. Known as a crafter’s paradise, Craft Paper Scissors features craft advice, tips and tricks, tutorials, round ups, and inspiration in your favorite arenas: holiday crafts, wedding crafts, paper crafts, kids’ crafts, jewelry crafts and more.

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