Pinwheel (toy)

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A pinwheel Green pinwheel.jpg
A pinwheel
Traditional Bangladeshi pinwheel, made with paper and plastic

A pinwheel (or Windmill outside North America) is a simple child's toy made of a wheel of paper or plastic curls attached at its axle to a stick by a pin. It is designed to spin when blown upon by a person or by the wind.

Contents

History

A similar toy had developed independently in Polynesia (known as pekapeka or peʻapeʻa) using either coconut palm leaflets or strips of pandanus leaves; [1] [2] in colder climates like that of New Zealand (the toy also called pepepe in Māori ), phormium leaves are used. [3]

Today's most popular style of pinwheels is rooted in East Asia. The design for example is typical of a japanese origami folding technique for a pinwheel.[ citation needed ]

During the nineteenth century in the United States, any wind-driven toy held aloft by a running child was characterized as a whirligig, including pinwheels. Pinwheels provided many children with numerous minutes of enjoyment and amusement. [4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Koch, Gerd (1984). The Material Culture of Tuvalu. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific. p. 162. ISBN   9820202051.
  2. ↑ Te Rangi Hīroa (1930). Samoan Material Culture. Bernice P. Bishop Museum. p. 552.
  3. ↑ Beattie, Herries (1994). Traditional Lifeways of the Southern Maori: The Otago University Museum Ethnological Project, 1920. University of Otago Press. p. 68. ISBN   978-0-908569-79-3.
  4. ↑ Fritzinger, Terry; Fritzinger, James (19 April 2005). "Pioneering Data - A Little History of the Pinwheel (SR12)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
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