Cantilever Ferris Wheel

This summer our church will be using Lifeway's Vacation Bible School curriculum,"Colossal Coaster World." although VBS is not until July 2013, I have been working on decorations for several months now.

The first item that I have completed with the help of my husband, is a Ferris Wheel for our preschool department decorations. My husband built the cantilevered base for the wheel.

Cantilevered Base supplies:
1.) 3 ft piece of 2X4 cut at a 40 degree angle. (Actually my husband informs me the the angel cut on the arm is the radius of the wheel and the distance you want if above the ground.) This is why my engineer husband made the stand and not me.
2.) two 5/16 anchors bolts for the base and but the plastic anchors in the 2 x 4 and counter sink the screws in the bottom of the base so that it will sit flat.
3.) a 5/16 bolt, two plastic spacers and a washer and a nut)
4.) Paint, I used red semi gloss interior paint and a white primer. (After using the primer, I had to used several coats of red so that it actually looked red and not pink.) If I do this again, I will just use the red paint.

First step for the stand is to cut the 2 x 4 at a 40 degree angel, drill a hole.in the top of the 2 X 4 and then two holes in the angle of the 2 x 4 and insert a plastic anchor in each hole. Next, drill a hole in the bottom of the stand. (ours is in the left side in the center) (See picture) insert, a washer onto the screw and then through the stand and the 2 x 4, tighten. Repeat with the other screw.
As you can see from the picture above, I used primer to paint the arm and stand. After that dried I used some left over red semi gloss paint I used last year on our airplane for VBS 2012.

Supplies for the wheel:
1. One white science board
2. One color of duct tape, (I used lime green)
3. blue painters tape
4. three different colors of construction paper for center circles
5. several different colors of construction paper for the chairs (I made 16) (the pattern for the chairs is from Lifeway's VBS curriculum.)
6. brads to attach the chairs to the wheel
7. pencil, yarn, and thumb tack
8. Utility knife
9. white craft glue and tape

First, I took a science board and opened it up. I used duct tape to the seams to reinforce them. You can use a piece of insulation board found at home improvement stores. However, I had the science board and instead of spending more money, I used it.

Next, to draw a circle on the science board, I took a thumb tack and attached a piece of yarn. Then attached it to the center of the science board. Take a pencil to the other end of the yarn and use it like a compass to draw a large circle. Then using a utility knife carefully cut out the circle. I divided the wheel into 16 parts using blue painters paint. About four inches from the top I drew another circle and then put more painters tape on the circle. I then cut three different sized circles from three different colors of construction paper. Depending on how large your wheel is you want the circles to be approximately two inches bigger than the next. The smallest circle in pink is about 2 inch radius and the next, blue circle, is 4 inches, and the last is 6 inches. I did not measure anything as I made my wheel. However, if you want it more precise you probably would want to measure. Attach the circles to the wheel starting with the largest using glue.

Once the circles are attached to the wheel cut 16 pieces of blue painters tape approximately 5 inches. Then refer to the above picture for placement of the tape. They form the spokes of the wheel. Take on piece of tape and attach it at the top of the tape circle at one of the spokes that divide the wheel. The other end is attached on the opposite spoke at an angel. Do this all the way around the wheel. It will look an 8 pointed star.

Drill a hole in the center of the wheel and insert a 5/16 screw and washer through the wheel and screw into the hole at the top of the arm. Place a plastic spacer on the screw before you insert it into the 2 x 4, then place another plastic spacer on the other side of the screw and attach a washer and a nut. Tighten the screw down so the the wheel will still move as you turn it.

I made this Ferris Wheel to decorate the preschool department hallway or one of the preschool rooms during VBS. I was going to have my husband attach a small motor so that the wheel would automatically move. But since it is for preschoolers I did not want them to get hurt so we made it turn by hand.  The final step is to cut out the constructions paper chairs, tape the together, and attach them to the wheel with brads. This will allow the chairs to move as the wheel is turned. I can't wait for "Colossal Coaster World "Vacation Bible School to start this summer.  My next post will be how I made our Enter sign for our VBS.