How I Made a Simple Solar Carousel for My Kids - Solar Merry Go Round Toy

My kids wanted a carousel toy.

So I suggested that we could build one of our own.

And guess what!!! They got super excited that they made me motivated to make that project.

Here is how we built this solar powered carousel toy from recycled materials from our home.

I hope you like it.

Here is my Channel on Youtube:

AeroArduino

Step 1: Collect Materials and Tools

Materials

All materials are recycled or reused from other stuff around home.

Geared Motor. This is the main rotor and hub for the carousel.

I got this one a broken LED lamp that rotates slowly making colorful lights.

You can use any 3 volt motor. You can buy it or take it from an old toy.

Old CD. This is the carousel rotor.

I have many of them and sure you do.

Thread

Horses. My kids gave them to me to put them.

Solar panel. I used it to power the carousel and teach my kids some facts about renewable energy.

Amazon , eBay

Battery. First I used a 9 volts battery to test the motor and its speed.

Some plastic pieces.

Tools

Crocodile clips

Amazon , eBay

Glue gun

Step 2: Driver Motor

In the big plastic cap I made a small hole to put the motor shaft through it.

I installed the motor and secured it.

Then I installed a small plastic cap on the motor shaft using the glue gun.

Step 3: Carousel Hub

Using the glue gun I installed the thread on the CD and then tightened the two horses.

I then installed the CD on the small plastic cap Now we have a carousel. It's time to test it.

Step 4: Test

We attached the two crocodile clips to the motor terminals and then to the battery to test the motor.

It works fine. My kids also knew how they could change carousel direction of rotation by changing the polarity of the battery.

We then attached the small solar panel to the crocodile clips and we now got a solar powered carousel toy.