SPINNING PLATES

    Children love to learn to spin plates! Although it is a deceptively difficult skill, students feel greatly rewarded when they succeed. It is also a skill that can be taught at any grade level, with some modifications for young children.

    The best spinning plates for school use are plastic, have a lip on the bottom surface, and a dimple in the middle. The lip enables the plate to hang on the stick, while the dimple ensures that it will spin with stability on a stick or finger.

    Here are several techniques for spinning a plate, listed order of difficulty.

1. The Easy Way: Hold the stick in the middle, with the top of the stick coming to about chest level. You should be able to look down and see the top of the stick.
Place the plate on top of the stick, with the stick in the middle.  Make a "spider" by spreading out your fingers. Put your spider on top of the plate. Use your wrist to give the plate a twist and make it spin!

2. The Hard Way - Using the Stick to Spin the Plate: Hold the stick softly at the very bottom, and point it straight up. Using the lip on the bottom of the plate, hang the plate on the stick (it will look like a big lollipop), and check to see that the stick is straight up.

• RELAX the arm and shoulder, and make sure you are not squeezing the stick. “If your knuckles are white, you’re holding too tight!”
• Slowly begin turning the top of the stick in a circle. Gradually speed up, and try to make the stick move along with the plate.
• When the plate moves quickly enough to level out, QUICKLY stop the stick in the middle. The stick will (hopefully) go in the dimple, and the plate will continue spinning on the stick.

    Another teaching aid is to show that the stick makes a cone shape when you spin a plate. The top of the stick makes a circle, but the bottom mostly stays still.

PROBLEM 1: Student holds the stick very tightly and cannot get the plate to move with the stick.

    This is the most common problem people experience when learning to spin.

• Frequently remind students to hold the stick as loosely as possible: “If your knuckles are white, you’re holding too tight!” It also helps to drop the shoulder and relax the whole arm.
• Using just the wrist, practice turning the top of the stick in a circle. Remind them that the stick should make a cone shape when they spin.

• Again, probably holding too tight. They might also be pointing the stick forward instead of straight up. Correct these errors, and check for tight arm muscles.
• The student may also be starting too fast. Coach them to begin their spin slowly, and gradually build up speed.

• Once a good spin has been established, the stick must be stopped quickly. Some students will allow the plate to slow down before stopping. The correct technique is to quickly “hit the brakes” when the plate is going its fastest. This takes practice.
• Students may try to stop in the middle too soon, before they have established their spin. Tell the student to spin their plate, but not stop until you tell them. Wait until they have made a good spin for a few seconds, then abruptly tell them to stop.

1. Throw & Catch: While the plate is spinning on the stick, toss it up a short distance. To catch, aim for the middle of the plate, and cushion it as it comes down. The throw should be straight up so you can get underneath it.

• Students usually have little trouble with the throw, but may not “give” enough when catching. This provides an opportunity to explain the concept of absorbing force.

A. Hold the stick with the hand upside down. After the throw, turn the stick over to catch with the hand now right side up.
B. Use one hand to throw and the other hand to turn over the stick and catch.

3. Spinning on a Finger: Spin the plate on the stick. Point the index finger, gently slide it up the stick, and pick up the plate. The plate will spin longer if you use the fingernail.

• Children enjoy this trick, and will want to experiment with using different fingers, and throwing and catching back and forth with the stick.

• After getting a fairly fast spin, take the plate off the stick with your fingernail.
• Bend at the waist and begin to curl your wrist down and behind you so it begins to pass under your arm. BE SURE TO KEEP THE PLATE FACING UP.
• When the plate is curled all the way behind your arm, bring it up and around while beginning to stand straight up. When done correctly, you will finish back where you started.
• Have students practice this move with a plate that is not spinning. Hold it from the bottom, and be sure that it is facing up during the move.

6. Stack Poles: These are sticks which fit together at the ends. They make it possible to spin a plate on one stick and attach it to other sticks to make a long pole with the plate on the very top.

• Spin your plate on the first stick, and be sure to give it some speed - you’ll need the plate to keep going for a while as you add more sticks.
• Quickly attach the next stick to the bottom of the first stick, making sure to keep them pointed up so the plate does not fall off.
• The plate will eventually slow down and fall off, so be ready! With practice, you will be able to build up and take down the stack poles before the plate slows down.
• It is spectacular, and not too difficult, to perform a balance with the stack poles assembled and the plate still spinning (See the Balancing section for more information on this skill).

1.  Throwing & Catching with a Partner: Begin with just one plate for two students, each of whom has a handstick. The partners should stand close together and face each other. Have them point their handsticks straight up. The thrower tosses the plate upwards, but with very little forward motion. The catcher aims for the middle of the plate and “gives” with it as it comes down on her stick.

• Be sure the thrower tosses up, and not AT the catcher.
• Throws and catches can also be done side by side, or even back to back.

3. Group Throws & Catches: Any number of students can stand in a circle, all holding a spinning plate on a stick. On signal, everyone tosses their plate up and to the right, and then catches the plate that is coming to them from the left.