Our elf has opened a very small fairground ride. The passengers are ready, although he has requested “Slow spins please.” 🎠
A wooden kitchen turntable is doing the hard work, with paper stars around its edge.
This easy elf idea gives the elf and a couple of toy friends their own miniature merry-go-round.
What you’ll need:
- One official Elf on the Shelf doll (paid link)
- A stable kitchen turntable or lazy Susan
- Two small toy friends
- Cardboard seats, building blocks and paper decorations
Setup:
Put the turntable on a level surface and check that it turns smoothly. Make simple L-shaped cardboard seats and reinforce them with blocks, keeping each passenger supported. Arrange your elf and two small toys around the platform, facing outwards. Add paper stars near the edge and a short paper flag on a blunt cardboard post in the centre, if you like. Leave the turntable completely still overnight and place the “Slow spins please” note outside it. In the morning, an adult can give the platform a gentle turn while the children watch their toy passengers go round. Move the ride to the floor for play and stop if any seat begins to slide. The decorations are homemade additions, rather than parts of the kitchen turntable, so you can use whatever colours suit your scene.
Use what you have:
Set the seats on a large flat cardboard circle instead. It makes a convincing stationary fairground display, and an adult can turn the circle slowly by hand on the floor. You do not need a motor, special toy mechanism or a full-size ride for the joke to work.
Try the toy-car wash or the tiny limbo party for another elf scene.
