I mistakenly called it a paper flier because it’s made out of paper and it flies.

But I have a lot of middle schoolers around who are ready and able at a moment’s notice to correct me.

That’s how I found out that these are called Super Ninja Throwing Stars.

There’s one kid in particular who loves Super Ninja Throwing Stars.  He figured out how to make them at our very first craft time on Monday, and he hasn’t stopped makin’ ’em yet.  In fact, on Tuesday, he asked me how many, exactly, I would allow him to make.  You should’ve seen the Christmas-morning look on his face when I told him he can make as many as he wants and that if he ran me out of paper, I’d buy more.

“Well, what if I make 100?” he said.

“Yep,” I clarified.  “You can make 100.”

“What if I make 200?” he said.

“Yep.  You can make 200.”

“What if I make 300?” he said.

“You know what?  You can make more than 400, and I won’t stop you.”

“OH MY GOSH!” he said.

“Yep,” I said.

It’s nice when all it takes it a little paper and glue to make someone’s dreams come true.

It’s also nice when a kid raises the art of enthusiasm to an entirely new level.  You should’ve seen what happened when I told him he could have unlimited rubber bands to complete his own, handmade archery bow project.  I believe I was elevated briefly to sitting at the right hand of God.  The view was awesome.

I hope he doesn’t poke someone’s eye out.

In case you want to make your very own Super Ninja Throwing Stars, here’s the recipe:

• 8 squares of paper, all the same size (I’m using 2 1/2 inch squares), any colors
• glue

Step #1 — Fold a piece of paper in half, keeping the fold line at the top, away from you, like this:

Step #2 — Fold the top right corner down to the bottom middle to make a triangle on the right side, like this:

Step #3 — Fold the bottom left corner up to the top middle to make a triangle on the left side, like this:

Notice how this gives you an “open” end and a “pocket” end.

Step #4 — Repeat steps 1-3 with each piece of paper, ’til you have 8 total.

Step #5 — Stick an open end of one paper into a pocket end of another, thusly:

Step #6 — Ignore the fact that “thusly” isn’t a word.

Step #7 — Continue puttin’ yer open ends into your pocket ends all the way around the circle,

’til you can connect piece #1 with piece #8, like this:

Step #8 — Toss a dot of glue into the pocket ends of each paper so it doesn’t come apart mid-air.  Let the glue dry (excruciating!).

Step #9 — Full arm CHUCK your Super Ninja Throwing Star as hard as you can at your friends.  Siblings probably work well as targets, too.

Excellent for disrupting classes, interrupting small group discussions, getting girls to notice you by irritating them, and generally wreaking middle-school havoc.  Enjoy!