Marvellous Mammandurs

The Mammandur is a spinning top that was played with by Aboriginal children of Awngthim, Weipa in Queensland.
Traditionally the mammandur was made from beeswax and a stick. It was spun by rubbing the stick between two palms or by using the thumb and middle finger to twist it.
We made our own mammandur out of wooden sticks and play dough. We made a circular disc from the playdough and pushed the skewer through the middle of the circle. We discovered that it worked best if we put a little bit of play dough under the disc so it didn't keep falling down. We tried using different methods of spinning the mammandur.

We think it would be interesting to see a real mammandur one day. We wonder if there are other toys that were played with by Aboriginal children and if there are other spinning toys used by children in other cultures.