Depending on the size of the turtle you may need a different length of wood so that's why you have to measure it by your turtle to do this take one of your turtles and lay it on the craft stick you want just a little overhang on both ends draw a pencil line and cut now your dowel is going to be your wheel so you want to cut it in thin slices now you can paint your wheels and base )or whatever you want to call it I call it the base anyways) it looks nice if you paint them contrasting when there dry you glue on your wheels and your turtle the four wheels go on the sides evenly spaced and the turtle gets put on the top of the base then you glue one end of your string to the underside of the base with the other end sticking out so you can pull it and your done!! note: the wheels do not actually spin.