There never are enough old spools. We used to make all kinds of stuff out of them when I was a kid. The neighbor man used to carve notches all the way around the spool - both ends. He made toys like that first picture:
http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/toys/toys.htm If you put them on a window it makes a horrible noise - the old neighbor used to do that, too - to scare his wife. Kind of reminds me of a few QB members... not naming names though... We made little men out of the old spools, too.