What you need:
- Plastic bags
- Bamboo skewers / dowel
- Scissors
- String
How to:
Remember to ask an adult for help with scissors.
1. Put the bamboo skewers in a cross on top of a plastic bag.
Tie the bamboo skewers securely together with string.
2. Cut the plastic bag into a diamond shape.
3. Tie the ends of the bamboo skewers onto the plastic bag with
string.
4. At the bottom of the diamond shape, tie a long length of
string to make the tail.
5. Cut a plastic bag into strips. Tie the strips onto the
tail.
6. Cut an even longer length of string. Tie one end to the place
where the bamboo skewers cross. Hold on to the other end of the
string when you fly your kite.
Now fly your kite!
Try running with your kite - does this help it fly? How high can
you fly your kite?
Try making a kite with a shorter tail. What happens? A tail
makes the kite heavier, but it can also make the kite fly on a
straighter path. Does your tail make the kite fly better or
worse?
It needs to be a little bit windy. Wind causes lift. Lift pushes
the kite upwards. Gravity pushes the kite downwards. Your kite will
only fly it the upward force, lift, is greater than the downward
force, gravity.
Remember!
Never fly a kite close to pylons and over head cables - check
with an adult if you are not sure that it is safe for lift off.