Homemade Kites

On the first day of our Aviation Unit, after talking about the history of flying, we made kites. Kites are some of the first things that humans ever flew!

Honestly, there are only about two times in my life I can remember actually having fun flying kites. (This was one of them.) I think it is just rare that I've encountered the right conditions; wind that is strong enough and steady enough to make the kite work!

Anyway, this time was no exception. The kids ran and ran and ran, and their kites sort of…floated up and bobbed a bit before crashing down. There was wind! But not enough of it, apparently. However! We could still feel the forces on the kites, and the way the wind over the top of them created lift, and that was what we were going for, so it was worth it!

And the kites were fun to make. We used these templates, which made it easy enough for all the children to make their kites themselves.