March is often said to come “in like a lion, out like a lamb.” In New England we can expect windy weather and storms this month. Do you know what causes wind? Air flows in currents from cool to warm areas. As the sun warms different parts of the planet, cooler air moves toward the warm air, which creates gusts of wind and often storms. A fun way to harness the power of the wind is to fly a kite. Create your own mini tissue paper kite you can fly just by walking quickly!
Supplies
- Paper
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Tissue paper
- Thin cardboard (paper towel tubes work well)
- Thread
- Tape
Instructions
To make a kite template:
Step 1: On the regular paper, draw a 2 ½-inch square with the ruler and find the center by making an X from corner to corner.
Step 2: Measure and mark 1 inch from a corner towards the center point. Draw a line from this point to each of the closest corners. This should result in a wide diamond shape.
Step 3: Cut out the diamond shape. This is your kite template!
To make the kite:
Step 1: Trace the kite template onto a sheet of tissue paper and cut it out.
Step 2: Cut two thin strips of cardboard to be the crossbars of your kite.
Step 3: Use small pieces of tape to attach the ends of each bar to the corners of the kite.
Step 4: Tie a 24-inch piece of thread around the center of the crossbars.
Step 5: Create a long tail for your kite with a ¼-inch strip of tissue paper. The tail should be at least the full length of the piece of tissue paper. Tape the tail to the bottom corner of your kite.
To fly your kite, hold the end of your thread and swing your arm in figure 8 motions or walk around a room in large circles. You can also take the kite outside on a quiet day. Be careful though, a truly windy day will likely take your kite far away!
Explore more of our Drop-in Art Activity video tutorials on our YouTube channel.
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