Let’s Go Fly a Kite

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

When I taught special needs kids, each month we would do something special for those who earned enough points. One of their favorite activities was to make and fly kites in March. child-flying-a-kite small Years later, I was mainstreamed to 6th grade and the children also loved this activity. After they flew their kites, they wrote two papers, one explaining how to make a kite and the other about their experience.

I am going to show you how to make simple kites that your class will love doing.

Materials for a garbage bag kite: plastic bags, two sticks, string, a ribbon and a nice windy day.

Step 1: Take two sticks, wooden dowels, or garden stakes and put them into the shape of a cross., one horizontally and one vertically. Place the horizontal stick about a third of the way down and tie them together with a string.

Step 2: Wrap the string securely around the horizontal and vertical sticks so that they stay together.

Step 3: Cut the bag to fit the kite frame. Secure tightly by tying the ends of the bag to the frame at the tip of each dowel or stick.

Step 4: Tie string from one side of the horizontal stick to the other, make it loose so that it forms a triangle, see first picture in step #4. Tie a large ball of string to thebottom part of the vertical stick. Loop under the loose portion of the horizontal string and tie a knot then tie another knot where the horizontal and vertical strings meet. You’ll know you’ve done it right if you see a triangle shape. See 2nd image in step #4.

Step 5: Tie some colorful ribbons to the end of the kite to give it balance. If it seems flimsy , you can attach washers to the ribbons to add support.

Step 6: Voila, your kites are complete. All you need is a sunny and windy March day and some space for your kids to run with their kites. Have fun. By the way, you can have a contest to see which kite flies the highest or the best.

Another fun thing that I’ve done with the kids is to take them camping at the end of the school year, but that’s another story.