After watching an episode of Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman recently, Bluey was inspired to make his very own kite. We didn’t have the same materials as the show, but that didn’t stop us!
Tip: All you need is some paper, glue, string, structure support (cardboard, pipe cleaners, sticks), and imagination!
Bluey had a shape in mind (based on a circuit board he removed from an old printer), so we traced it out on construction paper. He wanted a certain embellishment in the middle of his kite. And after a gentle reminder about the importance of a stiff support piece for the kite to remain intact in the wind, we were ready to cut out our design.
We had a spool of twine for the string. Bluey used a hole-punch for decorated tags that he wanted to dangle from the tail. He was very proud of the knots he made to secure the paper to the tail string. We glued the tail onto the kite and we were ready to test it!
Bluey’s little kite caught the wind and fluttered about. It was a fantastic first attempt. And constructing a kite was a learning moment to discuss in simple ways the science of lift, gravity, and drag (wind). Bluey read further about these forces in his book How Things Work, and began thinking about how to modify his design.
We also took advantage of this kite activity to fly our store-bought kite, so Bluey could really see these scientific principles at work.
If you make your own kite, be sure to send us a picture. We’d love to see the range of creativity among our readers!