All we associate kites with fun, the outdoors and laughter, so let's get down to business and make a kite at home. You can propose to your children to make a kite together, either to fly it, or to decorate their room. It can also be a nice birthday gift for a friend.
This craft is quite simple, and children from 5 years old can participate, although in this case they will need you to supervise them. With this activity we will be motivating observation, quick wit, and creative potential. These are other activities and crafts that you can do with them.
Materials and first steps to make a kite
We are going to explain how to make a classic kite, in the shape of a diamond. To make it you can choose paper, or plastic. You can start making them with a sheet of paper, DIN-A4, and practice with it, as if you were making a prototype. And then move it to another material.
The materials you need are:
- Two rods of different sizes. For the kite to fly, they can be for example 40 and 60 centimeters.
- Glue, zip ties to adjust the two poles in the center and a medium thickness rope to tighten the structure.
- A canvas in the shape of a kite. This can be a plastic bag, paper, vinyl, or other material.
- A tail, which you can also make with a string and decorate it
- A roll of strong and resistant line to fly the kite, which you will wind to a handle. This handle can be, for example, a piece of wood.
Must start with the kite structure. To do this we will cross the two rods in the center, in the shape of a Latin cross, the shortest horizontally over the long one. You can put a little glue so that they do not separate, and then tighten them very tightly with the ties and the rope. Then pass a thick rope almost from end to end of each pole. You can give it a couple of turns, for a better fit, it should be taut, but not too tight. You have already made the structure, Now you have to put the canvas.
How to make and decorate a kite canvas
El canvas is the central part of the kite, that which, as we have said, in ours is shaped like a diamond. For the kite to fly we recommend that you use a 1 meter plastic bag. You can also use white paper, adhesive or newspaper. An ecological proposal is to use an old cotton t-shirt.
What to do is spread the bag, or the paper and with a marker, make the outline of the kite. Leave a little margin, about 5 cm wider. And you have already made the canvas, which you will have to fold, over the structure and glue. You can also put some glue on the center sticks.
It is better to decorate the canvas when it is trimmed, but not glued yet. The theme is free, you can make a face, different colored stripes, a rainbow, polka dots, clouds, or the animals or characters that you like the most. And to decorate it according to the material you can use markers, tempera, or simply go sticking different stickers on your kite.
And now to fly and have fun!
Although you can use the kite as a decorative element, in the room, for example, the ideal is to fly. For this we will have to anchor the line to the center of the crosshead. You have to pass the line several times and adjust it well. The difficulty with this method is that the kite will not always fly straight, but it will be able to fly.
For help the kite to be more stable in the air the tail is used. We will place it at the lower end. To decorate it you can use pieces of fabric, paper, cellophane, and make it very showy or in a single color, and that all the attention is taken by the canvas. Another idea is to put only colored ribbons.
And now yes. You already have the kite ready to fly. And something I have not said ... for a kite to take a good flight, it is better to launch it between two. One holds the structure and the other is releasing the reel.