Make Paper Aeroplanes
Make paper aeroplanes that you can fly and test at home.
Make paper aeroplanes that you can fly and test at home.
In this activity, you will make planes using paper. Then you’ll test how fast and far they can fly.
All you need is paper, timer, tape measure, somewhere inside to test the plane.
20 minutes or so.
Age 4 and up.
You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:
Use a piece of A4 paper. Fold the paper in half to make a long thin rectangle. This makes a crease in the centre. Now unfold the paper.
If you want to watch how to fold the plane instead, this video might help.
Fold both top corners so that they meet the centre line.
Fold the new left and right corners to the centre line.
Fold plane in half from right to left.
Now fold one edge back out to make a wing. Use your fingernail to help make the tip as pointy as possible. Turn the plane over, then fold other wing to line up with the first wing.
The final step is to unfold the wings slightly so that it looks (a bit) like an aeroplane.
You’re ready to start testing your plane.
Put your tape measure on the floor. This is your test-flight area. It’s sensible to test the planes somewhere out of the way of other people.
Stand at one end of the tape measure. Carefully launch your plane so that it flies along above the tape measure. When the plane lands, you can then measure how far it flew. You’ll need to try a few throws to get an average distance.
You can make different size planes by using smaller rectangles of paper.
Try to predict which plane will fly furthest.
Fly your aeroplanes, and record the distance of each flight to the nearest cm.
Which went farthest? Was your prediction right?
You could ask questions like:
As your paper aeroplane glided through the air there were 3 forces acting on it: weight, drag and lift.
Weight pulls the plane towards the ground, drag slows it down as it glides through the air, and lift kept the plane in the air for longer.
Learn how to make other paper planes such as: a Star crusher plane, Spy plane, Headhunter plane.
Once you have made your planes you could test them all to see which one flew the furthest.
20 minutes or so.
Age 4 and up.
You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:
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