Teaching Junior Kitemakers

by Sharon Musto

The snow is thawing!!!! And it's time to gear up for National Kite Month!

I fly kites during the winter too, but I've never taken my students out to fly in winter -- until this year. By the end of the day, rosy cheeked, runny nosed, and wearing big ol' grins, they had learned how to build and fly their first trash bag diamond kites, and I learned what happens to adhesives after about 10 minutes in -20°C temperatures! Bet you can guess...

Allow me to share a few things I've learned from the kite workshops I've given (toddlers to teachers). Perhaps it will take some of the guesswork out of what you can expect if you are a teacher or group leader and planning to do some kite building and flying with your class.

There are several things you will need to consider: the age and ability of your students, whether or not you'll have assistance (will you have parent volunteers, teaching assistants?), your time frame, materials budget, available working space, where you will fly them and the type of kite to build. No matter what their age or ability level, the most important thing is to ensure students' success, in both building and flying. I strongly recommend that you build the kite yourself first. And fly it, of course. :-)

Flying's the best part. Fly where your students will be flying. If possible, choose a wide open space without too many trees or buildings around to interfere with the wind flow. Any obstruction will create turbulence, which in turn will make it more difficult to get kites flying with any degree of stability. Look for power lines...safety is paramount! And don't forget the sunscreen.

Ah, but I'm jumping ahead of things (must be the spring fever).

What's the budget situation like? Don't have one? Not a problem. It is possible to make kites for next to nothing, cost wise. A local grocery chain sells bright yellow generic trash bags -- a box of 40 for $5.00. I can get at least 4 diamond eddies or 6 sleds out of one bag. Do the math: That's two or three cents per sail. Scraps of garbage bags can be used to make tails, although I prefer buying rolls of one inch wide surveyors tape or "flagging" tape. These are available in a variety of bright colors. Convenience stores are a great source for straws (7-11 has nice long red ones), but avoid the spoon ended or flexible end kind. I use straws for small sled kites. Bamboo skewers work too, but they're a little heavier. The roll-up type of bamboo blinds, either new or used, provide hundreds if not thousands of spars for framing small kites. Wooden dowels are reasonably priced too. One 48" dowel costs around fifty cents. Add in some crochet cotton for line, recycled materials for a winder and your students will have a low -cost kite that flies beautifully!

When I give workshops, I usually bring a variety of kites for display (different types and materials). I show a short video to capture the students' attention, discuss safety rules, demonstrate the construction, review the steps, build the kites, review safety rules once more before flying, FLY!!!, then wind up the activities by sharing a favorite kite story.

For more on stories and books click here.

Young children have shorter attention spans and less developed fine motor skills. You will need to choose a design that is very simple, durable, and sure to fly, no matter how sloppily it is constructed. My favorite design for young children is the sled kite, using the yellow trash bags. I cut out the sails ahead of time and usually tie on the bridles as well. I use a template and an X-acto knife and cut on glass -- the blade moves smoothly over the glass and lasts longer. This advance preparation not only eliminates the wait-time that would occur if adults or helpers had to tie all the knots, but it also gives us more time to fly! Students are responsible for attaching the frame (straws), measuring or estimating the length of the tail, taping it on, and decorating with stickers (optional). For this kite, the frame is on the front side, facing the flier. A U-shaped tail provides the greatest amount of stability -- especially important when the kite itself is a bit unbalanced.

My next favorite kite is the flat diamond. I have had students build them with adjustable bowlines but found that, when all was said and done, kids opted to fly them flat with tails. It wasn't worth the time and trouble to include the bow. Now, when I want to demonstrate the effect of a tail or dihedral, I just bring some pre-made samples, one flat with no tail, and one with an adjustable bowline or a plastic dihedral, and a tail ready to tape onto the flat one. Again, I precut the sails and often precut the dowels (in half) as well. If I'm looking at cutting hundreds of dowels, I'll use a power saw, otherwise, hand held garden pruners are great for cutting the dowels in half. If time permits, have students do the measuring. Fiberglass reinforced tape is my favorite for attaching the dowels to the sail, over the ends, front to back. On this kite, the frame is on the BACK of the sail, the bridle is tied at the intersection and pulled through the hole in the sail to the front.

The most difficult step for kids, believe it or not, is tying the knot on the end of the bridle line. It's just a matter of holding the two loose ends together and tying a simple overhand knot. I bring two shoelaces or two lengths of heavy line in different colors to show this knot.

The other knot that's good to know is the "Larks Head" -- more of a loop than a knot -- which is used to attach the flying line to the bridle. We use a Larks Head because it holds tightly yet it's very easy to loosen and detach from the bridle. An important note about winders and line: remember to tie the line securely to the winder before winding up the line!

Another great little kite is the tissue paper kiskidee.... a fighter derivative with tails, and light enough to fly indoors. This is a more fragile kite, better suited to kids around 10 years of age and older. Framed in matchstick bamboo from blinds, this kite will not withstand being dragged across the grassy field like a plow. I usually use masking tape to attach the frame. The tissue can be decorated with other colors of tissue paper glued on, or careful use of felt markers. Artistic and older students might fold the tissue to cut out a simple pattern of shapes and glue on larger patches (same shape) of another color of tissue to achieve an applique effect.

While these are my standbys, other kites I have had success with in school settings include barn doors, tyvek box kites, "Peter Powell" stunt kite, modified edos, sewn pocket sleds, malays, della Portas...

More construction tips:
- keep tape to a minimum as it adds unnecessary weight
- attach tails to the tape used for the frame, so that it can be easily removed
- keep tape lengths as equal as possible on both sides of the spine to ensure left-right (symmetrical) balance
- if tails are attached to wings, they need to be of equal length and width on both sides to ensure symmetrical balance
- attach tails to the spine or wing tips or both, but not to the nose
- if a kite seems to favor one side (e.g., always goes to the left and then dives) add some weight to the other side... a tail, a bit of tape on the wing tip
- Water based markers will not work on plastic sails. Stickers work but in sub-zero weather, the adhesive freezes and they fall off. The same holds true for other tapes in frigid temperatures (learned that the hard way).

When giving a workshop, I make sure there are enough supplies so that students don't have to wait long for the item they need: scissors, glue, hole punches, sails, winders, line (crochet cotton is inexpensive and more environmentally friendly than synthetics), tape (approx. one roll for every 4 students), rolls of flagging tape, etc. The type of tape you use depends on the material used for the sail and type of kite. I tend to use masking tape and fiberglass reinforced tape on classroom kites. I also bring a garden pruner for cutting dowels, some sandpaper, X-acto knife, and the template in case I need extra sails.