Make a kite!

Make a kite!

How high can you fly a kite?

What you need:

  • Plastic bags
  • Bamboo skewers / dowel
  • Scissors
  • String

How to:

Remember to ask an adult for help with scissors.

1. Put the bamboo skewers in a cross on top of a plastic bag. Tie the bamboo skewers securely together with string.


2. Cut the plastic bag into a diamond shape.

3. Tie the ends of the bamboo skewers onto the plastic bag with string.


4. At the bottom of the diamond shape, tie a long length of string to make the tail.

5. Cut a plastic bag into strips. Tie the strips onto the tail.


6. Cut an even longer length of string. Tie one end to the place where the bamboo skewers cross. Hold on to the other end of the string when you fly your kite.

Now fly your kite!

Try running with your kite - does this help it fly? How high can you fly your kite?

Try making a kite with a shorter tail. What happens? A tail makes the kite heavier, but it can also make the kite fly on a straighter path. Does your tail make the kite fly better or worse?

It needs to be a little bit windy. Wind causes lift. Lift pushes the kite upwards. Gravity pushes the kite downwards. Your kite will only fly it the upward force, lift, is greater than the downward force, gravity.


Never fly a kite close to pylons and over head cables - check with an adult if you are not sure that it is safe for lift off.

Curriculum information

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