Let's Go Fly a Kite!

[igglepiggle]

Hi all! We're doing an 'Up, Up and Away' topic at the moment and it's proving to be lots of fun. The 2 year old who comes to me was looking through some photographs I'd had printed of different kites today. I got the impression he didn't know what one was, so when we picked his big brother up from school this evening we took the cheap kites I have and went to fly them. It was fab - such fun and I got a workout! Anyway, X loved it and I was thinking about trying to make our own kites tomorrow - in my head, we'd use finger paints and glitter etc to decorate a cut out bin liner and then tie string and voilà a kite is born! I can hear you all laugh now. I'm not the most DT oriented person!!! I realise after a bit of research this evening that they are very hard to make and far over a 2 year old's head! I really want to do some sort of kite/flying machine construction activity with him tomorrow and wondered (hoped....) if anyone has any bright ideas for us. The simpler the better. Good luck with your challenge!!!

[LisaMcNally09]

My ds and dd go to a church schoopl and we had to make kites for them to take for Ascension day last year.

They dont have to be hard to make. My dd was only just 3 at the time and she managed to help. I got A cheap kite and took it to bits for the frame. I then cut out a binliner into the correct shape to go over the frame and then the kids decorated it themselves.

Voila!!!!!

And it flew aswell!

hth

[Cammie Doodle]

Why not get a hoop and tie lots of coloured stips to it, so when he runs around they (the stips) flutter behind him. It will make noises too if you use plastic ie cut up coloured bin liners.

[igglepiggle]

2 great ideas - thanks!!! I sometimes lack not the creativity but the engineering(ivity)!!! Will have a sit down tonight and see what I dome up with !!!

[loocyloo]

a supermarket plastic bag with the bottom cut off, and string tied through the handles makes a very simple 'tube kite/windsock' you can stick strips of plastic bags to the bottom to flutter in the wind.

have fun xxx

[igglepiggle]

Thanks for all your ideas! I kind of combined them all. I used metal coat hangers to create a ring and then taped a plastic bag to the ring to create a windsock and attached a piece of string. I then gave it to X and we worked together to attach loads of streamers made out of ribbon and different strips of plastic bags. We had so much fun in the garden flying it and my own 1 year old also got involved by crawling manically up and down the garden chasing X and the kite! Thanks for the ideas xx

[Cammie Doodle]

Glad it went well. I sometimes think we use too many elaborate items , keeping it simple seems the best. Children have had more fun in cardboard boxes than with the expensive toys/ equipment that arrived in it lol