How The Little Kite Learned to Fly

 How The Little Kite Learned to Fly

by Katherine Pyle

"I never can do it," the little kite said,

As he looked at the others high over his head;

"I know I should fall if I tried to fly."

"Try," said the big kite; "only try,

Or I fear you never will learn at all."

But the little kite said, "I'm afraid I'll fall."

The big kite nodded: "Ah, well, good-by;

I'm off "; and he rose toward the tranquil sky.

Then the little kite's paper stirred at the sight,

And trembling he shook himself free for flight.

First whirling and frightened, then braver grown,

Up, up, he rose through the air alone,

Till the big kite looking down could see

The little one rising steadily.

Then how the little kite thrilled with pride,

As he sailed with the big kite side by side.

While far below, he could see the ground,

And the boys like small spots moving round.

They rested high in the quiet air,

And only the birds and clouds were there.

"Oh, how happy I am," the little kite cried;

"And all because I was brave, and tried."

How to make a paper pinwheel

Illustrations of pinwheels

       No mechanical toy is more interesting to make, nor more interesting to watch in operation, than a miniature windmill. It is a very simple toy to construct, and the material for making one can usually be found at hand, which are two reasons why nearly every boy and girl at one time or another builds one.

       The Paper Pin wheel shown in Fig. i is one of the best whirlers ever devised. A slight forward thrust of the stick handle upon which it is mounted starts it in motion, and when you run with the stick extended in front of you it whirls at a merry speed.

        A piece of paper 8 or 10 inches square is needed for the pinwheel. Fold this piece of paper diagonally from corner to corner, both ways. Then open the paper, and with a pair of scissors cut along the diagonal creases, from the corners to within J inch of the center (Fig. 2). Next, fold corners A, B, C, and D over to the center, as shown in Fig. 3, run a pin through the corners and through the center of the sheet Fig. 2. - Diagram for Paper f paper, drive the point of this pin into the end of the stick handle, and the pinwheel will be completed.

pinwheel pattern

Decorate with pinwheels

Craft your very own butterfly kite!

My teacher's sample kite. This would look even nicer
with a black background I think.

     Children love to craft kites in May and I love to design templates for them use for these playful activities. Below I have included two of my own butterfly designs. Here is also an additional link to a similar project that you can watch on a video and here is also a similar butterfly kite project from mothergoose.com

Supply List:

• Printed copies of my butterfly patterns provided below
• wooden skewers (clip off the tips)
• long straws
• scissors
• white school glue
• masking tape
• a variety of bright magic markers
• crepe paper streamers (any color)
• stapler

Step-by-step Instructions:

1. Download, and print the butterfly patterns included below. You may need to enlarge these a bit more in a Word Doc by pulling a corner of the jpg. to the edge of the document's screen.
2. Color the butterfly kite prints with bright magic markers.
3. Fold the butterfly's body in half at the dotted line.
4. Fold out apart from the first fold each butterfly wing. 
5. Inserted inside the first fold a long straw. Apply a generous amount of white glue to this crease. 
6. Insert your kite string through the drawn circle (hole) behind the straw by pricking through the paper with the tip of your scissors. This straw will give your kite strength. Tie a knot with the string and include the amount of length that will allow a small child to fly the kite perhaps no more than five yards above his or her head.
7. The backside of your kite should include a wooden skewer pasted horizontally to the top edge of the kite. I glued mine down and then taped over it in order to reinforce my kite's strength. This is the detail that will actually insure your kite's ability to fly. Be sure to clip off the pointed tips of the skewer before gluing it down to the backside of the kite. You don't want any young students poking each other with the tips during the assignment.
8. Staple on some colorful crepe paper "tails" in whatever color pleases your students.

Far left, As you can see, the butterfly's body is folded in half at the dotted line and then the wings are folded out apart from the first fold. Inserted inside the first fold is a long straw. It is held in place with white glue. Next, Although I have colored the butterfly's body, I have left the hole white so that you may see that the kite string should be tied off here, behind the straw. Insert the string through this hole and behind the straw. The straw will give your kite strength. Center, The backside of your kite should include a wooden skewer pasted horizontally to the top edge of the kite. I glued mine down and then taped over it in order to reinforce my kite's strength. This is the detail that will actually insure your kite's ability to fly. Far right, Staple on some colorful crepe paper "tails" in whatever color pleases your students.

Two butterfly kite patterns for young students to assemble and color.

Click directly onto the image in order to download the largest possible file size.

My young students enjoyed coloring their butterfly kites with bright colored markers.

I assembled the kites ahead of time for these little ones so that the only work they would
need to do would be to color in their butterflies and staple on the crepe paper tails.

Find More Spring Butterfly Crafts Here

Spring Kite Ideas for Classroom Teachers

       Kites are not only interesting playthings, but they were also once used in meteorological observations, in carrying messages, in photographing landscapes and, to a considerable extent - in advertising. Even today, it is not uncommon to see over a large outdoor assembly, a number of kites bearing advertising banners on their strings.

       Kites have been known since earliest times and in certain countries are still a very popular amusement among children and hobbyists. In Japan kites strong enough to lift a man were made over 600 years ago, in order to spy out the force of an enemy in times of war. Not only the youths of Japan but the adults, also, enter into kite-flying with great zest, and some of the kites themselves are beautiful and elaborate productions, decorated with the highest art. In China the kite-flier often has a number of kites in the air at once, all attached to a common string, and the greatest skill and patience are necessary to keep them separate or disentangle them when they have been blown together by a strong wind. Fish, butterflies, dragons and birds are imitated in kites by the skillful Chinese, and many of these peculiar forms have found their way into the hobby and toy stores of the United States.

Artifacts & Art for enhancing kite and flight lesson plans From this blog:

• Craft your very own butterfly kite! - two free patterns by kathy grimm
• How the little kite learned to fly... - poem by Katherine Pyle
• Air Transportation Silhouettes - hot air balloons and early airplanes
• Kites On High by Robert Louis Stevenson - poem
• Color by Number Kite - for little ones learning their numbers and colors

More Kite Crafts for Kids:

• Bust boredom with these mini paper kites
• Contact paper confetti kite
• In the art room: first grade koinobori for children's day!  
• Simple bird kite from construction paper
• brown paper bag kites
• Kite banner craft with drinking straws
• Kid's kite craft tutorial
• DIY Sankranti kite craft
• Olive The Owl Kite Crafts
• Make miniature bird kites
• Kite plans
• Kite kits
• Make your own DIY kite with beautiful Autumn leaves

Kite Bulletin Board Ideas:

• Kite bulletin board at Christian school
• 3D Kites bulletin board from Gloria Weaver
• Escaping kites bulletin board
• Hand print flowers and kites bulletin board
• Flying High With God's Word

Kite Themed Displays, Activities Etc For The Classroom:

• Food Group Kites
• Flying High With Poetry
• Narrative Writing Diamond Freebie
• Spring Shapes Kite Glyph for Math and Literacy Fun
• My Kite Booklet
• Kite Fact Families
• Kites Go To School
• National Kite Month (Every April)
• Miniature Kites

Kite Designs and Kites In Flight On Video:

• Sophie's World: Paper Bag Kites
• How to make a paper kite
• Japanese Kite Festival at Seal Beach
• Kite Festival in Cervia, Italy
• How to make a paper kite that flies in five minutes
• How To Make a Paper Kite - from eHowArtsAndCrafts
• How to Make a Kite in 5 Minutes
• How to make a Tetrahedral Kite
• Box Kite Construction
• Sled kite construction
• Dragon kite construction
• Ancient China - Kite Making
• How to make a Tibetan fighter kite
• The coolest kite ever! Kool Kite
• Kite Aerial Photography
• KiteLife Video Archives

Kite History:

• Kite History
• World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame

Kite Organizations:

• List of Kite Clubs (maintained by Troy Gunn)

More Kite Themed Lesson Plans:

• Education World - Kite Lesson
• The names of the parts of a kite

Magazines and Newsletters for Kite Enthusiasts:

• Stunt Kite Quarterly
• For periodic newsletters AKA

The Science and Math of Kites:

• The forces on a kite
• Lift is debated
• Newton's First Law applied to kites
• Interactive kite modeler

How to Properly Fly a Kite:

• Kite Flying 101
• Learn to Fly Kites
• Kite launch and flight
• Dual-line kite tricks

Blogs:

• Gkites blog here

     (I will be restoring and building a new kite index here during the month of September, 2024. Maintaining backlink indexes such as this one requires much time and effort. This listing has needed updating too often in my opinion . . . 

      Since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, many folks have abandoned and/or neglected their webpages. 

       I thought some of you might be curious as to just how many changes have taken place over a brief interval of four years. So I will show my progress as I work to restore what has been lost. 

       There are more young students on the web than ever; if any webmasters are interested in helping to restore this topic for children, please upload materials to your webpages for them!)

Today, I remove dead links... I have lost a total of 74 active links since the last update!