One of our favorite movies these days is Mary Poppins. We tend to watch the same movie ad infinitum until the adults in the family as completely sick of it, and the child is not. At the end of Mary Poppins is the fabulous song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” and we’ve certainly been doing a lot of that these days too. A few weeks ago my daughter went to a heritage fair and built her own kite, and today at preschool she built another one. The fact that we have no wind here until later in the evening poses a bit of a problem, but we’ll deal with it.
It’s the season for wind and outdoor time. How can you build a simple kite with your preschooler? You will need some plastic, generally the lightweight kind you find in white plastic shopping bags. You will also need some duct tape and two thin dowels. Of course, you will also need string. String can be white butcher’s string or other, tougher jute cord.
Need a kite tutorial? Here are some of the best and simplest kite tutorials that I have found:
Make a basic kite.
This one is specifically for a recycled plastic bag kite.
This one is for brown paper, tissue paper, or butcher paper.
Of course, your kite doesn’t need to be the standard cross in the middle kind of kite. You can make a paper bag kite with kids by placing long string handles on a big paper bag and having the children run with the kites. You can also make a box kite or a dragon kite, although these demand a little bit more structural integrity.
When you fly your kites, make sure that you bring extra duct tape for broken bits and pieces. The children should be aware that you never fly kites near electrical wires. It’s also prudent to avoid trees if at all possible. A grassy, slightly windy field is ideal. I find that too much wind makes the kite unmanageable.