When we study wind and flight, we have lots of hands-on experiences for the children. (See all the activities for Wind and for Flight.) Here are easy ones for you to re-create at home.

Experiment: What can wind move?

We want them to notice that some things blow around in the wind and others don’t, so we put out electric fans, give them fans to wave, balloon pumps or bellows to blow air with, or straws to blow through and then challenge them to explore materials around the classroom or around their home. Can you move it with air / wind? (Make sure you tell them to put things back where they were before they blew them.)

Help them notice the qualities of what blows around and what doesn’t move. Help them notice that weight matters, but shape matters too. (If you lay a block on its side so it’s low to the ground, it’s hard to move it with air, but if it’s balanced on one end, it’s easy to knock it over. Paper may be easier to move when it’s folded into certain shapes than when it’s wadded into a ball.)

Experiment: What can float on the wind?

Try the Bobby Dropper experiment. (I learned it on Mystery Science.) Take paper from the recycling bin. Slide a bobby pin (or a paper clip) onto a flat piece of paper. Slide another bobby pin (or paper clip) onto another piece of paper then crumple the paper into a ball around the pin. Climb up high and drop both pieces of paper. Do they fall at the same speed? Is there anything different about how they fall? Then ask them to think of other things that float on the wind (leaves, snowflakes, feathers, maple seeds, dandelion seeds, plastic bags, frisbees, glider planes). Think of their shapes. How can you change the shape of a piece of paper so it is better at floating on the wind? Cut or fold the paper, test it against the crumpled ball. Tweak and repeat as many times as desired.

Paper Helicopters

Print this template.

Cut along the solid lines, and fold along the solid lines to make a “helicopter” shape. This illustration is from NASA and you can find more instructions at that link. Climb back up to your high place, and drop the helicopter – it will twirl to the ground.

Straw Glider

TLDR: Take a small strip of paper or lightweight cardstock and a wider, longer strip. Curl them into rings and tape. Tape them to both ends of a straw, with the straw on the inside of the ring. Throw like a paper airplane.

If you’re using index cards: Cut a 3×5 index card into 3 long strips. Each about 1×5. Curl one strip to make your smaller ring. Now cut another 3×5 into 2 fatter strips, each about 1.5 wide, and 5 inches long. Tape two strips together to make a 1.5×10 strip. Curl that into the larger ring.

If you’re using 8.5 x 11 paper: Cut the paper in half to make 8.5×5.5 paper. Cut each into eight strips, each ~1″x5.5″. Curl one to make a little ring. Take a second piece of paper and cut it into eight strips, each about 1.375 x 8.5. Curl one to make the bigger ring.

Make a Kite

Supplies: paper, bamboo skewer, ribbons for streamers, string, scissors, tape, hole punch.

Directions:

Make a Sailboat

Find a few corks. Rubber band them together. Find something to be a mast. Find something to be a sail. Then set the boat in water (in the bathtub, sink or plastic bin), and use a straw to blow wind a the sails and push the boat across the water. (Detailed tutorial here.)

A Resource

NASA has a really great lesson plan on Aeronautics for Pre-K. It includes book recommendations, a lesson where children make observations about things from nature that glide (from flying squirrels to maple leaves) vs. things that fly (birds, bats, planes), and crafts like paper helicopters and gliders. It ties in sink and float experiments to aeronautics and lift, making a “hot air balloon”, egg drop challenge and much more. I could develop a 4 week long unit with this resource!