In this activity we are going to be making a paper aeroplane, a glider and a helicopter and comparing how they fly
For this activity you will need:
- Paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tape
- Straws
The first thing that we are going to do is make a paper aeroplane. To do this you will need a sheet of A4 paper
You will first need to fold your piece of paper in half longways, and then open it out again so that you have a fold down the centre of the piece of paper
You can now fold the top corners of the piece of paper in towards the middle of the paper, so that they meet the centre fold and form the point at the front of your paper aeroplane.
Flip your piece of paper and fold the edges of your paper towards the middle on each side so that they reach the centre fold
Fold the paper aeroplane down the centre crease and then make a fold on each side of the paper to bring the outside edge towards the middle to make the wings of the paper aeroplane.
The next thing we are going to do is make a glider. To do this you will first need to cut 2 strips of paper. The second strip needs to be double the length of the first strip of paper.
You can now take these strips of paper and glue them into loops. These loops can then be taped to opposite ends of a straw to complete the glider.
To make a helicopter you will need a piece of paper about 1/3 the size of a piece of an A4 sheet of paper. You need to make a cut, up the middle, almost to halfway up the longest half of the rectangle. We are then going to make two small cuts just below halfway approximately 1/3 of the way in towards the middle on each long side
We are then going to fold the top two pieces in opposite directions while we fold the bottom pieces in the same direction. If it is easier, you can print out and use this template
Once you have all three it is time to test them. It may be best to go outside to test them. You can test to see which fly’s the furthest or stays in the air the longest.
The helicopter, plane and glider are all made out of paper. They will fall to the ground much slower than if you were to scrunch up a piece of paper into a ball and drop it. This is because of the force of air pressure acting on the paper helps to slow the speed the aircraft falls. In real aircrafts, they have an engine that keeps pushing them through the air which is how they stay up.
The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page and YouTube Channel
