How to Make a Kite

A quick and easy box-kite with only a single spar. All the materials you need can be recycled from your local supermarket or burger joint. My local supermarket sells fresh pies in flat-bottomed bags, and takeaway bags also work well.

Step 1 You will need...

A clean, flat-bottomed bag, a bamboo skewer, thread, and a carrier bag for tail material. Scissors and glue or sticky tape would also be useful.

If the bag is small enough, you could use a straight take-away straw instead of the skewer.

If the bag is wider than one straw, use two linked together:

Cut a straight slit about 5cm along each straw. They will fit together cut-to-cut, and the joint can be fixed with a single wrap of sticky tape.

Comments

[rimar2000]

40 years ago (or so) I did a "flying cylinder". It flew awesomely, I suppose this your is equally efficient, and a lot easier.

But here are a serious epidemic of a disease that causes children and young people prefer watching football on TV to fly a kite...

[colorex]

Honor to your name.

[Johnte]

I made one and it worked brilliantly!!!

[Kiteman]

Cool - any chance of a photo?

[-insertnamehere-]

nice kite, it's windy today, so i think I'll build it!

[Kiteman]

Cool - how about posting a photo?

[-insertnamehere-]

well, by the time i got around to making the kite, the wind stopped :( (stupid Colorado weather)... Anyways, I found an easy fix for that! I strapped the kite to the back of my bike and headed off. I didn't get very far. When I rounded the turn from my driveway to the road, my kite got stuck around the mail box and the thread ripped in half. once i got around the mailbox though, flying was great! I didn't get much lift, because the thread was half the length as before...It's hard to take pictures behind you while riding a bike...but they turned out OK :) BEWARE OF THE MONSTER KITE! :)

[Kiteman]

That is a cool kite - I really like the fangs.

[DELETED_boogos]

(removed by author or community request)

[Kiteman]

Go on then.

[tarasamimi]

mille fois merci encore :D

[Kiteman]

Vous êtes les bienvenus.

[Hetzau]

When you say cut four metre-long tails, do you mean cut 4 tails that are 1 metre long or cut tails that are 4 metres long? I'm a bit confused about that part. I need one of those bags now...

[Kiteman]

It's 4x1m. Sorry, should have made that clearer. If you use very light tails (like video cassette tape) you can make them much longer if you want.

[cowscankill]

OH SNAP. KITE MAN MADE A KITE. LOL anyway, this is cool, and i have some ideas for mine, if i make one. do you really need 4metre long tails? they always seem too long for me. on my last kite, it needed 6 foot tails, and i used like 3 feet. so, can i use smaller tails on my kite? or is it best to have a long length?

[Kiteman]

I used very light, smooth tails, so they needed to be longer. It also depends on wind conditions, and what sort of look you're going for. This is a small, anonymous kite, so it needed long tails to show up.

[littlechef37]

I KNEW YOU MADE THIS INSTRUCTABLE..... lol

[macrumpton]

You can even make these without the stick by rolling the bottom front edge of the bag 2 or 3 times around a pencil, then tape (or glue) the tube you have made and remove the pencil. You will have to trim the other front edges flush with your "tube"

[Kiteman]

Good idea - thanks.

[fingers]

step by step photos would help me out a lot..thanks

[Kiteman]

I'll add it to my long "to do" list, but if I'm honest it's a long way down.

[changeable fate]

Bleeding fantastic! I reckon even the five-year-olds in my class at school could do this. Thanks.

[Weissensteinburg]

That seems like a pretty simple thing to do on a boring Saturday..thanks :D