Christmas Craft Activity - How to Make a Flying Christmas Tree

by Kiteman

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Intro: Christmas Craft Activity - How to Make a Flying Christmas Tree

Here's a simple Make that's a change from the traditional seasonal time-filler of making cards and decorations - at first glance it's a decoration, but really it's a flying toy.

It is also suitable for a class activity, for most age-groups from Primary to High School, depending on how you present it and how much mess you're willing to put up with.

STEP 1: What You Need

You will need:

  • a straw (School teachers: "art straws" are good here, because one straw can make two trees, and glue-stick will stick to them)
  • plain paper - white is fine, but green would save you some colouring in.
  • scissors
  • ruler
  • pencil
  • clear sticky tape
  • glue stick
  • pencils or pens to decorate the tree

STEP 2: Making the Wings, Er, Branches

The direct ancestor of the Flying Christmas Tree is the Hoopster - each "wing" is actually a loop or paper.

The exact number of wings is something of a personal aesthetic choice, but the best option is usually three. Each wing is a strip of paper approximately a centimetre wide (half an inch), varying in length from about 10cm to about 20cm. The smallest wing goes at the front, the largest at the back.

  • Now is also the time to decorate your tree. Use your chosen medium to draw on baubles, streamers and stars along the length of the strips. I strongly recommend not to add actual decorations, though, unless they are very light sequins or sticky-paper stars.
Curl each strip of paper into a circle and tape or glue the ends together.

STEP 3: Adding the Wings

I used a 20cm length of paper art straw.  To add balancing weight to the front, I folded a few centimetres over and glued it down.

The largest wing goes all the way at the end of the straw, flush, so that the tree can stand as a decoration.

The others are glued along the "trunk", so that they look pleasing you your eye.

STEP 4: Done!

The tree is now ready.

You can either keep it as a decoration, standing it in the corner of your desk, or use it for its intended purpose, and throw it overhand, like a glider than a dart.


15 Comments

macrumpton 12 years ago

I would love to have a Christmas kite. I suppose it would be easier to do as a low aspect delta rather than the concentric hoops though.

ilpug 12 years ago

I made something like this but with a two-loop design. The kids in the Applied Sciences class i assisted in loved it, and covered the room with them.

ilpug 12 years ago

Exactly.

bobsegravescollis 12 years ago

Could it be made large enough to be kite? What materials would we need?

Kiteman 12 years ago

I might fly as-is!

Tie on a thread between the top two loops, add a tail, maybe six feet of wool, see how you go.

homestuck 13 years ago

I made this in a engineering club two years ago

knektek 13 years ago

I did this in maths class :)

Kiteman 13 years ago

Really?

Dang, and I thought I'd invented them myself...

belsey 13 years ago

Nothing wrong with reinventing the wheel -- it's been done before!

knektek 13 years ago

Well, nice stuff! I thought that this was some sort of breakthrough when I did this, it looked alien!

l8nite 13 years ago

the 1st time I saw a design like this was at a YES concert in the Phildelphia Pa Spectrum... a looong looooooooong time ago, they were made from disposable cups and a couple were on fire as they drifted down from the upper tiers

V-Man737 13 years ago

Was this maybe inspired by the Christmas tree rocket?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCjHV63MQ4w