Paper Straw Airplane

Look what we made!

Oh - not clear?  It's an airplane!  And it is a crazy good flier.  Want to see how we did it?

First we gathered the supplies.  Each plane will need a paper straw, a strip of paper approximately 1 inch by 10 inches, a strip of paper approximately 1 inch by 5 inches, and a few pieces of tape.  We used some pretty new washi tape I picked up at Target (yes, TARGET!) but any tape should do.

I don't really have any process shot because, apparently, the paper/tape/four little hand combo doesn't mix well with process shots.  Basically, you loop each paper into a circle and secure with tape.  Then tape one end of each straw to a small circle, and the other end to a large circle.  

If you carefully line up the circles so they're taped to the same side of the straw your plane will fly nice and straight.  If you're off a little the plane tends to fly in a corkscrew pattern, which is also cool.  That was just an observation, no specific studies done.

So now that you've assembled your planes - pick your favorite...

...wind up and...toss!  We found that it's best to give them more of a gentle push into the air than a throw - they seemed to glide farther.  Again, no official study done - just our observation.

We make.  We fly.  And then we rest.

I was inspired by this post which was inspired by this post.  And this kid, of course.  He's pretty inspirational, too.