Make a Box shaped work of art and watch it soar in the sky.Building and flying kites is fun for kids of all ages. Download <http://media.rd.com/dynamic/19/91/34/Make%20a%20Box%20kite.pdf> Kite for Kids project PDF.
These kites are constructed with 6mm timber dowels, called spares, with short lengths of plastic tube for flexible joints. The sails are made of Tyvek, a light, moisture-resistant, tough and inexpensive material. It's easily decorated with paint or felt-tipped pens and doesn't tear easily. Find Tyvek at hobby shops and speciality kite suppliers such as Kite Magic (www.kitesite.com.au), along with kite flying lines on plastic handles. The tails are made of lengths of nylon ribbon. This design flies well in moderate winds. Run into the wind to launch the kite and add a tail to the spar where the line connects if it needs extra stability. STEP 1 Cut out and decorate Cut two 1200 x 320mm rectangles of Tyvec and divide into quarters with a pencil and decorate. Cut the spars with a handsaw. TIP: Make sun designs using marker pen outlines, with poster paint infill, decorating with glitter or streamers. STEP 2 Make the connectors Cut 40mm lengths of 6mm PVC tube with a utility knife. Cut 75% through to make right-angles, bending the tube back, sliding one end of the split tube down so it exits via the slot. The remaining section is a coupling for another spar. STEP 3 Position the long spars Lay the sails face down, position the PVC connecters 150mm from the ends of the spars, with the spars across each quarter. Fold the sails under and tape the ends to form two boxes with the spars connecting them. STEP 4 Attach the cross spars Feed the cross spars into the PCV tube, fitting one end into a connector, flexing the other into the diagonally opposing connector, and repeating with each cross spar to fully stretch the kite open. STEP 5 Finishing the kite Attach the kite flying line to any one of the spars where it enters the sail. For balance add a tail to the opposite end of the same spar. TIP Flex the second spar to make both spars fit. Do you have a favourite design that you made when you were a kid and enjoyed making and flying your kite, then let us know how it all went together. Ray [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
