Corman and Buffy's Mini Kite

As part of Mr. Skinner's Project Future class at Escalante Middle School, we made tissue paper kites, and wrote instructions to help other people make them too!

This is an affordable, easy, high flying kite that anyone can make. Just follow the instructions, and you will have a great new kite.

For the first step of making the mini kite, you need to get your materials:

• Yellow Tissue paper
• Bamboo spars - 2mm thick
• Elmer's glue
• Scissors
• Ruler
• String

First, draw an 8 by 11 inch rectangle. Continue to cut it out until you have a 8 by 11 inch rectangle.

Begin by cutting one 10 inch skewer. Using glue and a ruler, create an even line of glue for the skewer. Place skewer and press strongly for 90 seconds. This will strengthen the design.

Cut out a 2 inch by 2 inch square and glue it over the x in the center.

For the next step, you need a design. We chose to make the word "mini" for the design of our kite. Our first kite was going to be the M. Get a color different than the color of your kite, cut out your design then glue it onto your kite and give it a few minutes to dry.

To add the dihedral flex, first you need to find string. Cut one piece of string that is 10 inches long. Next tie the string to the horizontal skewer to a point where it has a bend, but not very tight.

Get string twice the height of a single kite. Next, poke two holes in the center of the kite (one on each side of where the skewers cross) and one at the top. After that, tie the string through the two holes in the middle then to the top. You should now have a right triangle. Now, add a loop at the top. If you add string to the loop, your kite should fly.

Make 3 more kites that spell out "ini" to complete the "mini" kite design.

Get a long skewer and put all the kites aligned onto the skewer. (put the side of the flex on the skewer.) Next, cut small pieces of string and use them to tie together where the kite skewers meet the big skewer.

Cut a string about the length of the full kite then connect it to both ends of the skewer, creating a rainbow shape.

Tie the bridals from the "ni" and the "mi" together. Next, tie the now two bridals together into another bridal. Cut out a string the length of the two bridals. Next, tape it to them. Using your roll of sting, tie a knot in the middle of the string. Put two piece of string on either side to prevent it from slipping.

Using a tightly rolled trash bag, cut off 4 1-inch ends to make 4 tails for the kite. Tape each side of the tail to an individual kite. All kites should have a tail. Tape the sides of the tails together to make it into one large tail. You're done.

Your kite should now be done. Happy flying! (: