Kids Love Kites!

Kites:  (Pipas, Papagaio)

What kid doesn't enjoy holding a string with a kite flying high in the air attached to it?

Last year my family gathered together for our summer vacation in Duck, NC.  We visited the Wright Brothers' National Memorial to learn about the first powered flight.   An activity the park service had for the children was to construct and fly a simple kite.
Remembering that experience, I thought it may be a great idea to bring the materials needed with me to Sao Paulo and have some of the children construct and fly kites.  I looked into how to make that type of kite that was used at the Wright Brothers' National Monument.
Turns out, they used a design called a Sled Kite.  It is a simple design and takes almost no effort to fly.  What could be more disheartening to a young child than to construct a kite and have to run and run and run just to have their creation drag on the ground.  Tears for sure!
There are all kinds of ways mentioned on the Internet for making a simple sled kite.  One involves a piece of plain copier paper, two drinking straws, scotch tap and string.  However, the resulting kite is very small.
What I found was a company that sells kite kits.  The kit has all the major materials to construct 20 kites.  You can choose from 3 different designs, including......sled kites!  The kite itself is made of white plastic.  The kit materials come packed in a 4 inch cardboard tube with the plastic rolled up on the outside of the tube.  A neat idea and ready to pack!  So I ordered 3 kits, and shopped for scissors and tape.

The website for the kite kits is: http://www.kitesonaroll.com/

For all you technical science geeks, here is a link to NASA's explanation on what makes a kite fly: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/kiteaero.html