The Lesson:
- Read book, Have Fun Molly Lou Melon , by Patty Lovell
(imagination to make toys out of recycled materials)
- Show a kite to students. “It would be more fun if we had a kite for
everyone to go outside and play with.” Refer back to book’s message
of using everyday materials to make toys and inform students they will
design and build their own kite to fly.
- Teacher will introduce aerodynamic force (lift, drag, weight, thrust,
and shape). Emphasize that these forces need to maintain balance for a
kite to fly.
- Students will look at the materials available to them and design their
kite on graph paper before building it.
- Students will fly their kite and modify kite as needed.
- Students will add notes about force and wind on the same paper as
their kite design.
Extension: Students will write a How To Fly a Kite pamphlet to
explain the science of flying kites to hand out to students of other
grade levels.