To meet the challenge, planes have to get to the end of the track while staying between the strips of tape. So, we created a track on the floor with masking tape. Others, though made a very good point when they noted that a plane that had just flown headlong into a brick wall wasn’t really in any condition to do anything else. Demolition derby fans really liked that, and put a lot of energy into crashing and destroying their paper creations. In the past I would hang a target on the wall and the challenge was to fly the plane into the target. Once a plane has been completed and its flight capabilities have been demonstrated successfully in a marked off flight zone, where it merely has to show that it can fly, pilot and plane move on to the first official challenge – controlled flight. Program participants often divide themselves up of their own accord and work together, or even form friendly teams.īack to the challenges… As I mentioned, they are simple. I’ve worked hard to create a space where all are welcome and all are respected, and as a result there is more of a friendly, cooperative atmosphere and less self-consciousness and fear. I’ve gotten the impression that kids today don’t spend as much time turning their notebook paper into blue-lined air forces as we did when I sat in those hard wooden desks…įor those who are clearly novices, I step in and offer to assist if another participant doesn’t do so ahead of me. As mentioned before, they have to create a flying paper plane. The challenges to the paper pilots are simple, but not necessarily easy. Although there is almost always someone in the group who makes the argument that a paper wad meets those criteria, it’s usually a short-lived argument, and its proponent is soon at a work table studying the pattern books and busily folding plane designs chosen to meet the challenges. Functioning means that it flies and that there is some degree of control over the flight or predictability about what it will do and where it will go. The activity is simple – fold functioning paper airplanes and complete some challenges.
Was it a fast flier, a high flier, or a trick flier?Īre they aware that there are world record paper airplanes? For this question I like to be up to date, so I check ahead of time to make sure I have my facts and planes (if possible) ready.Ħ9.14 m/226′ 10″ on Februdesigned and built by John Collins, and launched by Joe Ayoobįor anyone who is curious, there are 32 more records associated with paper planes listed on the Guinness Record site
How many people in the group have ever folded a paper plane? I begin the program by gathering the group for a very short discussion about paper planes. Usually, though, folks are so focused on designing, folding, debating, training, and flying, that they don’t get around to the decorating. Just in case pilots are feeling artistic, I have markers, crayons, and colored pencils on hand. Having a paper recycling receptacle for the fallen, crashed, and stepped upon makes clean up go a lot faster. A roll of masking tape comes in really handy, too. All I need are a pile of regular copier paper, a pile of copier paper cut into squares, 2 – 4 large pieces of bulletin board paper with giant targets drawn/painted on them, and the books we’ll be using on display in the “engineering and design area,” ready to be thumbed through, studied, and used. One of my most popular programs is also the least expensive and easiest to set up.
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