Kite Festival Home Crafts

Click here to access the above Lift Off: A Waterfront Kite Festival coloring sheet.

Follow the steps below to create your own DIY Fish Kite, courtesy of Private Picassos.

Materials:

• Large sheet of thin paper (can be white paper, butcher paper, even wrapping paper!)
• Scissors
• Drawing materials (markers, colored pencils, oil pastels, crayons, etc.)
• Hole punch (or use scissors to make a hole)
• Yarn, string, ribbons, even an old shoelace will work!
• A stick or dowel

Procedure:

• Draw a fish as big as you can on your paper!
• Cut out your fish (you can make more than one) and color

• Punch a hole in the top of your fish(es) and a few at the bottom
• Tie a piece of yarn or string through the hole at the top and tie to your stick
• Tie yarn or strings to the bottom holes and let them hang



Bring your kite outside, hold onto the stick and let it fly in the wind!

CREATE A MINIATURE ORIGAMI KITE OR WINDMILL!



Materials Needed

• Origami Paper or any other paper you have around your house. You can use colored paper, wrapping paper, foil, etc. Make sure it is cut into a square with all sides the same length.
• Tape
• String
• Toothpick for windmill

Origami Kite: Version 1, Easy

*Make sure you start with a square piece of paper (ex. 5×5 inches), a long piece of string, and tape.

 



Step 1. Start with the colored side facing down. Fold the square paper in half.

 



Step 2. Open the paper back up, so that the colored side is still facing down. Now fold the the left and right top corners down to the middle.

 



Step 3. Flip the paper over so the colored side is now on top.

 



Step 4. Fold the top left and top right corners down to the middle again.

 



Step 5. Rotate the paper 180 degrees, so the point is now facing down.

 



Step 6. Flip the paper over again. The two bottom edges should be folded in towards the middle. Now fold the top left and right corners to the middle. Insert the shorter end into the larger one and press down (this will hold the folds together).

 



Step 7. You’re almost done! Open up the bottom folds slightly and tape your piece of string inside. You can also tape the top folds so they stay down easier.

 



Step 8. Flip the paper back over. Voila! A miniature kite.

 

Origami Kite: Version 2, Easiest

*Make sure you start with a square piece of paper (ex. 5×5 inches), a long piece of string, and tape.

 



Step 1. Start with the colored side facing down. Fold the paper in half with the point facing up. Fold the left and right corners into the middle.

 



Step 2. Open the folds back up slightly and tape your string to the inside. You can tape the fold to make it stay more easily.

 



Step 2. Flip the paper over. Congratulations — you’re done!

 

Origami Windmill: Harder

*Make sure you start with a square piece of paper (ex. 5×5 inches), a toothpick, and tape.

 



Step 1. Start with the colored side facing down and flat edge along the top. Fold in half. Rotate 90 degrees and fold in half again.

 



Step 2. Rotate the paper 45 degrees so the point is facing up. Fold in half. Rotate 90 degrees so the other point is facing up, fold in half again.

 



Step 3. Open the paper. It should look like the above.

 



Step 4. Rotate the paper 45 degrees, so flat edge is along the top. Fold the bottom edge up to the middle and unfold. Repeat on all sides.

 



Step 5. Open the paper. It should look like the above.

 



Step 6. Turn the paper over and rotate 45 degrees, so that the point is facing up. Fold all four corners to the center.

 



Step 7. When you are done with the above step, it should look like this image above. Open the paper back up and flip it over, so that the colored side is facing down.

 



Step 8. Now pinch all corners into the center. This might take a bit of trial and error. The easiest way is to pinch in the middle point along the flat edges towards the enter.

 



Step 9. Fold each corner down so that they go in the same direction. This might take a bit of trial and error.

 



Step 10. You’re almost done! Stick a small piece of tape or glue a small square of paper to the very center of the windmill. Stick a toothpick through the middle. Now try blowing from the side. The windmill should spin!

 

Bonus Activity!

After you’ve created your miniature kites and windmills, tape them to hidden locations around your house for a fun game of “kite hide and seek”.