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Gliders
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Making gliders as a craft can be fun and a great way to teach students about aerodynamics. Making a glider can help you teach and help others understand how planes cut through the air like the glider and use air pressure to keep off the ground.
Foam Glider
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Refer to the NASA website (see Resources) for a perfect small foam glider plan. Buy a small, flat foam food tray. Trace or freehand the glider body, wings and tail shapes onto the foam tray. Cut out the pattern with a knife or scissors. Sand any rough edges smooth with fine-grit sand paper. Cut out the wing slot and glider tail slot on the glider's main body piece (don't cut the slots too big; the wing and tail must fit in the slots tightly). Push the wings through the middle slot on the main glider body. Push the tail through the rear slot on the main glider body. Grab with your thumb and index finger under the wings and toss the glider. If the glider doesn't glide well, add paper clips to the nose of the glider until it does.
Paper Gilder
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Take a standard 8 1/2-by-11 inch piece of paper and fold it in half lengthwise. Grab a corner on the open sheet side of the paper and fold it down to create a small 45-degree triangle on both sides of one end of the halved sheet of paper. Fold each half of the sheet on top of this triangle to create a smaller-nosed glider. Fold each wing on each side on top of itself again to create a tight triangle wing and a smaller-nosed glider yet. Flatten the wings up to create the paper glider. Grab with your thumb and index finger under the wings near the nose of the glider and toss the glider. If the glider doesn't glide well, add paper clips or pieces of tape under the nose of the glider until it glides well.
eHow Article: Making a Glider
