How to Make the Best Paper Airplane You Can
Building and flying paper airplanes will bring a smile to kids and kids-at-heart. Making paper airplanes is also a great teaching tool in schools, enabling students to learn about aerodynamics. Creating paper airplanes has also evolved as an art form, with designs ranging from the simple to complex and the plain to elaborate. Through some experimentation, you can eventually come up with your very own design. But first, you'll need to learn the folding steps for an easy-to-make, wonderful flyer that has been around for decades.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
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1
Fold the sheet of paper in half lengthwise and crease it. Open the paper like a book and lay it flat, with the crease running vertically.
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2
Take the top right corner of the sheet of paper and fold it toward the center crease. Bring the edges to the center crease, make a new crease, and then repeat the fold for the left side. The top of the paper should now look like an arrowhead with both sides the same and meeting in the center.
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3
Take the top of the "arrowhead" and fold it towards you, making sure the point is in the center of the paper. Make the crease horizontally, at the point where the bottom of the folds you made in step two meet the edges of the paper. You should now see an arrow-head shape pointing toward the bottom of the page, aligned with the vertical center and with all three corners coming to a sharp point. What you have in front of you should look like an envelope with the flap on top and pointing down.
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4
Bring the top right corner of the paper to the center crease, to a point that is halfway between the tip of the downward-facing arrowhead shape and the top of the paper. Crease. Repeat for the left side so that the right and left side points meet each other at the center crease in the middle of your arrowhead shape.
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5
Flip the bottom-facing arrowhead point up toward the top of the paper. The bottom-facing point should just cover the point where your last two folds meet at the center. Crease.
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6
Turn the paper over and lay it flat, with the side that has the folds facing down. The smaller "nose" end of the paper should be at the bottom (closest to you) and the unfolded, larger end of the paper should be at the top, so that your paper airplane is now flipped over and upside-down. Fold the paper in half vertically, using the center crease that you made in step one, and so your "wing" edges match. Crease several times.
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7
Turn your plane, (it IS starting to look like a plane now, isn't it?) so the smaller end (the nose) is to the left and the larger end (the tail) is to the right. You should now have the wing going up, from left to right.
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8
Take the leading edge of the wing, fold it down toward you and line it up with the fold at the bottom and crease a few times. You are essentially folding the wing in half and lining up what was the top edge with the bottom crease. Flip the paper airplane over and repeat for the other wing. Be sure to keep the little "rocket pods" tucked up inside the wing while you make this fold. Crease the wing folds and the bottom crease a few more times.
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9
Open the wings so they are flat across the top. Hold the body of the airplane two to three inches behind the nose and toss it to make it fly. Bombs away!
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1
Tips & Warnings
Creasing is a very important part of the project. Crease each fold a few times. Make sure to have identical matching folds in steps two, four and seven. This will ensure a well-balanced flying paper airplane. If you want to, you can use a tiny bit of scotch tape to hold the wings together at the top. Pinch the wings together and put the tape across them a little bit behind where the pilot would sit.
To decorate your airplane, unfold it and see where the markings would appear when the paper is laying flat. Using your computer, you can design and print your sheets of paper prior to folding them.
Remember that even a paper airplane can cause eye injuries, so don't throw it at people.
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Comments
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paper air plans are the best for litte kid.
