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Home » Kids Craft: DIY Paper Kite

Kids Craft: DIY Paper Kite

This post and its photos may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you!

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Springtime in our neck of the woods is always accompanied by a lot of wind, so to celebrate the start of our windy season my boys crafted some super cool paper kites. Kite making has been on our crafting bucket list for awhile now, so when I received this box of Apple Barrel paint, stencils and Mod Podge Washout I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

These bright colors totally shout spring!

To make your own paper kites you need:

  • Two wooden dowels (ours were 1/4″ and 1/8″ in diameter because we used what we had on hand), cut to 33″ and 24″ lengths.
  • 36″ wide sheet of paper (or several smaller sheets taped together to make a large one)
  • Apple Barrel acrylic paints
  • Twine
  • Tape
  • Ribbon or fabric scraps
  • Optional: Mod Podge Washout, stencils and patterned paper for embellishment

We started by painting the large sheets of paper with abstract spring motifs (those are rain puddles and grass in the photo above, just in case you were wondering!).

Be sure to wear an apron or art smock to protect your clothing when using acrylic paint, but don’t worry too much about messy hands or brushes – it’s all part of the fun process! Apple Barrel paint washes off easily with soap and water while it’s still wet, so it’s perfect for kid’s projects. I like to keep a stack of baby wipes handy for messy fingers.

The stencils were a huge hit, and I was totally impressed with how quickly the boys caught on to the fact that they only needed a tiny bit of paint on their spouncer to get the best results.

We had a quick impromptu lesson in color mixing that resulted in lovely full spectrum paint palettes even though we only started with five initial paint colors. The Apple Barrel paint line comes in a huge range of colors, but sometimes it’s fun to mix up your own combos!

The boys were pretty pleased with their paintings, but they wanted to add a final dash of pizazz, so we cut some shapes from patterned paper and used the Mod Podge Washout to decoupage them on to the kite paper. Mod Podge Washout is fantastic for kids because it washes out of clothing and furniture with soap and water, even when dry – no pre-soaking necessary! Not that I’d know anything about that 😉

To build the kite frame tie together the two dowels as shown above and then reinforced the joint with hot glue if desired. The perimeter is created by tying a single length of twine from one end of the dowel to the next. I wrapped the twine a few times at each end piece and secured with hot glue.

Lay the kite frame out on to the painted artwork and trim the paper to size. Leave a 2″ border around the kite frame for folding and finishing the kite.

Start by folding the corners in and securing with tape. Next, fold the side seams over the twine and secure with tape along the entire length of the fold.

This next step is easier to show through pictures than words, so please take a look at the photos to illustrate what I mean. Find the mid-point of the two sections of the longer dowel and use scissors or a craft knife to cut a small slit in the kite at those locations. You may want to reinforce the holes with a small piece of tape on each side of the kite.

Tie a length of twine to the dowel at the first slit location and feed the string through the slit to the front side of the kite. Feed the string back through the other slit and finish by tying it to the dowel on the back side of the kite. Make sure that the string is NOT pulled tightly on the front side of the kite, but that it has a good amount of slack in it to create the kite’s bridle.

Tie the string that you will use to fly the kite to the center of the bridle, and tie on some ribbons or fabric scraps to create the kite’s tail.

All done and ready to fly!

We had SO much fun flying our new kites!

Be sure to Follow Plaid Crafts on Pinterest, follow Plaid Crafts on Twitter, and like Plaid Crafts on Facebook for all the latest project ideas and product information. This post was written as part of a campaign with The Blueprint Social. All opinions are my own.

For even more springtime fun check out these other fantastic projects from some of my friends!

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Filed Under: Craft, Kids, Kids Crafts

Comments

  1. Erin Sipes says

    April 10, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    What a great idea, this is something the kids and I haven’t made yet! They’d love this!

    Reply
  2. Connie @ Measured by the Heart says

    April 10, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    What an awesome project!! On a different note…love your floors. Do you find it hard to keep them clean? Mine shows every single footprint. Even streaks from mopping.

    Reply
  3. Mary Beth says

    April 11, 2013 at 1:08 am

    This is such a great idea ~ my little guy was sitting with me…saw this and you inspired us to make one together.

    Reply
  4. Kadie says

    April 11, 2013 at 2:21 am

    What an AWESOME idea!! We are totally going to have to make those this summer! My kiddos are going to are going to loose their heads at the thought of making their own kites! Thanks for sharing.:)

    Reply
  5. malia says

    April 11, 2013 at 5:39 am

    What a fun project! Love the kite idea!

    Reply
  6. Heidi @ Honeybear Lane says

    April 11, 2013 at 4:00 pm

    I love these cute kid project! I’m totally going to have to do this with my kids–thanks for the great idea!

    Reply
  7. Kim @ seven thirty three says

    April 11, 2013 at 7:24 pm

    What an amazing idea! My kids would love to give this a whirl.

    Reply
  8. Lindsay @Artsy-Fartsy Mama says

    April 11, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    What a great idea!! Love it!

    Reply
  9. Shawn Sullentrup says

    April 12, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    How fun is this & to think I just bought our little girl a kite this week!

    xo

    Reply
  10. Carolina Moore says

    April 12, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    This looks like so much fun!! My son would LOVE to make and fly his own kite!

    Reply
  11. Jennifer Hughes says

    April 15, 2013 at 8:12 pm

    My Family-Focused Monday hop is live now and I would love to see one of your awesome posts linked up @ http://www.mondaykidcorner.blogspot.com.

    Have a wonderful week.

    Reply
  12. Amy Anderson says

    May 2, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    This is genius! I used to fly kites as a child and LOVED it!

    Reply
  13. Adele Grisham says

    April 6, 2016 at 3:43 am

    Thanks! The pictures look easy to follow and I think that I could actually do this!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Heidi!

Welcome! I'm SO glad that you're here! I'm a Northern California #BoyMom who loves sprinkled donuts, rainbows, and sharing quick and easy crafts and printables with you! read more here
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