No Kite? It's Easy To Make Your Own

No kite? No problem! With a few simple supplies found (mostly) around the house, you can make your own kite to make the most of summertime breezes.

(Photo via Shutterstock)

Materials

(Photo by Sara Russell)

• Heavy-duty plastic sheet that you can cut, like a plastic tablecloth or a heavy garbage bag

• 2 dowels or thin, straight sticks

• Very long, thin string or yarn, at least 300 feet

• Strong tape, like duct tape or packing tape

• A marker (If you are using black plastic, make sure the marker is a color you can see, like silver.)

• Scissors

• A ruler

• Something for a handle, like a rectangle of cardboard, a piece of wood or a paper towel tube

Directions

(Photo by Sara Russell)

1. Lay the dowels in a cross shape over the plastic sheet. The plastic sheet will become the sail.

2. Move one of the dowels a little higher so one half is longer than the other. The higher dowel will become the horizontal cross spar; the other dowel will become the vertical spine.

3. Cut a small piece off the cross spar dowel.

(Photo by Sara Russell)

4. Tape the dowels to the plastic at the edges. Make sure they are stuck on really well.

5. Tape the dowels together at the center where they cross.

6. Use a ruler to draw a diamond kite shape around your dowels. You can make your diamond shape a little bigger than the dowels to make sure it fits.

7. Cut the plastic. Trim it down if it is a little too big. You’ve created your sail!

8. Cut a piece of string about two times the length of the cross spar.

(Photo by Sara Russell)

9. Poke two holes in the plastic next to the cross spar. One hole should be on the right side, and the other hole should be on the left side. They should be close to the corners, but not right at the edges.

10. Flip the sail over to thread each end through the plastic and tie it to the cross spar with a double knot. The large loop should be on the side without the dowels. You just made the brindle!

(Photo by Sara Russell)

11. Wind the rest of your string — your kite line — around the wooden or cardboard handle. The handle is called the kite spool.

12. Take the free end of your kite line and tie it to the middle of the brindle (aka the loop). Wrap it in tape to secure it.

Bonus: Decorate your kite! You can use permanent markers, stickers or acrylic paint.

Your kite is done, and now you are ready to fly it! Not sure how? Check out our tips and tricks.

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