Paper airplanes are really gliders that glide on air.  There shape is aerodynamic, which means it allows air to pass around it easily.  The more air that can pass around your shape, the faster your shape will travel.

Did you know that in some countries, airplane is spelt aeroplane?

Paper airplanes are easy to build and easy to fly!  The Harrier, holds the record for flying the farthest.

The Harrier.

The Harrier, as you can see is a sleeking looking paper airplane, and is considered to be very good for stunts.  By bending the wings in certain ways, will make the plane spin and loop.  When planes do this in the sky it is called areobatics.

How to make the Harrier

To make the Harrier

Take a piece of rectangular paper and fold it in half length ways

Unfold the piece of paper, and you will see you have a fold, like a line right down the middle.  Taking one of the top corners, and fold it so that it meets the fold in the middle.  This should make a triangle shape.

Once this is done, do the same with the other side so that it looks like the picture below.  As you can see, it looks like a house.

Fold the point at the top so that it looks like an envelope.

Then fold the corners so that they meet in the middle, and do the same for both sides.  You should have a small triangle- a flap, at the bottom.

Now fold that small triangle upwards.

Turn the plane over, and fold the plane in half.

Then carefully fold down the wings from the front of the plane as shown.  Don’t forget to do both of them, and match the wings to give you an even shape.  This is more important than having a straight edge.

Your Harrier is ready to fly!

If this is hard to follow, try watching the video.

How far can The Harrier travel?  What happens if you bend the left wing?

Now you can make The Harrier, why not try and make The Bulldog Dart? Which one is best.

You can buy supplies and books to make The Harrier at our Playgameshavefun Store

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Paper airplanes are really gliders that glide on air.  There shape is aerodynamic, which means it allows air to pass around it easily.  The more air that can pass around your shape, the faster your shape will travel.

Did you know that in some countries, airplane is spelt aeroplane?

Paper airplanes are easy to build and easy to fly!  Here is a famous model:

The Bulldog Dart.

How to make the Bulldog Dart

Take a piece of rectangular shaped paper, and fold it in half length ways

Unfold the piece of paper, and you will see you have a fold, like a line right down the middle.  Taking one of the top corners, and fold it so that it meets the fold in the middle.  This should make a triangle shape.

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Once this is done, do the same with the other side so that it looks like the picture below.  As you can see, it looks like a house.

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Turn the piece of paper over, so that you can’t see the flaps.

Carefully fold the piece of paper from the top and the right hand edge so that it meets in the middle.  It should look like this.

Do the same for the left.

Now, fold the point at the top, so that it touches the paper, not too much, about halfway between where the paper meets.  See below

Fold the plane in half length ways, and then rotate it so that it is on its side

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Take care when doing this next part as it is very easy to make a mistake.  Take the top of the wing, and fold it in half so that it meets the bottom corner.  Make sure you smooth out any creases, and you keep a careful eye on where it is folding at the front of the plane.

Turn the plane over, and do the same for the next wing.

Now straighten the wings, and your Bulldog dart is ready for a test flight.  How does it fly?

How far can you fly your plane?

Have you tried to fly it from the top of the stairs?

Were these instructions easy to follow?  How can they be improved?

Watch the video of how to make The Bulldog dart.

Why not make The Harrier paper airplane? See which one is best.

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If you are after making a toy you can take into the bath, or want one to float on a pond or in a paddling pool, then making a paper boat could be a good option if you haven’t got time to go to a toy shop.

Paper boats are made the same way we made the paper hat, but have a few extra steps involved.  Some of them can be a little tricky, so do not be afraid to ask for help if you need it.  As with the hat, any kind of rectangular shaped paper will work, but plain white paper can be decorated to look like your favourite ships.

Step 1 Take a piece of rectangular paper.  Uncreased works best, less confusing.

Step 2 Fold the paper from the top edge so that it meets the bottom edge, match opposite corners.

Step 3 Fold the paper in half length ways, and then unfold it again.  It should look like a book

Step 4 Fold the top corners so that they meet in the middle.  This is exactly the same as when making a paper aeroplane, and they should meet at the centre line.  See below.

Step 5 Fold the flap up so that it covers the triangles you have just made.  Top layer only.

Step 6 Turn the boat over, and you will see two triangular flaps.  Fold them down.

Step 7 Fold up the second large flap as you did in step 5, and then tuck in the triangular flaps as you did in step 6 From this point you can see you have made a paper hat.  Well done.  Why not put it on your head!  To make the boat, read on…

Step 8 Push the hat together to form a square.

Step 9 If you look carefully you will discover two triangular shaped flaps, fold one down as shown below.

Step 10 Do the same with the remaining flap.  You should now have a triangle shape.

Step 11 You will see that you have made a miniature version of the paper hat.  Put it on your favourite toy!

Step 12 Push the flaps together to form a diamond shape.

Step 13 If you look carefully you can see and one corner there are two flaps.  You can unfold these flaps which is what you must do to make the boat.

Step 14 With some shaping, you have a paper boat.  Well done!

Show Mum, show Dad!

Go and see if it floats!

If that seems a little tricky, this video may help.

Have fun with your boat.

Need art and craft supplies? Visit the store

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Hats have a variety of uses, but by far the most exciting use is for disguise and imagining you are a character that needs a hat like the one you are about to make.! To make a paper hat follow these instructions. You can use any rectangular piece of paper you can find, newspapers and magazines work well, but plain white A4 paper is best because you can add your own designs to the paper, including painting it or colouring it in using crayons and felts.

Step 1 -Take a piece of rectangular shaped paper

Try and make sure its crease free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2 Fold the paper width ways.

This means, fold the paper from the top edge so that it meets the bottom edge, and try to match the  top corners with the bottom corners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3 Fold the paper length ways

You should have something that looks like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4 Unfold your last fold

You should have something that looks like a book.

 

Step 5 Turn down the corners on each side

This is exactly like making a paper aeroplane.  Each corner meets the centre line

Step 6 Fold the flap at the front upwards

You only fold one layer of paper as shown.  It folds up to meet the two traingles.

 

Step 7 Fold down the triangular flaps

If you turn the hat over, you will see you have two triangular flaps.  Fold these down.

 

Step 8 Fold the flap upwards

You will find an identical flap to the one in step 6, simply repeat what you did.

 

Step 9 Turn the hat over, and fold down the triangular flaps.

Just as in step 7.  Easy!

Step 10 Open the hat

Open the hat, pointy bit facing down is best.

Step 11 Put it on your head!

If that was a little hard, try watching the video.

Decorating the hat

You can decorate the hat in a variety of ways.  Be a pirate – draw a Jolly Roger, by putting string at the bottom you could make a bonnet or turn the hat into a helmet.  Both will need your best designs.  Perhaps it isn’t a hat at all, but part of a strange alien’s head…

Why not stock up on your arts and crafts supplies by visiting the Playgameshavefun Store?

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Water fights are brilliant! The only downside is that they can get out of hand and lead to arguments, and they can become a bit boring after a while when the novelty wares off.

Wet people too, make a mess when they come back into the house. This can be negotiated by a good use of towels and a possible outside drying off-changing area, such as a garage.

To keep a water fight alive, here are a few ideas / rules to make a water fight more fun.

The Duel

This is ideal for two players with similar high powered water pistols. Two people stand back to back and walk twelve paces, away from each other. Once they have taken their paces, one of them counts to three. On the count of three, both players spin round and unleash their weapon’s payload at the other. The winner is the one that is covered with the least amount of water. If their are three people one can act as a judge and count to three at the beginning of the duel.   In fact a duel can be played by three players, by either playing a winner stays on scenario, or all players walk away in a triangle shape, and then everybody shoots at each other.  This can become messy.

Should twelve paces prove difficult for your weapons, then try six or even three.

Water Tag!

Just like normal Tag, where someone is “it” until they tag someone else, the game is the same just people are tagged by being squirted rather than tagged.  The last person to be squirted, is “it”!

Total Anarchy!

The traditional water fight where everyone goes a little crazy and makes everyone as wet as possible. Great stuff!

Try including areas which are safe where people can’t be squirted.  To make it really interesting, why not incorporate a time limit as to how long a person can stay in this area.
Try playing in teams.

Choose your weapon!

The best water pistols are ones that shoot a powerful blast of water, and can hold a lot of water so reloading is kept to a minimum.  Some water pistols have tanks which strap over your back, so you can hold more water.

Remember the following:

Animals should not be targeted.   This may scare the animal and that is not a nice thing to do.

Never have a water fight inside the house.

Washing is not to get wet.

Never use delicate objects in a water fight, such as anything made from glass.

Only ever squirt water

Never hurt anyone during the water fight

Try and avoid roads when having a water fight,  and never shoot a water pistol at a moving car

If you are playing at a friends house, it maybe a good idea to take a change of clothes and a towel with you

The world’s biggest water fight!

The world’s biggest water fight is in Thailand, which is used to celebrate new year.  It is not unknown for elephants

to get involved.  Could you win a water fight with an elephant?

photo credit: me and the sysop

photo credit: Creative Tools

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Mother’s Day,  is only a few days away, and it is always nice to buy your mum a card on this day.  In fact, it is nicer if you make your mum a card for this day. Mum’s tend to like pretty cards, rather than pictures of your favorite toy even though it maybe pretty, or a picture of a great warrior. What
ever you decide to make or draw, it is always good to make the card colourful.

Our mums are always there to look after us. They make our meals, see that we have enough clothes, play with us, and make sure we are clean! So on this day maybe it would be a good idea to something nice for them. Maybe make them a nice drink or a meal. Get Dad to help if you can. I dare say she looks after him too.

In the UK, (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales), Mother’s Day is the fourth Sunday in Lent. This year, it falls on March 14th, so don’t worry there is still time to make something nice for Mum.

Ideas to do something nice for Mum.

You could make Mum a nice drink or meal.

You could do something that Mum normally does, like hoovering.

You could bring Mum something nice to read or eat in bed.

Let Mum have a long time in bed.

Draw Mum a nice picture.

Buy or pick some flowers for Mum (If you pick flowers make sure you are allowed to!)

Let Mum watch her favorite film on TV.

Different countries celebrate Mother’s Day at different times. In the United States of America, Mother’s Day is a national holiday. This means that nobody goes to work unless Mother’s Day a national holiday, and that Mother’s Day should be spelt with an apostrophe between the ‘r’ and the ‘s’. In grammar this is called a singular possessive, and means that something belongs to someone. So David’s toys means that the toys belongs to David. Mother’s Day means the day belongs to Mum.

The Roman’s celebrated Mother’s Day too.

The Roman Empire also celebrated Mother’s Day. They held a festival called Matronalia, which was in honour motherhood, women in general, and of the Roman goddess Juno, who was the Goddess of childbirth, and patron goddess of Rome. It is believed that mums received presents of some kind on this day.

Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world and at different times. This tells us how important our mums are to all of us!

photo credit: jenny downing

photo credit: antmoose

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For many of us Easter is a time when the Easter Bunny arrives and hides Easter eggs in our house.  Very often, our families buy Easter eggs for us, and we all have a lovely time munching on big chocolate eggs.  Sometimes these eggs are so big, they are as big as our heads!

Christian belief

Easter, did not start when the Easter Bunny came along with a basket full of eggs and clues.  Easter is a Christian festival.  This means that within the Christian religion or faith, there is a festival called Easter.

People who belong to the Christian faith, are called Christians, and many Christians believe that a man called Jesus Christ was the son of God.  Jesus Christ’s beliefs on how people should be and behave were not shared by the Roman Empire.  An empire is when land and people are ruled over by another person or country.  The Roman Empire began in Rome, which is now the capital city of Italy.  It conquered many lands through fighting.  After the land was taken over, it became part of the Roman Empire, and the land and the people would have to do as the Roman Empire wanted, and have the same beliefs.  As the Roman Empire did not like Jesus Christ’s beliefs, which were now shared by many people in many lands, they executed him by nailing him to a wooden cross and leaving him to die.

However, many Christians believe that he was brought back to life by God, and this is what the Easter festival celebrates.  Very often, the time when Jesus Christ was brought back to life is known as the resurrection.  This has all been written down in the New Testament section of the Bible.

Easter Bunny

As we know the Easter Bunny brings us lots of chocolate if we have been good.  He was first seen in Germany in the 1600s, and like Father Christmas or Santa Claus, gave out presents of chocolate eggs to children that have been good.  So make sure that you are.

In the 1800s, Easter Bunny went to America as well as Germany, and now he goes all over the world giving out chocolate eggs to all the children that have been good.

Easter Eggs

When an egg hatches, whatever is inside the egg is born.  This new life is what an Easter egg represents.  So we give each other chocolate eggs to celebrate the belief of the Christian faith that Jesus Christ received a new life from God when he was resurrected..

photo credit: Pål Berge

photo credit: db*photography

photo credit: langalex

photo credit: emilywjones

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Paper aeroplanes are really gliders that glide on air.  There shape is aerodynamic, which means it allows air to pass around it easily.  The more air that can pass around your shape, the faster your shape will travel.

Did you know that in some countries, aeroplane is spelt airplane?

Paper areoplanes are easy to build and easy to fly!  Here is a famous model:

The Harrier.

The Harrier, as you can see is a sleeking looking paper aeroplane, and is considered to be very good for stunts.  By bending the wings in certain ways, will make the plane spin and loop.  When planes do this in the sky it is called areobatics.

How to make the Harrier

To make the Harrier

Take a piece of A4 paper and fold it in half length ways

Unfold the piece of paper, and you will see you have a fold, like a line right down the middle.  Taking one of the top corners, and fold it so that it meets the fold in the middle.  This should make a triangle shape.

Once this is done, do the same with the other side so that it looks like the picture below.  As you can see, it looks like a house.

Fold the point at the top so that it looks like an envelope.

Then fold the corners so that they meet in the middle, and do the same for both sides.  You should have a small triangle- a flap, at the bottom.

Now fold that small triangle upwards.

Turn the plane over, and fold the plane in half.

Then carefully fold down the wings from the front of the plane as shown.  Don’t forget to do both of them, and match the wings to give you an even shape.  This is more important than having a straight edge.

Your Harrier is ready to fly!

If this is hard to follow, try watching the video.

How far can The Harrier travel?  What happens if you bend the left wing?

Now you can make The Harrier, why not try and make The Bulldog Dart? Which one is best.

Instructions easy to follow?  Let me know.

Print PDF

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