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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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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Racing a car against your friend’s car is brilliant.  Are you faster, or is your friend.  When you master one circuit, take it apart and build another.  Is the F1 Ferrari faster than the le mans Jaguar?

Which one of these cars do you like best?

Which one do you think is faster?

Scalextric track can be built into any circuit you wish.  Will you have a chiccane, and be the fastest out of the pits?…

The longest Scalextric track ever built was 2.75 long, you can see a video of it by clicking here.  Can you build one longer?

Scalextric can be bought from the Playgameshavefun Store, why not take a look?

Photos:

photo credit: Ben Sutherland

photo credit: Manel

photo credit: Ben Sutherland

You can find Scalextric toys at the Playgameshavefun store

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Lego is a fantastic building toy. By pushing bricks into one another, you can create anything you want to. Racing cars, spaceships, castles, and a million other things are all there to be built. When you get tired of your racing car, why not build a catapult!  Lego is not just about buiding, it is about adventure…

What kind of adventures do you send your people on?

Did you know?

The Lego toy company started life as a furniture factory in Denmark?  Owner and master carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen switched to making wooden toys in 1932, as he feared the furniture company would end in wake of the Great Depression.  Lego’s early toys included yo-yos, wooden blocks, pull-along animals and vehicles of all kinds.

In 1947 with the invention of plastic, Lego purchased a plastic injection machine from Britain.  In 1949 the first interlocking Lego bricks as we know them were produced.  They were called, “Automatic Binding Bricks”.  By 1951, half of the toys produced by Lego were made of plastic.

Photo

photo credit: mac_filko

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When you have mastered Lego, perhaps it is time to try and master Meccano. Like real engineers and mechanics, you can build all the things that you want to using nuts, bolts, screws, and spanners. A different approach is needed, but I’m sure you’ll master it!

All the motorcycles in this video were built using Meccano. What can you make?

Photo

photo credit: Elsie esq

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The great thing about skipping ropes is that there are lots of skipping games you can play, either on your own, or with friends. Did you know that boxers use skipping ropes to train, as it helps them build fitness and co-ordination?

How many skips can you manage before the rope hits your legs?

Here are the 2007 European Rope Skipping Champions showing you how they became the best skipping team in Europe. Can you copy them?

Photo

photo credit: Beverly & Pack

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A  marvellous sight to see is a locomotive dashing around a track, wheels spinning and pulling coaches.  The beauty of train sets, is that you can create your own track or tracks.  If you have one locomotive pulling coaches one way, and another pulling coaches in the opposite direction on another track, then you will see something that is something to behold.  With a train set, you can create your own world.

See a working train set in the video.

Find out how train sets work, click here

Photo

www.hornby.com

You can buy Train Sets at the Playgameshavefun Store

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