Paper Bag Kite Craft with Winder Handle
Looking for a fun and easy craft AND activity for your preschooler to do on a windy day? Make a paper bag kite! This easy paper bag craft is made with just 3 supplies. Your child will have fun decorating it, and even more fun taking it outside on a blustery day to see if they can make it fly.
Remember how thrilling it was to fly a kite when you were a child? Kite-flying was a regular, favourite activity for the kids in our neighbourhood when we were young. We always had kites of our own – real kites – that we would take to the park or an open field on a windy day.
There was nothing quite as lovely getting your kite to catch the breeze, and letting the long, long string out, to see how high you could get your kite to fly. And of course, making your kite dip and dive by controlling the winder handle was so much fun!
We made paper plate kites a while back, and today, one little hooligan said she wanted to do another kite craft.
We thought about how we could make a different kite than last time, and we decided on a paper bag. We added a winder to this kite too so it would feel more like a real kite.
Of course, there are much more sophisticated homemade kites that you can make with your kids, but our kite craft today is quick and easy, and perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.
Let me show you all the fun we had making our kite, and trying to fly it.
P.S. You’ll find more windy weather crafts at the bottom of this post.
How to make a paper bag kite:
Supplies:
- a paper bag with handles (gift bags are perfect)
- acrylic craft paints & paintbrushes
- yarn
- a sturdy stick
Decorating your kite:
We used acrylic paints to decorate our kite, but you could also use crayons, markers, stickers etc.
Set the paper bag in a sunny or breezy spot to let the paint dry. We hung ours from the clothesline in the backyard for a half hour or so, and it dried quickly.
Your kite string:
Here’s how we attached the string to our kite.
I cut a 6 inch piece of yarn, and knotted one end around one of the handles of the bag, and the other end around the other handle. This “joined” the two handles.
For the kite string, I cut a very long length of yarn and I secured it to the middle of the 6 inch piece of yarn. You can see it in the next photo.
The winder handle:
For the winder handle, we needed to find the perfect stick. Fortunately, we always have an abundance of sticks in our yard, so we collected a few and examined them to see which one would work best.
We had to make sure the stick was wide enough for the yarn and two little hands to wrap around it. We also needed to make sure our stick was good and strong, and wouldn’t snap easily.
Once we found the perfect stick, I took tied the long kite tail to the stick. Then I rolled the stick over and over, winding up all the yarn.
When it was all rolled up, it looked something like this:
Is that fab or what?
I’m telling you, adding the kite winder was brilliant. She loved twisting and rolling the stick to wind the string in and out.
It really added an extra element of fun to our homemade kite, and winding and unwinding the kite string was great for strengthening coordination and fine motor skills.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a breeze for flying kites today which is ironic as it’s been windy here for weeks.
We sure had fun trying to keep it up in the air though.
We ran around the yard with the kite, and we took turns throwing it up high in an attempt to catch a bit of wind, but the best success we had was when we took it over to our neighbour’s hill.
Launching our kite from the top of the hill, and running down the hill, we managed to catch enough wind to get our kite air-born for a few brief moments.
We had a lot of fun trying to fly our kite, and we’re looking forward to the next blustery day to see what kind of results we get!
We may just try one of these homemade kite ideas from Artsy Craftsy Mom too!
If you’re wondering about the adorable floral headpiece this hooligan is wearing, you can see how we made it here. It was really quick and easy to make.
More fun crafts for a windy day:
CD Wind Spinners
Water Bottle Wind Spirals
Pringles Can Wind Sock
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
