Thursday, June 2, 2011

The Dangerous Book for Moms: Chapter 4

In this chapter of The Dangerous Book for Moms, I am going to share with you the secret to making the most amazing paper airplane ever.  It's fairly easy to make with some practice.  It also makes it a cinch for you to wow your kids, and their friends, with your mad paper airplane building skills.  This airplane is called THE CHAMP, because, well, it flies like one.

Now watch closely...


First, grab a regular 8.5x11 inch paper out of your printer and place it on the table in front of you (oriented vertically, aka the way it normally comes out of the printer!)  

Use a ruler & pencil to mark off 2 inches in on both sides of the top of your paper only.  

Next mark 1/2 inch up on both sides of the bottom of your paper.  

Then use your ruler as a guide and make a fold connecting the 2 inch-mark on the top to the 1/2 mark on the bottom.  

After you've practiced, you won't need the ruler, but it does help keep everything straight.


Your paper should now look like this.


Now, make a 1/2 inch fold across the top.  

Fold from top to bottom of page as shown a total of eight times.


Flip the paper over, so the fold is facing down.  

Then fold in half, lengthwise.

Finally, make a one-inch fold along this center fold which you have just made.

Make this one-inch fold on both sides parallel to your center fold to form wings.


Congratulations!  You've just made The Champ!

I learned how to make the champ a few years ago at this site.  Apparently, The Champ is the current record-holder in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest flight time.  Your champ might need some fine tuning to achieve a world record:  

If it dives:  slightly angle the rear of the wings up.

If it crashes:  slightly angle the rear of the wings down.

Happy flying, Dangerous Moms! :)


Also, if you are looking for more stuff to do with your kids, my Princess Crowns are being featured at Sumo's Sweet Stuff today...

AND my 100 Books of Summer are being featured at Or So She Says today.  Mariel astutely observed that my list of 100 books only had 90 titles listed!  Oh MY!  Good catch.  I have added 10 more books (some from your suggestions) to make my list truly 100 books for children ages 2-6...or so!

7 comments:

  1. How funny! I always thought you needed a pointy tip, but I guess that's not the secret...

    =)

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  2. Obviously, this is dangerous because it gives children the McGyver capability of causing chaos with a single sheet of 8" x 11" paper! ;-)

    I MUST try this!

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  3. I'm suspicious of your champ... we might have to have a contest sometime as I'm known for my great flyers! LOVE THIS!

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  4. will have to try it and add to my grandmotherly skills since I have 3 grandsons...

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  5. Sweet! We are doing "summer school" with my two nieces and this will definitely be part of it... great physics lesson!

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  6. I will have to show this to Buddy to see if he knows this one .. that boy is CRAZY about making paper airplanes! He once made a bi-plane with a cockpit and propeller out of paper and tape. This one looks fun too!

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  7. Tried this one tonight- it really sails!

    -CK

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