Two classes of California third graders made your kites last week, and they worked amazingly well! Not only that, it was easy for the kids to make the kites, they had a great time decorating and flying them. Their reading story for the week was about two children who, among other things, flew kites together. Many of our children had no idea what kites were (!), so we all made and actually flew kites. What a wonderful afternoon you gave us all! It was a project that was easy to do and gave the kids a great sense of accomplishment. Many, many, thanks for putting this design on the web. Jan Tappan Tujunga, California

 I am a fourth grade teacher in Denver, Colorado. I've really enjoyed
making these kites with my kids this spring. My kids are very literal second
language learners, so I have had to be extremely precise with my
instructions. "Fold it like this" doesn't work well for many of them. I was
having difficulty instructing on how to fold the diagonal wings, so I decided
to use a ruler and be as precise as possible. I had the students fold the
paper in half and then measure from the fold and draw a dot at 3/4" on one
edge of the folded paper and at 2 1/2" on the other edge. Then, I had them
lay a ruler across the paper to connect the dots and draw a line where the
diagonal fold went. I also encouraged them to keep the ruler along the line
to help them with the fold of the first wing. To find where to place the
hole to attach the string, I had them measure three inches from the nose.
The dimension of the kite obtained by these measurements worked perfectly
with the skewers that I used. The kites were very stable and gave us great
enjoyment. I don't mean to suggest that you change your simple, elegant
directions, but should someone ever inquire as to the measurements involved,
these worked well for me.

Thanks again for your great contribution to our class.

Ted Ramsey

 Aloha! Just wanted to drop you a note to say we tried your 20 minute
kite in our Kindergarten this week! Today we flew them -- and it was
awesome! Our kindergartners thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The kites were
the perfect size for little hands; not one of them broke, ripped or
tangled!

Thanks for the excellent idea/instructions/fun!!! Theresa Shorey
Tower Hill School
Wilmington, DE

 I just wanted to thank you for the craft idea of making kites. It's easy
and fast for the inter-city kindergarten children I teach whom have
never had the opportunity to fly kites. It was a real blast for them as
well as for myself.
Frank
Los Angeles Unified School District.

 I just wanted to thank you for sharing the directions for making those
awesome kites! Our six Cub Scouts made them last night and even had time
to run around in the yard with them. They had so much fun and said it
was the best den meeting yet!

Warmly,
Mary

 Hi Big Wind!
I'm an artist in Georgia and I spent all day today making kites with
kids. I got the instructions from your website and just wanted to say
thanks! It was unseasonably windy today and the kites were a HUGE hit!

Dana

Dana Lise Shavin
Barking Horse Studio

 Hi!

I had 60 students (4 classes, 2nd - 6th graders) successfully make kites
this week. Lots of fun! Thank you!

~Trish Strat

 I would like to thank you for this great page. On the weekend I was
on a camp with 20 kids (Girls' Brigade) on Rottnest Island (Perth,
Western Australia). I wanted to take a craft that didn't take up a
lot of room, and would be fun. I had some great bright paper, and all
I had to buy was survey tape. The girls had a lot of fun, the effect
was great. Thank you for this wonderful site, I will be recommending
it to other leaders involved in Girls' Brigade.

Thank you once again

Nikola Lewis

 I just wanted to let you know how great your directions for "20 kids, 20
kites, 20 minutes" were. My husband and I do workshops in various art forms
for children in Philadelphia and in Ecuador , and we decided we would like to
try kite making during our next project in Ecuador next month. We found your
directions on the web, and somewhat skeptically ( would this really fly?),
tried it out. It was so easy to build, yet flew beautifully in very little
wind. It is a perfect kite for our workshop - easy, cheap, fast!

Thank you so much! I'll send you a picture after the workshop!

Meredith Chamorro
Art for Change

 Thanks for the how to.... on the 20 kites, 20 kids, 20 minutes.

They actually flew. I used the instructions in my third grade science and writing project. We had a great time. Thanks again for sharing.