This month, the school-age one children showed an interest in airplanes by creating airplanes with paper and coloured them, to make a unique design. We extended this interest by making a different type of airplane using plastic straws and paper. They used different colours of paper to make the base structure and were really excited to make their airplanes. They discussed how far their planes might fly, and they started by folding the paper and taped them together carefully. Sophia said “ I like pink and orange paper for my airplane with four straws.” Sophia thought of using the straws to give her paper plane extra strength and stability. Fire said “ I want an orange and yellow airplane.” They started by making the base and then they attached the straws along the edges of the folded paper with tape. They added straws in the middle of the plane as a support for the airplanes. The children made sure everything was fixed the way they wanted it. They worked together in groups which involved sharing ideas (communication) and cooperating with each other (pro-social behaviour).
The final result was a creative and unique airplane that was not like their friends’ airplanes and they learned that straws help to make the plane float through the air. The children decided to see how far their airplanes can go by flying them across the room.
Perhaps the children will be interested in learning about airplanes and we could possibly build other air crafts.
