How to make paper kites: Take your crafting skills to new heights!

Learning how to make paper kites can lead to fun, creative, low-budget entertainment for the whole family. Our guide to kite arts and crafts will explain what you need and how to make these high-flying masterpieces. 

• Supplies for making paper kites with newspaper
• How to make paper kites 

Supplies for making paper kites with newspaper

Before you learn how to make a paper kite at home, you need to gather the materials. Here’s what you need to get started with your kite craft. 
 

• Newspaper
• Scissors
• Garden clippers
• A roll of kite string
• Glue – Loctite Super Glue Ultra Gel Control and a glue stick 
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Masking tape
• Empty toilet paper roll
• Ribbon or strip of lightweight fabric 6ft (1.8m long)
• 2 lightweight wooden dowels: The length depends on how big of a kite you want. We recommend one dowel measuring no bigger than 25 inches. The short dowel measures 20 inches. 
   

As a rule of thumb, the second dowel needs to be 4-5 inches shorter than the first.

How to make paper kites 

Here’s how to make paper kites step by step:
 

1. Cut the dowels. Measure and cut the dowels to the preferred length using the garden clippers. Use scissors to cut notches at both ends of the dowel. The notches need to be thick enough to hold the string in place.
2. Position the shorter dowel perpendicular on top of the long dowel (roughly 6 inches). It will look like a cross or lower-case T. 
3. Apply a small dot of Loctite Super Glue Ultra Gel Control where the dowels intersect and press firmly until super glue grabs. 
4. Reinforce the center by tying the string around the glued points. Wrap the string, crisscrossed around both sides of the dowels. Place drops of super glue on the string as you wrap, to hold it in place. It’s important to make sure the dowels remain at a right angle and don’t shift. Use as much string as it takes to secure the center, then cut and glue the loose string down. 
5. Attach the string to the frame by gluing the string inside the carved notch. Once the super glue has set, run the string to the next notched dowel. Tightly wrap the string around the entire kite and glue the string in place at the end of each dowel. Leave to cure
6. Lay the stringed kite frame on top of a large newspaper page. Trace a line around the kite that extends 2 inches wider than the edges of the kite frame. Cut out the outline. 
7. Using the glue stick, fold and glue the excess paper over the frame on all 4 sides to form the sail. 
8. Place masking tape on top of the glued newspaper borders
9. To string the kite, cut 5 strings that are the same length as the shorter dowel. In this case, 20 inches.
10. Flip the kite over (tape side down) and cut 4 tiny slits. One directly over the middle joint, and 3 above the top and both side corners of the kite.
11. Starting at the middle cross point of the dowels, carefully thread one string through the cut hole, flip the kite over to the taped side, and tie the end of the string around the cross point. 
12. Repeat step 11 on the top and both side corners of the kite.
13. Flip the kite (taped side down), pull all fly line strings to the center of the kite, and tie them together at the ends. 
14. Tie the remaining ball of kite string to the knotted strings to complete the flying line. 
15. Making the handle: glue the end of the kite string to a toilet paper roll. After drying, wrap the rest of the kite string around the roll.   
16. Attach the ribbon. Add a dab of glue in the bottom corner of the kite and press the ribbon into place.
     

Your kite is ready to fly!