Go Fly A Kite

Ranger Rick, April, 1999

Megabite is the name of the biggest kite ever flown. It looks like a huge, toothy monster, and it's the size of a football field! If you're lucky, you might see it at a festival near you.

WHOOSH!

From monsters to butterflies, creature kites are flying high! (Check out the next pages.)

A friendly fish, a string of graceful parrots, a scary bat. These are just a few of the amazing animal kites that you might see dancing on the breeze this spring.

Kite flying is great by yourself or with a bunch of friends. And a family that flies kites together will find there's something exciting in it for everyone.

There's always more to learn about kite flying, no matter how old you are. To help you, there are kite books with easy-to-make patterns, kite stores full of amazing choices, lots of cool kite Web sites, and even kite clubs to join. And, if you want to meet people who are crazy about kites, go to a kite festival (see next page).

KITE FESTIVALS

All around the world, people get together to have fun with their kites at festivals. One is held every spring at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. (see photo). People enter their special kites in flying competitions. And you can see breathtaking flights of animal kites like the ones shown here.

Want to see if there's a festival near you? Check newspapers, libraries, the Web (search under "Kite Festivals"), or ask at a science museum. There are kite festivals year round, but most happen in spring.

COMPETITIONS FOR KIDS

Kids usually have a special place at a kite festival. There are contests where they can show how well they fly the kites they've made or bought. Judges give awards to the champs whose kites stay in the air the longest, fly the highest, or do the best tricks.

PRETTY TRICKY

At a festival, you might see someone flying a kite with more than one line. A stunt kite like that can do all kinds of tricks in the air.

Some stunt kites can fly in "figure eights" and dive at 60 miles (96 km) per hour! You might also see teams of people flying kites that "dance" to pop tunes or ballet music.

FIGHTER KITES

To see some really skillful flying, look for kite battles at a festival. Each fighter kite is flown on a strong line. Two people fly their kites so that their lines cross. Then each person tries to use the action of the wind to saw through the other one's line. The person with the last kite in the air wins!

KITE TALES

SO LONG AGO

The Chinese invented kites about 3000 years ago. And people living in Hamamatsu, Japan, have been flying kites at festivals for at least 400 years--long before the United States became a country.

RECORD-SETTING KITES

In 1919, some people in Germany flew a train of kites more than five miles (8 km) above the Earth. A group in Japan flew more than 11,000 kites on a single line in 1990. And--get this--a bunch of college students in Long Beach, Washington, kept a kite in the air for more than a week!

GO, KITE, GO!

You've probably heard about Ben Franklin's experiment with flying a kite in a lightning storm. But the picture below shows another way he used a kite. He floated in a pond while the kite pulled him across the water.

NOT JUST A TOY

Did you know that the Wright brothers' first airplane was a lot like a kind of kite called a box kite? Imagine how brave they were to fly off in a kite with a motor and a propeller.

WHOA, KITES, WHOA!

About 150 years ago, a teacher in England built a carriage that was pulled by a train of kites. With a good wind, it could go about as fast as a carriage pulled by horses. And the teacher didn't have to feed his kites anything!

SO MANY KINDS

If you go to a kite store or look at a kite catalog, you'll see that there are hundreds of different kinds of kites. You can get small ones for a dollar or two and fancy ones for hundreds of dollars. And people keep inventing new ones all the time.

KITES AND SPORTS

Kites can be combined with many outdoor sports. People let kites pull them on ice skates, cross-country skis, in-line skates, and even across sand in three--wheeled buggies.

HELP-ME KITES

People sometimes carry a small kite on wilderness hikes. Then, if they need to be rescued, they can fly the kite to help show rescuers where they are.

PHOTOS FROM ON HIGH

Some people take photos from the air with remote-controlled cameras attached to kites. These kites are like silent eyes in the sky. They can take pictures of animals without scaring them.

THE BEST KITE OF ALL?

The very best kite is one you make and fly yourself. Many kinds of kites can be made with materials found around your house. Libraries have books on making and flying kites. You can also look at Ranger Rick's Web site at www.nwf.org/rrick for a cool kite pattern. Then, if you make a really great animal kite, why not send a photo to

Ranger Rick, Dept. KK

8925 Leesburg Pike

Vienna, VA 22184

Rangers: Fly your kite in an open area at a park, field, or beach, and never use wire for your line. Stay away from electrical wires, and don't fly a kite during a thunderstorm. Also, if you fly a big kite, be sure to wear gloves. That will keep your hands from getting burned by a fast-moving line.