Making flags and experimenting with them. Trying out an old duvet case and seeing how you can play with the wind. Preparing for kite flying…
343 – Playing with the wind
Thursday 23 January, wind and sun, 7°C
It’s a really windy day. A storm is on the way and it poured with rain and hail all morning but by afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came out. We haven’t had a windy day for a while and I’m in no doubt what today’s challenge is going to be.
A bit like the moon, the wind is a complete mystery to me and I’m really hoping that this year we can start to get more expert at playing with it. B and I had a disastrous ‘attempt to fly a kite’ session last summer which ended in a broken kite, tears and a huge amount of disappointment and frustration. It’s not the first time. I think it’s one of those things that is hard to do if you haven’t been taught directly. Or maybe it’s just hard. B had a new, posh kite for Christmas but I think we’re both putting off discovering it till the weathers warmer and more inviting. We’ll also need, I know from experience, to be in very high spirits and have lots of energy. I’ve made a mental note to google a lot of kite flying advice videos beforehand.
In the meantime, it’s after school and while the wind is perfect it’s pretty cold. We’re at mid week energy levels (ie, not high). I’ve decided to prepare this one in advance so I’ve made the flags while B is at school. This actually feels like a bit of a shame as B would probably have loved doing it but I want to make sure I can get her outside quickly before it gets dark. We still had the willow sticks in the garden from Mondays session so I’ve just grabbed those and different materials I can find around the house. More details below. I also grab the old duvet we use to clean the cat’s feet. Looking back I’m wondering what else we could have taken… old pillow cases maybe? some sort of light weight plastic sheeting would have been good, big plastic bags, maybe bin bags? I’m imagining another session where I get B to go round the house and find stuff.
We head home from school to find the flags and duvet cover outside the house waiting. The flags look fun and she’s onside from the moment she sees them. We head round to a little bit of land near us where the wind is clearly ruffling the hedges and the trees.
…and it turns out you don’t need a kite to play with the wind. The flags are great. B sticks them in the earth planters that are currently empty and waiting for Spring to grow again. The grounds wet enough we could have stuck them in there too. Sticking them in is fun. We could have tried different places to see where the wind was best. Instead we stick with our first choice and wonder which is going to flap the most. Each flag is made of a different type of material. We’ve got a paper one, a bit of old fabric one, some pipe cleaners tied together end to end and a cardboard paper towel tube. B likes the pipe cleaners best. I’m curious if the cardboard tube will act a bit like a windsock. It does a bit but it fails to be anywhere near as dramatic as the paper and the fabric, both of which flap around like crazy, bending their willow sticks right over.
After watching them for a bit we get the duvet cover out and it blows around very satisfactorily. B tries running across the grass with it but it doesn’t blow out as much doing that as just standing on top of a bench and holding it. The wind blows it around and about and I can feel that, doing this, we’re already learning. We notice that the gusts come and go and B is learning to wait for the wind before running or holding the duvet up. We head home energised and pondering other windy play options.
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270 – Preparing for kite flying
Sunday 6 April. Sunny and windy. 12°C
We’re on holiday in Suffolk with family and it’s flat, sunny and windy. I’m certain this means it’s finally the kite flying day. I dig out the kite and try and get B onside but she’s very wary. She really enjoyed the windy play day in January but she’s had bad experiences with kites. Turns out the rest of the family have too and no one’s feeling particularly enthusiastic.
The place we’re living is also not as ideal as it seemed at first glance. It is flat and there is an outside space but the building is large and the instructions which have come with B’s fancy ‘posh’ kite say you need a wide open space with no overhead wires and no large buildings. After a bit of time excitedly running around looking at options I’m forced to conclude we’re going to need another location. A quick search suggests there’s a park that could work about 15 minutes away so I drag B off to see what we can find…
…and I’m realising/remembering that good kite flying places are maybe not so easy to find.. particularly in areas you don’t know well. The park is part woodland and part open paths but definitely not flat open spaces. It is windy though. In the end we opt for a compromise. We get the kite out and read the first few lines of instructions. We then use a carrier bag to test which way the wind is going. Then we spread the kite out on the floor with the vents facing the wind and try lifting it gently.
We’re quite encouraged with the results. It definitely wants to fly more than the last kite we tried. We can’t undo the string much in the space though so after 15-30 minutes of raising it and seeing what it feels like we give up in a bit of a grump. B particularly is feeling discouraged. She says her arms are never going to be big enough to hold it up. I’m not defeated though! B might still not be won over to kites but I’m not letting this one go. We’re going to crack it this year but I think the next attempt (given the wind is dying down for the rest of the holiday) will be on more familiar home ground…
I’ve been doing a bit of a survey of kite flying and am really intrigued by the results. Lots of people never seem to have done it and there are quite a few who are as scared by the experience as B currently is. I did meet one passer by today though who waxed lyrical about how brilliant the kites he flew as a kid were. Going to continue asking and hopefully pin down the kite flying enthusiast I’m sure must exist among friends, family and acquaintances to help!
Making flags for windy play
You’ll need some sort of stick. I had long thin willow sticks that were thin and bendy but fun to find different ones. The longer the better.
Then you just have to find things to attach to the end. I used:
a big sheet of A2 paper bent in half and stapled on.
a bit of old fabric (bit I used was about 50cm long) sewed on.
A cardboard kitchen towel tube. I cut two holes near the top and put pipe cleaners through them and used those to attach to the stick. Could use string instead.
4 long pipe cleaners, twisted together end to end to make a long string type thing.
Key is to attach them firmly and not use anything you don’t want to get muddy!
Then just carry them to a windy spot and see what they can do!
