Making flags and experimenting with them. Trying out an old duvet case and seeing how you can play with the wind. Things to do when it’s nicely windy but you lack the energy to try kite flying.
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.
I’m fascinated with the wind at the moment. A bit like the moon, it is a complete mystery to me and I’m really hoping that this year we can play with it more. 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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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!
