Airplane theme

Make a jet pack out of 2-liter soda bottles, have paper airplane races, eat airplane s’mores, and more!

This week was A I R P L A N E theme in our house. Well, “jet week,” to be exact, but I broadened the topic so we’d have more resources and activities to work with. I think the “airplane” theme is also a great one to be tailored to younger learners, like my two-year-old. This theme happened to correspond with the 4th of July this year, as well as a short vacation we had planned, so we covered airplanes over the span of two busy weeks, and fit activities, readings, and field trips in wherever we could. One of the reasons we did airplanes & jets at this time is because my husband had some time off, and my older son *really* wanted him to be a part of it. He’s more into planes than I am, anyway, so it worked out great! I actually couldn’t find as many plane-related activities as I thought I would, so please add your recommendations in comments below. See my Jets & Airplanes Pinterest board for some fun STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) and other ideas.

Let’s get started with some discussion questions to discover what your kids are most interested in learning more about, and use them to guide your teaching and Pinterest-ing:

What are some differences between airplanes, jets, seaplanes, and other flying machines?
Who were the Wright Brothers? Amelia Earhart? How did they help develop and change the field of airplanes?
What are some different ways to create paper airplanes and test how far they can fly?
What are the meanings of airplane terms such as lift, yaw, roll, and pitch?
What do pilots (commercial, coast guard, Navy, etc.) need to know in order to do their jobs?

R E A D I N G

When we searched “jets” at our local library, we didn’t come up with much, especially for youth, so we expanded our search to “airplanes.” Surprisingly, even then there wasn’t a ton, but it could have just been that our library was short on the topic this week. A lot of home libraries probably have a book or two related to airplanes, even if it’s fictional, which is great. Here is our stash for the week:

The Big Book of Airplanes by DK Publishing: This is a classic in our personal library and has been a favorite of my son’s for years. I’m almost certain it’s what inspired learning more about this topic in the first place. Browse through large, vivid photographs of several types of airplanes including seaplanes and army jets, and learn about their purposes and parts.
The Flyer Flew! The Invention of the Airplane by Lee Sullivan Hill: “Follow the Wright Brothers step by step as they build the world’s first airplane, an invention that changed the world.”
The Kids’ Guide to Paper Airplanes by Christopher L. Harbo: We had a lot of fun with this book, and learned about trial and error as we attempted to follow along with the specific folds and steps to building. My son enjoyed building three or four and then testing them for distance and speed against each other. There are lots of versions of this same topic out there- let me know which ones you like!
Xtreme Military Aircraft books by Professor John Hamilton: We ended up with a small handful of these, although they were a little advanced for young readers. Cool pictures, though! “Readers will follow the history of its origins as a descendant of the X-35 and product of the Joint Striker Fighter Program. Chapters also detail the aircrafts military and performance specifications as well as its features and advantages in the field, such as its three versions, its cockpit design and speech-recognition system, its stealth technology, its target sensors, and its powerful cannons, missiles, and other weapons.”
You Can Draw Planes by Mark Bergin: “Readers will follow accessible step-by-step instructions that clearly demonstrate how to draw Learjets, Gliders, and more. This book introduces readers to both classic and modern planes, and provides a fascinating fact about each. Beginning artists will learn basic drawing methods, terms, and concepts while enjoying colorful pictures and cartoons of all kinds of planes.”

M E D I A

I decided to add a new category this week, since we’ve been discovering so many learning resources outside of the realm of books, and it’s really exciting. Some of these are more for fun, and others are really information-packed, and all are tailored to kids. My five-year-old followed along with the podcast and was really excited about it.

Disney Planes and the sequel, Planes: Fire & Rescue: We had a fun outdoor movie night, watching Planes in our backyard. The next day, Ronan (my five-year-old) was referencing parts of a seaplane and how they differ from crop dusters.
Mighty Machines: An oldie but goodie. If you have Netflix, you should have access to these classic episodes from our childhood. Let the nostalgia begin! If not, I think you can watch some of them for free on YouTube. You’ll need to search through the titles to find those that are applicable to airplanes, or whatever type of machine you’re doing for the week. Last year, we watched a lot of these during Construction Week and Machine Week.
Brains On podcast for kids: My friend turned me on to this one and thought it would be a good fit for my blog- she was right! This week, try How do airplanes fly?

A R T

This was a fun week for making up our own art activities, although we were definitely inspired by airplanes we saw on field trips, as well as projects we’ve done in the past. It never hurts to repeat old concepts and produce new outcomes! There is a lot of building involved in airplane art, so my little builder had a great time practicing his spatial reasoning skills.

Super Sci-Fi Rocket Fueled Jet Pack by Doodle Craft: O.M.G., a week later, my kids are still obsessed with this thing! It was pretty easy, although it’s important to have a few specific supplies. The instructions call for hot glue, but we had Gorilla Glue so we used that instead. You have to do the silver spray paint on the 2-liter plastic soda bottles. It really gives the effect of a true jet. We substituted the felt with red and yellow tissue paper I had in our craft supplies. I also jimmy-rigged string straps instead of the very sophisticated (and awesome) ones Doodle Craft uses. I think it looks awesome!

Upcycled army jet: This was just something my son asked to do (last year we made a giant, amazing grasshopper from items from our recycle bin, and it obviously stuck with him), so we did it! I pulled a bunch of recycled items (egg cartons, plastic bottles, straws, cardboard, etc.) and let him choose the body of the jet, the wings, and other features, and I helped him duct tape it together and then paint it. We had the green spray paint from last year’s grasshopper, so I sprayed it and after it was dry I had him sponge paint camouflage onto the body (gray, tan, and black).

Drawing planes: It’s not every week that we end up with books that have theme-related activities and instructions. But when we do, we take advantage. Together, my older son and I followed the instructions for a few illustrations in You Can Draw Planes and worked to improve our spatial reasoning and representational drawing skills. He was five at the time, so it was important that I explained the steps and helped a lot, otherwise he would have gotten frustrated. I teach kindergarten art and it’s all about kids expressing artistically in their own ways, and this kind of step-by-step technique is pretty advanced (great for older kids!).

Tot School Airplane Craft by Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten: I am becoming obsessed with this woman’s blog. She, like me, organizes by theme (this craft is categorized as “transportation”) and has great activities and resources to go with each. For the airplane craft, scroll down a little ways. We didn’t do this one, but it’s great for youngsters (I’m wishing I would have tried it with my two-year-old) and involves sponge painting and collage.
There are a ton more airplane and jet art ideas on my Pinterest page. Please follow!

S E N S O R Y & S T E M (science. technology. engineering. math.)

There are so many incredible science & physics opportunities when learning about airplanes, I’m sure there is a lot more you could do than what we had planned for the week. Activities can be as simple as building paper airplanes and testing their speed and distance or creating a sensory bin filled with toy planes and cotton ball clouds.

Use a book similar to The Kids’ Guide to Paper Airplanes and spend a few minutes, hours, or days (depending on how into it your child is) building different types of paper airplanes. Take them outside, have your kiddo make a starting point with sidewalk chalk, and keep track of how far each plane goes. Compare and contrast the different body styles.

STEM Paper Airplane Challenge by Kids Activities Blog: This one is a step above the paper airplane making, in that it challenges kids to add objects of various weights (like coins) to the airplanes to test the strength of the airplane. I recommend using really sturdy paper like cardstock so the planes can actually support the objects.
Airplane Sensory Bin by House of Burke: If you’re like us and have a million toy planes and jets lying around, this is a no-brainer. Add cotton balls for clouds and some other fun supplies, and your kids will love exploring the textures while zooming their toys.

C O O K I N G

This wasn’t a huge week for cooking or baking, but I do have a couple of ideas to share:

This Preschool Alphabet blog page has some good ideas for airplane theme in general, but scroll down to the bottom for snack ideas. We tend to have Handy Snacks on hand, so we used those crackers, grapes, string cheese, and carrots to build little bi-planes for lunch.
Airplane S’Mores! My son, Ronan, came up with this idea on his own. Using the cracker airplane model, sub in graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate for a yummy dessert. It’s not an exact science. Just have fun with it!

F I E L D T R I P S

Okay, the truth is, field trips keep me sane. They are absolutely my favorite aspect of the themed weeks, because they are a great excuse to get out of the house. And in the summer, when I’m transitioning to stay-at-home parent and with the boys 24/7, getting out of the house is VITAL, my friends. I even rank them above art projects. Crazy, I know.

For airplane/jet week, our featured event was taking the kids to the Museum of Flight in South Seattle. Ronan really wanted to “take Daddy to see all the cool airplanes,” and this was a key factor in choosing airplanes as a theme. We got lucky when we found out our week (unplanned) landed on the first Thursday of the month, which happens to involve free admission at the museum. So, hot tip, plan around those kinds of opportunities when you can. We did the Museum of Flight last summer for machine week, and it happened to fall on Seafair Weekend, which was amazing because (although the place was insanely busy) we got to watch the Blue Angels take off and do tricks right in front of us! Repeat field trips are always okay, and it’s great to show interconnectedness between all of the things we learn about.

Another easy idea is to head to the airport and park in the cell phone lot to watch airplanes take off and land, or, like we did today, head to the lake to watch seaplanes. We live near an industrial lake called Lake Union, where a company called Kenmore Air does scenic seaplane flights around the area, so we parked our stuff at the beach and observed. We decided to go into their office, and there were some cool, large airplane models and super nice employees who, when we said we were learning about airplanes, gave the boys pilot stickers and model balsa airplane kits, which my oldest has been flying all day.