What fun a kite is on a breezy spring day! Many a child has felt the strength of the wind tugging at a kite, has known the joy of flying a colored sliver of joy in the bright blue of a summer sky. Kites have been around for centuries and they have been more than toys. Scientists have used kites to study, to invent, to explore, to work, to capture and to probe the unknown.

In 1883, Douglas Archibald used a kite, to which he had attached an anemometer, to measure wind velocity.

Leonardo DaVinci attempted to use kites to cross water for the building of bridges. Later, Homan Walsh, a 10-year-old boy, used a kite to reach across the chasm of Niagara Falls. The kite pulled a cable that was the beginning of the building of the great span. For the performing of this feat, Homan was paid a hefty sum of ten dollars!

Ben Franklin used a kite in his studies of lightning. He flew kites in thunderstorms to discover the facts that he needed. He was eventually able to prove that lightning was electricity.

Orville and Wilbur Wright used kites to help them learn the method of flight and to develop an airplane that could support a man's weight and remain stable in the sky.

Guglielmo Marconi used kites to carry an antenna high enough into the sky to allow him to send a radio signal across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901. Kites have also been used to send messages in war.

In the early 1900's, the United States Weather Bureau used kites extensively to help take readings with instruments to help forecast the weather in the US.

Alexander Graham Bell, who we all know for his work with the deaf that led to the invention of the telephone, used kites to help him develop aircraft. He made a new improved Hargrave Kite (a Box kite) and used this work to design a number of successful aircraft.

During World War II, Paul Garber designed an Eddy type kite that was used for gunnery target practice and thus saved many lives during that conflict. He was only one of the many scientists and inventors who made use of the kite.

It may be possible for you also to learn from the kite and to have a load of fun on the side. So let's take to the air.

First we will need a definition for the kite. A kite is a frame made of wood or lightweight plastic, covered with cloth or paper that is flown on a string, with a tail or a bridle for control.

Start your study by making a notebook to keep your info in. Decorate the front of the binder or presentation folder with drawings of brightly colored kites in a summer sky. Collect pictures of different kites for your folder. If you can't copy or cut out the pictures, try drawing some.
Now let's read up on the subject. Here are some books on kites.

• The Magnificent Book of Kites: Exploration in Design, Construction, Enjoyment and Flight By Maxwell Eden
• Kites By David Pelham
• Kite Flight: Complete Instructions for Making Forty Different Kites by Alice and Jack Botermans
• Catch the Wind: All About Kites By Gail Gibbons
• The Complete Book of Kites and Kite Flying By Will Yolen
• Four Krazy Kites to Make and Fly by David Pelham
• The Usborne Book of Kites By Carol Law
• Kites for Everyone By Margaret Gerger
• Soft Kites and Windsocks By Jim Rowlands and John Cooks
• Making Kites By David Michael
• Easy to Make Decorative Kites – Nine Models From Around the World By Alen and Gill Bridgewater.

Ideas for Study