Customer Reviews

Every Kid Needs Things That Fly

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Big FUN for young children. This book really encourages creativity, but its short on science info. Helium and hot air balloon projects can be done with a Balloon Time Party Helium Balloon Kit (purchased separately from a party store; the kit contains a canister of helium and mylar balloons you can take apart to build projects with). Projects in this book: helium and hot air baloons, a blinking UFO (helium balloon), pretend rocket packs, liquid fueled rockets, car seat control sticks, paratroopers, paratrooper drop platform, masking tape air port, toy airplanes, oh! and plans for a simple workbench.

I bought this for my four-year old son as he is crazy about airplanes and helicopters. I am so impressed by how thorough and detailed this book is. There is a wide variety of projects, from simple wooden airplane models made from popsicle sticks, to strap-on jetpacks for pretend play, to pressurized water rockets like they have at OMSI, our science museum.

The very first project is to construct a workbench that your child can then use while building the other projects. The directions were easy to follow. My son had a great time building this with his grandfather and is so proud to have a workbench like daddy's. The entire structure is made of PVC and seems very stable and sturdy.

Beyond the numerous construction projects, this book contains a lot of general information about flying. One of the projects is to create an airport runway using tape on a piece of carpet. There is information about what the various markings on the runway mean and how to use a compass so that you can correctly mark your own headings.

One of our favorite sections is a discussion of the calls to/from the control tower. We've started using our speaker phone to direct air traffic around the kitchen and dining room. And while my son isn't quite ready to memorize it, I have enjoyed finally learning the entire phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie...).

I ordered this book because I had five of my grandkids staying with us, and around week four, I was in need of more entertainment. This book was full of ideas that were actually do-able. We made the bottle rocket launcher and had a blast.