Today’s new thing is yet another from the James Dyson Foundation challenge cards I discovered a few months ago. Whilst these are aimed at children, I’ve had great fun making and learning about spaghetti bridges, paper water balloons, and weather balloons, so I was looking forward to today’s task – making a paper helicopter.
I’ve got to admit, after my loop de loop paper plane challenge, I really thought this would be more complicated. When making a paper plane you really have to make a lot of very accurate folds so the plane can effortlessly glide through the air: with the helicopter, I made 3 cuts and 3 folds and added a paper clip. That’s it. I wasn’t convinced this would work, but I stood on a chair and let go…
I honestly couldn’t believe it! It looked so cool! Well, it didn’t look anything special, I definitely could have jazzed it up a bit, but the action really surprised me. I think the weight of the paper clip helps it fall quicker than a plane would, and the upwards current of air on the alternating blades makes it rotate. This was such a fun and entertaining way to spend half an hour on a Sunday afternoon, and I got to learn a little too!
New Day, New Thing 