Paper airplane science fair project | Paper airplane experiments | Paper plane game

Introduction:

Imagine putting out a paper airplane game for your class students!  Maybe if you are a parent, on a fine Saturday you can put out a paper airplane competition for your kids.  Nobody dislikes playing paper airplane science fair project inside a classroom activity.  Paper airplane competition has different kinds of game types to enjoy and differentiate the learning.  Also, you can change the game type by considering the number of students/kids you have. 

Conducting a paper airplane test is to find out the range, endurance, and accuracy of our paper airplane design. In the following article let us talk about all those specific details about it and plot an interesting game for kids to try out at their home.  

Level: 

Making: Easy

Play: Easy

Age: 5+

How to play a paper plane game?

We are going to test our paper airplane in three major aspects as we have discussed in the intro:

1. Range: It is nothing but the maximum distance an aircraft can cover by flying in one full load of fuel. For paper planes, it’s the distance between the place of throwing to a place of landing.
2. Endurance: The maximum time an aircraft can spend in air cruising is called Endurance. But it is not the same as a range. Airplane endurance is about time, whereas range is about distance covered. 
3. Accuracy: Accuracy is making your paper airplane reach a certain target kept at a distance or in some place or height. 

Supplies required:

• A4 sheet of paper (8.5 in x 11 in paper)
• Scissors
• String/thread
• Stopwatch
• Measuring tape
• Cardboard
• Color papers
• Color Sketches/crayons
• Sticking tape/craft tape

Method:

• Make three paper airplanes to test out all three aspects. Try out these three planes with instructions that could help you…
  • Plane 1 – Range: Paper airplane that flies far and straight
  • Plane 2 – Endurance: Smart fly
  • Plane 3 – Accuracy: Western wind
• Find a peaceful and blank area, School playground, auditorium, or garden where there is a plethora of space to fly your plane.
• Make sure no one is around you towards the launching spot – to avoid accidents.  Because the sharp pointy nose of your paper plane can literally hit eyes are sensitive spots that may be a greater problem.
• Take a stopwatch or timer for the time measurement and a sheet of paper or notebook for writing the time readings.

Up to this all the above steps are common but the change in experimentation comes after this.  Following the steps lets, you experiment with different games in paper airplane making.

Range:

As we have discussed range is nothing but the maximum distance our paper airplane can reach in one full throw.  To prepare for this you need to have sports cones or some stones or some color clays to mark distances.  These can be used for marking the distances so that it will be even easier for kids to notice the range.  Below here there are two tables that you can use as a reference for the range paper airplane competition.  

Table for Marking the distances using different props:

	Markup for Range measurement
Distance in mts.	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
10	Cone 1	Red painted stone	Chalking mark – 10 mts.
20	Cone 2	Yellow painted stone	Chalking mark – 20 mts.
30	Cone 3	Orange painted stone	Chalking mark – 30 mts.
40	Cone 4	Green painted stone	Chalking mark – 40 mts.
50	Cone 5	Blue painted stone	Chalking mark – 50 mts.

Now, let’s have a look at the range calculation table that you can use for taking a print-out and for marking the distance during the competition.

Range calculation table for paper airplane science fair project:

Name of your plane
Launch	Distance in cm/mtrs.	Changes made to plane
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Average distance in cms./mts.
The final observation of your plane

Download the above chart from this link – Paper airplane range testing chart and proceed with the next steps.

• Get ready to throw your paper plane in an open area but before that make sure you can be able to start/stop your stopwatch whilst you’re throwing.
• Hold the paper aeroplane on one hand and on other hand hold the timer. (if you are playing alone).  If there is a teacher or parent present students can throw the plane while the teacher/parent using the stopwatch.
• Now throw your paper plane into the air and start the timer as you toss the plane into the air.
• Stop the timer just when the paper airplane hits the ground. Write this reading on a sheet of paper or notebook
• Repeat the same with plane 1 for 10 times and note down all the ten readings in your reading paper.

Endurance:

Endurance here can be judged through absolutely time.  So the teacher or parent needs to keep their timer ready before their kids are about to launch their airplane.  The endurance can be calculated from the moment of the paper airplane’s launch to the moment it touches the ground.  So, you need to keep your stopwatch ready and then ask your kid to proceed.  The winner will be calculated according to the longest flight time.  If you do not like the concept of winners among small children you can choose to give them grade according to the ranges.  We will see the range table below.

Table. Paper airplane game grade system for small kids:

Time duration	Grade
05 – 10 seconds	E
10 – 15 seconds	D
15 – 20 seconds	C
20 – 25 seconds	B
25 – 30 seconds	A
30 – 35 seconds	WORLD RECORD

Now let’s see the Endurance calculation table.  Note that you can take multiple printouts if you want all the kids to measure the time and give you the answer.

Endurance calculation table for paper airplane science fair project:

Name of your plane
Launch	Time in Seconds	Changes made to plane
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Average seconds
The final observation of your plane

Download the above chart from this link – Endurance calculation table for paper airplane science fair project and proceed with the next steps.

• Now toss your paper plane into the air and start the timer when kids toss the plane into the air.
• Stop the timer just when the paper airplane hits the ground. Write this reading on a sheet of paper or notebook
• Repeat the same with plane 1 for 10 times and note down all the ten readings in your reading paper.  Also, note down all the changes you are making on the way to your every try.  This helps you understand – how design changes make a big difference.

Accuracy:

Accuracy paper plane activity is to hit a target or a hole at a certain height/distance.  For this accurate paper airplane experiment, there are two types of activities that can be done.  

1. You need to tie a hula hoop or a bicycle tire with one string tied on one side and the other side is tied on the ceiling or any object to hang it.  Now position yourself about 15 – 20 feet from the bicycle tire or hula hoop.  Now try to go through the hula hoop in order to win the competition.  Each person can have three tries to fly their paper airplane into the hula hoop.  In case of failing to fly through the hula hoop –  the candidate will be eliminated from the paper airplane game.  If you can actually fly through the hula hoop all three times – each of them will be considered as one point for the game.  There are three levels and at each level, the distance increases as the level increases.  The final winner is whoever has the maximum number of flights inside the hula hoop.
2. The second type is you need to cut out bigger and smaller holes in an A1 sheet of paper and hang it on the ceiling vertically as shown in the below picture.  Higher scores are given for the smaller holes and larger holes will have the lesser score as compared to the larger ones.  Each student will have three tries for the first level.  The one who misses flying through the holes will be disqualified from the paper airplane game, the maximum scored students will be going through the next level.  This game will have a total of 3 levels for finding a winner.  Check out some of the activity sample pictures below here.