Kids Kites

They're Everywhere, Shop Bought Or DIY

Regarding making your own kites at home... For older kids and teenagers, the MBK Dowel kites are suitable as a father/son or mother/daughter project. See the Dowel Kites book over on the right there. Many of those kites are 1.2 meters (4 feet) across, and great in light to moderate winds.

Keep an eye out for kite-making events. These are often able to offer a construction and flying experience for very low cost. Some of these events are specifically aimed at children. There's usually a workshop of some kind happening at a kite festival, for example.

We've been to a few festivals, and it's not hard to tell when there has been a recent workshop for making kids kites. Small kids and small kites here, there and everywhere! A mini kite-festival off to one side of the main event, you could say.

There's also a whole world of multi-line kites out there, but these are generally more expensive and better suit 8 year olds and up. Besides, I personally have a bias towards single line designs of all kinds!

For younger kids, right down to 3 years old, try this kite for kids which is very easy to make! Or, do you have some fairly large indoor space available? Then you must try making paper kites. The MBK Paper Sled requires a sheet of copier paper and not much else!

Kids Kites In The West

Here's a short list of the most popular types of kites for sale, plus a few comments on each...

Novelty: This covers a wide variety of cute designs which don't easily fit into any of the more traditional categories. For example...

Airplane Kites
Helicopter Kites

Diamonds: The classic kids simple kite! With a little care, these can last quite a while and the good ones fly nice and high. The flat sail means the decoration is clearly visible in the air.

Deltas: The Baby Bat Kite is a particularly well-known small Delta for kids. These bird-like triangular designs are efficient fliers, particularly in the larger sizes. They are known for achieving high line angles in even fairly light breezes. Like the Diamond, the sail decoration is plainly visible in the air, and they are popular starter kites for children.

Parafoils: The nice thing about a kids parafoil is that it has no spars. The inflatable design allows it to be scrunched up into a small space for transport. We've seen a few of these around, and they seem to be reliable fliers. They won't fly quite as high as other types though, for a given length of line.

Sleds: These are very simple 2-spar kites and roll up for easy transport. The very smallest ones aren't great fliers, but the larger ones compare well to similar sized parafoils. Most modern Sled designs can take a fair amount of rough handling by young kids!

Small Parafoils and Sleds are certainly easy kites to play around with in a family setting.

Dragons: Not the traditional Chinese variety, these have a curved leading edge and usually a long broad tail. These kids kites can be a little erratic in the air, but they sure put on a great display of color and swirling movement!

Getting Into The Hobby

So how do you go about getting your young child into flying kids kites? There are 3 approaches.

1. Buy a kite. A huge range of inexpensive and colorful kids kites are available, both from shops and the Internet.
2. Buy a kite kit. Besides being cheap, this option involves your child in making something, with some help.
3. Make a kite from scratch. When it comes to cheap kites for kids, this is the cheapest of all! Finding suitable materials is not a problem in most countries.

When buying a kite, the shop owner will usually be more than happy to help you select something which is a proven flier and also suits the age and personality of your child. Some types will last longer than others too. Shopping on-line? If the website itself doesn't give all the info you need, just email the owner. They'll be happy to help, they want the sale!

Kite kits are a great idea if your child enjoys making things. Pretty well everything is included, for just a few dollars. If some aspects of building of the kite itself are a bit much for the child, then they can at least have fun with the decoration of the sail.

Scratch-built kites for children use materials that are commonly available either from shops or already sitting in a cupboard somewhere at home. You can just go out to fly with a plain kite, as I prefer. Or, you can get a bit arty and get into some kite crafts to really dress up your kite!

Over the last few years we've raised a little boy who has been around kids kites for his entire short life. Hence, we've not been able to resist putting together a small collection of 'child flying kite' pictures!

Also on the topic of child fliers... A cartoon kite is usually depicted being flown by a very young person!

Age is a factor in how a child enjoys kite flying.

What about the non-Western world? The above list would no doubt be true to a large extent no matter where in the world the child comes from. I can think of one big contrast though, and that is the fighter-kite cultures of the world. With kite-fighting, the last one flying is the winner. In a number of countries, using kites in this way is very popular, particularly in the poorer neighborhoods. For these children, flying is just as much about competing with other fliers, as it is about flying the kite itself. You just don't see that in the West, although an increasing number of adults are aware of this sport. Having fun in a group setting with fighter kites is definitely on the rise in the West.

Deltas make good kids kites. Photo by Nguyễn Thành Lam.

Of course, when it comes to children's crafts, there's a whole lot more families can do besides making kites.

2 Year Old Kite Flier Pics, Some Blog Entries

Here's an old page featuring instructions on how to make our MBK Kids Diamond. Pop in there and see a pic of our Aren, barely old enough to run, trotting downwind with his Kids Kite several meters in the air! There was enough breeze on that day to make that possible.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

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