TUTORIAL: Let's go fly a (homemade) kite!

At this time of year the great outdoors beckons, and in between the April showers there's nothing better than getting outside to fly a kite!

Don't have one? No problem, you can make a kite that would make Mary Poppins proud.

You will need

• 2 thin wooden dowels
• Wood glue
• Twine
• Strong tape
• 1 thick plastic bag or plastic tablecloth
• Kite string (fine nylon string works well)
• Ribbon
• Stickers and paint for decorating

Method

1. Begin by cutting the wooden dowels to the right length: the 'spine' piece should be 120cm long, the 'crosspiece' should be 90cm long. With a pencil, mark the middle of the crosspiece, then mark 30cm from one end of the spine piece. Glue the crosspiece and the spine piece together at these marks, then bind tightly with twine. You should now have a cross, with the top shorter than the bottom.

2. With some tape, stick one end of your twine to the very end of the spine piece, then run the twine around the circumference of the cross shape, sticking it to all 4 ends of the dowels. This will create a diamond shape around the wooden cross. This is the frame of your kite.

3. Lay the frame on top of your plastic bag or tablecloth, and cut out a slightly larger diamond shape from the plastic. Cover the frame with the plastic: fold the plastic to cover the twine and tape it securely in place, particularly at the ends of the dowels. You now have a basic kite!

4. Punch two holes in the plastic, next to the longer spine piece: one hole should be 15cm from the top the kite, and the other 30cm from the bottom. Cut a piece of twine approximately 60cm long and thread one end through the top hole. Tie it to the spine piece. Run the twine down the face of the kite (the side without the dowels) and thread it through the bottom hole. Tie this end to the spine piece, leaving plenty of slack in the twine (it should not sit tightly against the kite face).

5. Cut the kite string to the length you want (at least 2 metres) and tie it to the slack piece of twine you have just threaded onto the kite. It should tie on somewhere near the top of the kite.

6. Get decorating! Stickers and paint are great for brightening up your creation, but don't pile them on too thickly as you still want to the kite to fly! Finally, tie a length of ribbon to the bottom of the kite as a tail.

7. Find a windy spot, throw your kite up in the air and get flying!

If you can't make your own, dotcomgiftshop has you covered with this classic diamond kite, so you don't need to miss out on all the flying fun!

Image source: stable