K-12 Classes

Learning with Kites

We all know kites are a ton of fun – and they also open the door to a world of learning

Want to tap into that feeling of effortless learning you live to see your students enjoy?

Here at Kites in the Classroom we know from our own experience teaching that developing a good lesson for the next week, the next unit, or even the next class is a constant challenge for new and veteran teachers alike. And these last two years we have heard from many teachers that they are struggling to find the time to plan meaningful activities that meet the ever increasing learning outcomes, while also tending to students’ social emotional needs. Teachers want to engage and inspire their students, but so many teachers just have too much on their plate, and don’t have time to be creating new things from scratch.

We’re here to help.

Our Kite Kits are an affordable creative teaching resource that intrigues and inspires. Kites can be used as a starting point for lessons across all curriculums and all grades – from history to physics, mathematics to art, and of course are a great addition to any STEAM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). Not to mention they are great fun for celebrations and group building.

Whether your group is drawing on their imagination to create incredible designs, learning to tie a knot for the first time, developing collaborative skills, or exploring the principles of flight, a kiting activity with our Kite Kits will help to create learning that inspires and engages, and memories that last. Learners of all ages love this affordable, creative and inclusive activity, which can become an anual tradition.

Best of all – ourKites in the Classroom Guide Book and Resource Page has everything you need to plan a Kite activity, unit or day, without adding overwehelm, so you can focus on the things that matter.

Our Kite Kits and resources are made by educators, for educators,  to MOTIVATE, ENGAGE & ENSPIRE, your students while meeting all your learning goals.

What potential do our Kite Kits have to support learning?

At the simplest level our Kite Kits provide a fun, hands-on activity accessible to students of all ages and abilities.

But more than that, an activity using our Kite Kits:

• Provides engaging access points for guiding inquiry, dialogue and critical thinking, and can act as a powerful theme for integrating learning across many subjects.

• Can be a direct teaching tool, using approved pedagogy and assessment while many lessons learned will be more indirect.

• Opens the mind to the greater world of scientific discovery and technological inventions.

• Supports the social dimensions of learning.

• Provides the experience of life in nature.

Our Kite Kits open the door to to powerful learning that engages the hearts and minds of learners, is authentic and challenging, builds both independence and collaboration, while promoting creativity and reflection through immediate fun, challenge and excitement.

Inspiration for using Kites in the Classroom

Build community by starting your year with a Kite activity or day. You can plan one for your class, across your grade, or for the whole school. Why not include families and make it a community event? It’s a great tradition to celebrate the start or end of the year.

Host a kite activity or day to celebrate a special day in your community – some ideas are Dot Day, International Day of Peace, Take Me Outside, National Kite Month, or Earth Day. How about Kites with Kids to replace the traditional Muffins with Moms or Donuts with Dads!

Weave kites into your planning by identifying specific curricular and social emotional learning outcomes you want to meet for one or more subjects. Once you start looking you will find connections in all subjects in all grades!

Use our Kite Kits to develop a longer transdisciplinary unit using the pedagogical approach you use as part of your regular practice, or as a way to try something different like Inquiry, Problem-Based or Place-Based learning, or STEAM.

Introduce or develop STEM/STEAM learning and the Engineering Design Process with our Kite Kits and STEAM Guidebook. Whether it is a short introduction, or forms the basis of a longer project for students familiar with the process, our Kite Kits are just what you need.

Schools & Daycares

With Kites in the Classroom the Sky Is the Limit!

Group Building
  • Develop a strong group identity through a shared experience and achievement.
  • Learn how to work together to solve problems.
  • Pool knowledge and skills.
  • Share responsibilities and roles.
  • Practice consideration towards others.
  • Have fun together as they create memories that last a lifetime.
Communication Skills
  • Share ideas and information.
  • Refine thinking through disucssion and explanation.
  • Give and receive feedback from peers.
  • Challenge assumptions.
  • Articulate and supporte a point of view.
Leadership Skills
  • Cooperation and conflict resolution strategies.
  • Problem solving.
  • Celebrating the gifts each member brings to the group.
Hands-On Learning
  • Break complex tasks into steps.
  • Plan and manage time.
  • Follow directions to assemble something.
  • Take risks.
  • Tie different kinds of knots.
  • Measure half.
Problem Based Learning

As anyone who has ever flown a kite knows, kites provide a powerful opportunity to learn by actively engaging in real-world and immediately relevant problems, through exploration, risk taking and problem solving. These experiences develop skills that are transferable to all learning and the world of work, and promotes learning that is profound and durable.

STEAM Learning

A kiting activity or unit is a great opportunity to actively engage with the concepts and processes of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics, and promotes inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

Engineering Design Process

The kiting experience inherently uses the principles of the Engineering Design Process: 

  • Define the Problem
  • Plan a Solution
  • Make a Model
  • Test the Model
  • Reflect and Redesign 

with creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, asking questions, making observations, analysing date and communicating findings at the heart. 

Download a PDF of the Engineering Design Process on our Resources Page!

Make Time for Play

Having fun and playing is an important part of learning! Throughout the year many children will not have time for the joy and freedom of spontaneous play. Free play is a safe space for children to express their thoughts and emotions,  relieve stress, and just be kids again.

Connection with Nature

Kiting is an easy activity for people of all ages and abilities to do outside. Flying a kite requires careful observation skills – of wind speed and direction, the flying terrain and surrounds, clouds in the sky and more. The feeling of flying a kite high in the air, powered only by the wind is both exhilerating and humbling.

Resources

As a family of educators, we know all about developing learning resources – and we share our knowledge with our community.

Follow for simple strategies you can use today to motivate, engage and inspire your students.

WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY:

“Thank you for the kites, my class really enjoyed making and flying them. This has become a spring tradition in our class now. I have recommended them to other teachers in my school, you might hear from them soon.”

Gloria Leash

Champlain Heights School, BC

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