Easy Kitemaking: How to Build a Pyramid Kite
Ranked #106 in Hobbies, Games & Toys, #1,613 overall
The Tetrahedral Kite: Easy to Make, Easy to Fly!
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...
flying pyramid?
I've called it a "pyramid kite" since I was a kid, but it's also called a tetrahedral kite. The shape is a tetrahedron, which is just one kind of pyramid. But if you need to build a pyramid a school project, hang on! I've also created a How to Make an Egyptian Pyramid tutorial for you-- check it out!
By the way, this kite has a fascinating history -- and a surprising inventor.
But you're here to make a kite. So, let's get started!
Video: Flying My Pyramid Kite
Don't worry, this kite isn't really that close to the tree
Materials You'll Need to Build This Kite
Plan ahead: you may need a craft store for glue and tissue paper
- 24 plastic drinking straws
- spool of kitestring or kitchen string
- large sewing needle (** or chopstick + twistie -- see below)
- strong, light tissue paper or mylar (Colored plastic wrap found in party stores works nicely, but tug on it to make sure it doesn't tear easily. Regular printer paper or wrapping paper is too heavy.)
- craft glue (I use rubber cement, but there's safer craft glues for kids)
Printable Instructions for Making Kite
(Copy and paste to a text document for printout).
- String three plastic drinking straws together to form a triangle. The easiest way is to give your thread extra slack, use a heavy needle, and drop it down through one straw, letting gravity do the work for you. Tie the triangle's ends together securely, leaving as little slack as possible.
- Thread and tie on two more straws to form a second triangle, using one of the first three straws for one side of the triangle. Then tie one more straw between the outer corner of the two triangles to form the back of the pyramid. Again, don't tie the thread so tightly that the straws bend, but don't leave so much give that your pyramid flops. It should stand up on its own once you've got all six straws in place.
- Place your pyramid on your paper or wrap of choice. Trace or cut out a triangle about half an inch larger than the pyramid's base, nipping off the corners as shown. The shape is like the orange safety triangles on slow-moving vehicles. If this is an activity for children, you may want to prepare a cardboard pattern ahead of time which they can trace and copy. Repeat to get a second triangle.
- For each of two sides of the pyramid: Curl the edges of the paper triangle over and around the straws, then secure with rubber cement.
- Repeat steps 1-4, to create three more pyramids, each with two sides covered with paper.
- Stack the four individual pyramids into one large pyramid: three on the bottom, one on top. Orient all of them in the same direction, so that, for instance, the papered sides on all of them are on the left and right. (They're like the wings of birds flying in formation. If they're facing different directions, the wind won't be able to pass through freely.)
- When you've got all the pyramids arranged properly, tie together all the corners that touch, double and triple knotting, just to make sure.
- Attatch your kitestring to one of the corners where two sides of paper meet, as shown in the diagram, and you're done!
- If you want to be ambitious, you can make three more 4-cell kites like this one, then use them as the four cells of a larger tetrahedron to build a giant kite! Ever heard of fractals? You can just keep repeating the same pattern, larger and larger, to make the Great Pyramid!
- New TIP 2010: This kite can be feisty in strong winds (see video above). I find it fun, but you might want to make a detachable tail for stability. Add a string loop on the "downwind" corner of the kite. Then cut a separate string as a tail. Tie cloth ribbons to it, or some other sort of weight like beads or paper clips. Tie a paper clip to one end of the tail to use as a fastener. That way you can add or remove the tail as needed.
Photo Guide: Making a Pyramid Kite
NEW! I finally made a new kite this year and photographed it!
Make triangle base.
Making Your Kite: Extra Help
Improvising Alternate Materials
The twistie needle is probably more "kid safe" than the turkey-lacing needle I used to use. I trimmed a paper-and-wire twistie so that it would fit easily through the straw, then folded the end over to make the eye.
It's also really quick -- drop it in one end of the straw, push it through with a chopstick, grab the end sticking out and repeat.
When trimming bendy straws, use the bottom of the joint as a reference so you cut them all to about the same size.
Photo Gallery: Pyramid Kite in Action
Let's Go Fly a Kite!
Whee! Jacarandas in May rock. (Yes, they really are that color.)
Flying Your Tetrahedral Kite
Show off your homemade kite in a public park, away from trees
I just pick the kite up off the ground by its string and let it go. The wind will flow in the same direction as the string, balancing the two "wings" of each pyramid like the sides of a sailboat sitting on water. It's a very forgiving shape, and the straws tend to bounce rather than break on sharp landings. If one does get bent in a crash, drop a bamboo skewer or a stick through it to splint it.This kite will fly if the wind is strong enough to blow your hair or ring windchimes fairly steadily.
A Pocket Kite -- Always Ready!
A unique, compact kite that's almost indestructable
Miniature - Pocket Kite
Amazon Price: $12.99 (as of 06/03/2012)
Okay, I confess -- I don't always fly pyramid kites. I actually collect a lot of different kites. Some are gorgeous, shaped like dragons or phoenixes or ships! But they take a lot of wind, a lot of space, and I don't take them out very often.
This one I do. I keep it in the trunk of my car. It rolls up and fits in the bottom of a backpack. It's stable, tough, forgiving, and can do simple stunts (figure 8s, S-curves) once you get the feel for it. Best of all -- no struts, so it can't break! If it crashes, it just collapses like a sack; shake the sand off and it's ready to go again. Mine has lasted for fifteen years.
Sierpinski's Triangle - Fractal Math
Hey, This Looks Awfully Familiar!
Mathematicians LOVE processes like this. They call it iteration, meaning "repeating the same steps over and over." Sierpinski's Gasket is what happens when, instead of stacking triangles on top of each other, you make triangles inside each and every triangle. Watch this -- turn down the sound first, if you're in a library!
(Teachers and students, check out this cool Sierpinski's Triangle activity.)
Suggested Links to Sites on Kites
Kitebuilding Instructions, Guides and Patterns
Know any great websites on kitemaking? Post the links and a brief description here, or vote on the best!
1
20 Kids * 20 Kites * 20 Minutes
For over 15 years the Big Wind Kite Factory has been giving kite making classes for the children on the island of Moloka'i in Hawai'i. ...3 points
2
Easy Kitemaking Instructions: Diamond Kite
How to make a simple diamond kite.3 points
3
The Complete Guide to Kite Making and Flying
The Guide To Kite Making And Flying: Different Kinds Of Kites; Kite Tools, Materials, Methods, Accessories; How Kites Fly; Your Own Style Of Kite; ...1 point
4
How to Build a Kite - MonsterGuide.net
How to build a diamond-shaped kite. Requires a couple dowels, twine, glue, paper or fabric.1 point
5
How to Build a Kite - Tetrahedral Kite
Another page on how to build a pyramid kite. Also see kitemaking links on this page, including how to make a diamond kite.1 point
6
Anthony's Kite Workshop
Great kitemaking site with instructions on how to make several different kite designs. Includes some designs you can print out, color and fly.1 point
7
100 Cell Tetrahedral Kite - Class Project
A school teachers shares photos, notes, and a useful template for her class' giant tetrahedral kites. Includes some facts the students discovered about ways to tweak the basic design!1 point
8
How Make a Kite: Fly Kites Making Plans Directions Home Made Build ...
Kite making time begins with March, or used to when the writer was a boy, in Cincinnati. Even the blustering March wind must be weaker in the Ohio River ...0 points
9
Arts and Crafts Ideas Blog ยป Kite Crafts - How to Make Handmade Kites from Home with Your Kids
Great blog post on how to make many kinds of kites.0 points
Great Books on Kitemaking
Here are some gorgeous homemade kites
Buy Kitemaking Materials Online!
Reader Feedback
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Like this kitemaking lens? Got some kite-tips to share? Leave comments here! If you really like it, please email my page to a friend-- thanks!
Also, don't forget to check out my brief page on the inventor of the tetrahedral kite, and the surprising history behind this design!
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aubree12
Jun 2, 2012 @ 12:01 pm | delete
- realy nice for my kids, thnx
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karinakarina44
May 1, 2012 @ 2:45 pm | delete
- Excellent post:!!! clear instructions with photos!!! no probs! I used a recycled plastic bag from a local sports shop!! it is a non biodegradable one so saved it from going in the bin !!! i used sellotape to stick it as it stuck well!! This one will be done tomorrow at the out of school club I work at in France, we are studing the wind!! and making things that fly so this was perfect!! thankyou again for such clear instructions and the photos!! they certainly help!! Oh just a tip that my 10 year old gave me, she said why don't you use the freezer bag ties to join it all together instead of string it will be easier!! you know what she was right lol!!
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bloomingrose
Apr 26, 2012 @ 3:35 pm | delete
- This is incredible - I have never seen this and really want to try it out. People fly kites here all the time around the Bay area. I haven't flown one in years, this looks like the perfect kite to try it out with.
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Lifeboost
Apr 25, 2012 @ 6:30 am | delete
- It's been such a long time since my son flew a kite... I think the time has come to do it again! ;) And the winds have just started picking up speed here now, so it's good timing! :)
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Frank77
Apr 12, 2012 @ 7:43 am | delete
- I totally remember making one of these in 5th grade. It took forever.
I think my parents still have the kite in their garage though 20 years later.
I remember needing lots of wind to get it up in the air.
A while ago i made a big Parafoil Kite out of Tyvek. It's the white plastic they use to wrap houses in. It worked great, it was free and super strong.
Here's what the kite looked like: http://davewirth.blogspot.com/2012/04/diy-how-to-make-tyvek-flow-form-kite.html
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The Inventor of This Kite
I was surprised and pleased to learn that Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, actually invented the tetrahedral kite design I've loved since I was a kid.But he wasn't just making a kite. He was trying to create an amazing flying machine, which in some ways is the ancestor of the ultralight!
In 1907, five years after the Wright Brothers' first flight, Bell's first tetrahedral kite, Cygnet, flew to a height of 168 feet for 7 minutes. It was made of nearly 4,000 individual pyramid cells! It was towed by a steamboat to get enough speed for liftoff. Bell's later model Cygnet II, had a V-8 engine, and Cygnet III finally got a pilot off the ground under its own power.
Alexander Graham Bell's Tetrahedron Kite
Credit: Ctd 2005 on Flickr
I Wonder How They Made THIS Kite?
Make an Egyptian Pyramid
I discovered that many visitors to this page actually came here to learn how to make an Egyptian Pyramid, not a kite. Hey, that's easy!I've not only tweaked my kite design and created a stone wall texture to turn it into a Great Pyramid; I've also created a new papercraft model pyramid you can print out and fold.
Go to How to Make a Paper Pyramid to get two tutorials for the price of one: free!
Final Words
Bell's invention of the telephone paved the way for the internet, cellphones and more. A century ago, no one realized how instant communication would change the world. What will the web be like in a hundred years?
I don't know, but I do know one thing: our cellphones and gadgets will be rust and dust long before the 4500-year old pyramids crumble.
There's an Egyptian proverb:
MAN FEARS TIME
TIME FEARS THE PYRAMIDS
by Greekgeek
Storyteller, former Latin teacher, student of mythology and the ancient world: I've worn many hats, but always I've dabbled in computers and the web.
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Help! I Need Kite String!
Stake Line Winder, 50# x 500 ft.
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 06/04/2012)
Can't find kite string in the local crafts store? Me neither. I just gave up and bought this kite string online. It's cheap, it's good, it works.
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