Soar Into STEM: 5 Awesome Flight Activities + Fun Facts

Soar Into STEM: 5 Awesome Flight Activities + Fun Facts

Aug 7, 2025


Have you ever watched a bird glide through the sky or tossed a paper airplane and wondered “How the heck does it stay up there?”

Good news: You're not the only one! Scientists and engineers have spent hundreds of years exploring that question, and thanks to curious minds and experimentation, we’ve learned how to fly jumbo jets, launch rockets, and even build helicopters out of cardboard and straws.

Welcome to the wonderful world of flight science! Let’s take off!

 


5 Fun Flight Activities to Try at Home or in the Classroom

Each activity below uses simple materials and explores a real principle of flight!

1. Paper Airplane Design Lab

 


Create different styles of paper aircraft. Try a classic dart, gliders, a plane with long wings, or maybe a stubby stunt plane. Fly each one 3 times and measure the distance. Which one flies the farthest? Why do you think that was? What do you think you could change about the design to make it fly farther?

 

2.  Balloon Rocket Launch

 

 

Thread a long string through a straw, tie a string to two chairs or tape it to opposite walls across the room, tape a blown-up balloon to the straw (don’t tie it!), then let go! Zoom!

  • STEM Concepts: Newton’s Third Law and thrust
  • Test It: Does a bigger balloon or a longer balloon fly farther? Time it, which size of balloon zooms faster?
  • DIY Resource:  Balloon Rockets by David Sederberg Ph.D 

 

3. Pinwheel Propeller Power

 


Make a simple pinwheel with paper, a pencil, and a pushpin. Blow on it or hold it near a fan. Notice the spin?


4. DIY Helicopter Glider

 


Cut a strip of paper, fold two blades at the top in opposite directions, and drop it. It should spin like a helicopter (think of maple leaf seeds in the spring).


 
5. Frisbee Science (Paper Plate Gliders)

 

Cut out the center of a paper plate to make a ring. Toss it like a frisbee and notice how it glides.

  • STEM Concepts: Lift, spin stabilization, wing shape
  • Experiment: Try different shapes, just tossing a regular (noncut) plate, or double layers!


5 Fun Flight Facts to Launch Your Learning 

  1. The Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903 lasted only 12 seconds.
    That’s about how long it takes your little brother to crash your ODDY aircraft.
  2.  Planes fly because of Bernoulli’s Principle. Faster air over the top of the wing creates lower pressure, causing the wing to lift. It seems like an air-powered magic trick!
  3. Helicopters don’t need runways because their blades generate vertical lift.
    Their spinning wings are called rotors (basically sideways fans that defy gravity).
  4. Jets fly in the stratosphere, way above clouds and weather.
    That’s why your plane ride gets smoother once you’re “above the bumps.”
  5. Birds were the original flight engineers. Many plane wing designs are based on bird wings! 

 
Flight Vocabulary Words Every Young Aviator Should Know

Use these to sound like a pro at the playground (or during snack-time trivia). Here are a few fun flight facts that explain what keeps planes, birds, and even paper airplanes up in the sky:

  • Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. 
    Lift occurs when wings push air downward, creating an upward force that keeps the aircraft airborne. Thrust, produced by engines pushing air backward, moves the aircraft up or forward.
    It’s like jumping off a swing; pushing back sends you forward!
  • Bernoulli’s Principle: Fast-moving air creates low pressure, and slow-moving air creates high pressure. This is why airplane wings lift planes into the sky; the air on top of the wings moves faster, so the higher pressure below pushes the plane up!
  • Rotational Force: When something spins, like a helicopter’s blades, it creates a force that can lift or move things. It’s like spinning a top, its motion keeps it balanced and moving!
  • Thrust: Thrust is the force that pushes things forward, like a jet engine or a propeller. It’s what makes planes zoom through the sky, just like when you blow up a balloon and let it go, it shoots forward!
  • Lift: The force that helps airplanes rise into the sky by pushing them up. Wings are shaped in a special way, called an airfoil, to make air move faster on top and slower underneath, creating a pressure difference. This pressure difference lifts the plane off the ground. Plus, wings push air down, which helps push the plane up - kind of like a see-saw with air!
  • Air Pressure: Air pushes on everything! When you design a plane or glider, air pressure helps control where it goes and how fast it falls.
  • Aerodynamic:  This means something is shaped to move smoothly through the air without too much resistance. Think - race cars, birds, jets, and a good paper airplane!
    If it slices through the air with ease, it’s aerodynamic. The smoother the shape, the less the air slows it down, and the farther it can fly!

 
Why Flight Science Is More Than Just Fun

Understanding flight helps kids grasp real-world science, physics, engineering, and critical thinking. It's also a fantastic way to encourage creativity, build resilience (hello, paper airplane test #17), and get those hands working with real-world problem-solving. Plus, it’s just COOL!

Whether your child dreams of flying, building, or just tossing the best airplane at the park, exploring STEM through flight is one of the most exciting (and accessible) ways to learn.

 

Ready for More?

Grab your favorite figurines from the In the Sky TOOB or build your own aircraft invention with ODDY Invention Kits for more high-flying fun! When kids connect science, imagination, and play… they soar.

 

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