If your little one has ever asked you, “How does a plane fly?” and you weren’t exactly sure how to answer, this is the post for you! I’m going to show you how to use a simple paper airplane activity to learn about the four principles of flight—with lots of fun and experimentation along the way!

Let’s take off!

Flight Family Unit Study

Time to take off! This activity, along with many others, is part of my Flight Family Unit Study. You will explore the four forces of flight—lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Plus, how birds fly, how planes turn, and why geese fly in a V-formation. It’s perfect for curious kids who love things that soar.

Paper Airplane Activity: How Does a Plane Fly?!

A fun way to learn how a plane flies—and experiment with the four principles of flight—is with a paper airplane activity!

For this activity, you will need:

• Paper
• Pencil
• Measuring Tape
• Calculator (optional)

Step 1: Create your paper airplane.

Start by folding your paper airplane! Foldable Flight has a wonderful YouTube tutorial that shows you how to make a paper airplane designed to fly really far. You might also choose to fold a few different styles of airplanes to see how they compare.

I also have some Free Printable Paper Airplane Instructions you can grab using the link below! After you enter your email address, you’ll be sent a link to download the four paper airplane printables. You’ll also be redirected to the How Wee Learn shop, where you can take a peek at my Flight Family Unit Study and see a sample!

Step 2: Have fun experimenting with your paper airplane.

Once you have your paper airplanes ready, find a long, clear space to throw your airplane (a hallway works nicely, or head outside if it isn’t too windy!).

Have some fun throwing your paper airplane and experimenting with how you can get it to fly the farthest:

• What happens if you throw your airplane really lightly? What about really hard?
• What happens if you curve the ends of the wings on the airplane up or down?
• What happens if you add some extra weight by attaching a paper clip to the airplane’s nose?

Step 3: Now, let’s add in some math!

Once you’ve figured out how to get your paper airplane to fly nice and straight, let’s figure out the average distance it flies.

To find the average distance, throw your airplane five times, and measure and record the distance it travels each time. Add up those five distances and divide that number by 5 to find the average distance flown.

If you created multiple airplanes, which one flew the farthest on average? Why do you think that might be?

You could also use this opportunity to chat about ‘outliers’ in a data set. For example, maybe on one of your throws, a gust of wind carried the paper airplane extra far—a whole 30 feet! Or perhaps your dog barked as you were throwing the paper airplane, causing you to jump, and it barely flew at all—only 3 feet! Those distances would be outliers. How does the average distance flown change if you remove the outliers?

Step 4: Learn about the Four Principles of Flight.

The last step in this paper airplane activity is to learn about the four principles of flight. The same four principles of flight that help a real airplane fly also help your paper airplane fly!

1. Thrust is the forward force that propels the airplane through the air. Thrust is created by your hand when you throw the paper airplane. In a real airplane, thrust is created with a propeller and an engine.
2. Drag is the force that slows an airplane down. As an airplane moves through the air (paper or real!), it encounters resistance from the air, which creates drag. Drag acts opposite to thrust.
3. Lift is the force that pushes the paper airplane up. When you throw a paper airplane, air flows over and under its wings. On a real airplane, the wings are usually designed with a slight curve or angle, which helps create lift. The air moves faster over the top of the wing and slower underneath, creating a difference in pressure that pushes the airplane upward.
4. Weight (gravity) pulls the paper airplane down toward the Earth. Weight acts opposite to lift.

For an airplane to fly, there must be enough thrust to overcome drag, and lift must be strong enough to counteract weight.

Step 5: And finally, bring your learning all together!

When you experimented with your paper airplane—throwing it harder or softer, curving the wings, or adding weight—you were experimenting with the four principles of flight:

• Throwing the airplane harder or softer changes the thrust.
• Curving the ends of the wings affects lift and drag.
• Adding weight changes how much gravity pulls the airplane down.

When you found a combination that helped your paper airplane fly really straight and far, you were balancing the four forces. Knowing everything you do now, would you make any changes to your paper airplane?

So much learning is built into one paper plane activity!

Want Even More Hands-On Science Fun?

Check out my Flight Family Unit Study to learn more about flying, make more paper airplanes (including a really cool loop-de-loop one!), and learn how all of this applies to birds. The Flight unit is just one of five exciting topics included in the Creative Scientist Bundle—a playful, jam-packed resource designed to spark curiosity, encourage critical thinking, and bring science to life through hands-on exploration.