Christmas Craft Activity - How to Make a Flying Christmas Tree

Here's a simple Make that's a change from the traditional seasonal time-filler of making cards and decorations - at first glance it's a decoration, but really it's a flying toy.

It is also suitable for a class activity, for most age-groups from Primary to High School, depending on how you present it and how much mess you're willing to put up with.

You will need:

• a straw (School teachers: "art straws" are good here, because one straw can make two trees, and glue-stick will stick to them)
• plain paper - white is fine, but green would save you some colouring in.
• scissors
• ruler
• pencil
• clear sticky tape
• glue stick
• pencils or pens to decorate the tree

The direct ancestor of the Flying Christmas Tree is the Hoopster - each "wing" is actually a loop or paper.

The exact number of wings is something of a personal aesthetic choice, but the best option is usually three. Each wing is a strip of paper approximately a centimetre wide (half an inch), varying in length from about 10cm to about 20cm. The smallest wing goes at the front, the largest at the back.

• Now is also the time to decorate your tree. Use your chosen medium to draw on baubles, streamers and stars along the length of the strips. I strongly recommend not to add actual decorations, though, unless they are very light sequins or sticky-paper stars.
   

Curl each strip of paper into a circle and tape or glue the ends together.

I used a 20cm length of paper art straw.  To add balancing weight to the front, I folded a few centimetres over and glued it down.

The largest wing goes all the way at the end of the straw, flush, so that the tree can stand as a decoration.

The others are glued along the "trunk", so that they look pleasing you your eye.

The tree is now ready.

You can either keep it as a decoration, standing it in the corner of your desk, or use it for its intended purpose, and throw it overhand, like a glider than a dart.