Paper airplane racing is a quick and easy way to enjoy an evening or encourage kids to learn about flight. Whether you're playing with experienced flyers or just looking for a fun activity to do with friends or family, paper airplane racing brings a good balance of fun, competition and creativity to any event.
For those new to paper airplane racing, the rules are simple: each individual makes their own paper airplane and flies it in a race against other competitors. The person whose plane makes it past the finish line first wins the race! It's a great way to learn how aerodynamics works and have fun at the same time. Paper airplanes provide a unique challenge as they require careful planning and precise folding techniques in order to create an efficient flying machine.
Finding the right place to host your race can be a bit tricky, at the least you'll need to define a starting line and a finish line. Make sure you consider anything that could cause a cross wind and cause the paper planes to veer off course. You can use a hall or living room but a large space like a classroom, gym or park will allow for greater competition.
You'll also need to decide how to monitor the finish line. If you have a phone available you can use it to monitor the finish line by recording video, point the camera up and placing it at on the finish line. You could also have someone watch the finish line, just make sure they're wearing eye protection.
As you'd expect the race moves pretty quickly, to ensure accurate judging only two or three contestants should compete at a time. If you have more than two or three players set up a race bracket or take turns. Once everyone has gathered line the contestants up on the start line then count down from three and say go. The contestants should play until a clear winner has been crowned. We've included a few rule below to but the exact race structure should be adapted to the skill set of the contestants.
