“Paper Wishes” by Tara Knudsen and Make Paper Airplanes

“Paper Wishes” by Tara Knudsen is a lovely children’s book about a boy who is missing his grandparents, as they live very far away. He gets the idea to make an origami love heart, and he posts it to them. He wonders where it is on its journey and whether it will go by plane, train or boat. Eventually he goes on a video call with his loved ones, and he sees that they are delighted as they have received the love heart from the post man.

“Paper Wishes” is a sweet book that provides directions on how to make your very own paper wish to mail to loved ones. It might be helpful for young children to read this book to help them deal with missing their distant family members.

You Will Need:

What to Do:

1. After reading “Paper Wishes” have the kids use a pencil or pen to write a message to someone on a letter-sized paper. Fold the paper in half lengthwise. Crease the fold with your fingernail before unfolding the paper again.

2. Open the paper. Once the paper is flat again, grab one of the top corners and fold it toward the crease you just made to form a triangle. Press along the fold with your fingernail so the fold stays in place. Repeat the fold along the other top corner.

3. Fold the angled top edges toward the crease again. Grab the new top corner on one side of your paper and fold toward the crease to form a long triangle. Run your fingernail across the fold to secure it in place. Fold the other top corner in the same way so your piece of paper looks like a large triangle.

4. Fold the paper along the centerline. Use the first crease you made as a guide for making your next fold. Fold the airplane in half along the crease so the triangles you made are on the inside. Slide your fingernail across the crease so the fold stays in place. This fold creates the bottom of your plane so it’s easier to hold and throw once it’s finished.

5. Crease the angled side toward the center fold to create the wings. Bring the angled side of the paper to the fold you just made down the middle. Crease the paper with your knuckle or fingernail. Flip the paper airplane over to create the wing on the other side. Once both sides are creased, unfold them slightly so the plane is flat on top. Make sure the wings are symmetrical to one another so your plane stays level when you throw it.

You can purchase “Paper Wishes” by Tara Knudsen by tapping the title in this review or by visiting my storefront. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn on qualifying purchases.

References:

How to make paper airplane from wikihow
“Paper Wishes” by Tara Knudsen
Photo by Stephanie Felzenberg