paper helicopter experiment

Paper Helicopter Experiment

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A paper helicopter experiment is a fantastic hands-on, and low-budget way for students to explore cause and effect relationships in experimental design. These models offer teachers easy STEM activities with paper and generate authentic data in the classroom. In fact, there are so many paper helicopter materials, lessons, and instructions online, it’s hard to know where to start!

Simple quantifiable scenarios can be examined and several criteria for success can be defined and explored. Paper helicopters provide educators with easy-to-do experiments to help students learn the scientific method.

The ASTC Science World Society concisely explains the many levels of inquiry teachers can offer students when conducting paper helicopter experiments. These levels of investigation range from more structured to less structured which suits various grade levels and abilities.

Paper helicopter lessons with more structure would generally target lower grade levels. More open assignments are suitable for independent students at the higher grade levels where the teacher acts as a facilitator. Teachers of all experience levels can take advantage of the learning opportunities provided by experimenting with paper helicopters.

Paper Helicopter Lesson Outline

The specific paper helicopter lesson outlined in this blog post targets students in upper elementary and middle school. It can be extended above and below these grade levels as well. This lesson covers methods of data gathering and provides teachers with easy-to-use activity resources.

This paper helicopter experiment is a simple introduction to experimental design and will target this testable science question:

Does changing the blade length of a paper helicopter affect how long it stays in the air? (Keep reading, however, this question needs a bit of clarification.)

The NGSS Standards do apply! Examples:

• 3-5-ETS1-3 Engineering Design – Plan and conduct an investigation collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, using fair tests in which variables are controlled and the number of trials considered.
• MS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design – Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

How Does a Helicopter Work?

In basic terms, an actual helicopter is a type of aircraft that creates lift (an upward force of air) with horizontally spinning rotor blades. These rotor blades are sometimes referred to as simply rotors or blades.

The physics of paper helicopters are different from real helicopters. Traditional paper helicopters do not use a power source to spin their blades and create lift. These models are typically created with two blades and dropped from a fixed height and spin as they descend.

Paper helicopters spin because of the earth’s gravity, lift, and configuration of the rotors. When dropped, the helicopter’s mass experiences gravity, and it naturally falls to the floor which causes paper blades to bend slightly upward due to lift. The lift force of the air pushes on each of the blades equally but in opposite directions, horizontally and vertically. As a result of the horizontal equal, opposite, and offset forces, the helicopter spins around as it descends.

The helicopter descends due to unbalanced forces: The weight of the helicopters is greater than the lift force of air.

2BrokeScientists studied the airflow around a helicopter and found that there were high-pressure areas under the blades. This high pressure results in equal and opposite opposing forces that cause the spin.

Framing the analysis in terms of Newton’s Third Law of Motion , a pair of equal and opposite forces acting horizontally under each blade and on the body of the paper helicopter cause rotation.

Simple Paper Helicopter

A simple paper helicopter can be made easily at home or school. Multipurpose U.S. letter-size printer paper (8.5 x 11 inches, 21.6 x 27.9 cm) works well for the model. The design is simple to make with only a few cuts and folds, and its parts can be easily adjusted to examine changes regarding flight behavior. To conduct the paper helicopter experiment, we should know the parts first!

Paper Helicopter Parts

The paper helicopter parts are similar to a real helicopter’s parts. The common paper helicopter with two blades has four major parts:

Blades – These two parts are identical rectangles arranged vertically at the top of the helicopter. These parts are sometimes called rotors , blades , rotor blades , wings , or even propellers . The blades provide the lift and are factors that cause the helicopter to spin. The width of the two blades together equals the width of the paper template used to make the helicopter. The thickness of the blades is one layer of paper.

Body – The top of the body of the paper helicopter connects to the blades. The body shape is a rectangle and is perpendicular to the blades. It is located between the blades and the tail. It is as wide as the paper template used to make the helicopter. The thickness of the body is one layer of paper.

Tail – The top of the tail connects to the bottom of the body. The thickness of the tail is three layers of paper. The width of the paper helicopter tail is one-third the width of the template. The tail provides the paper helicopter flight stability.

Stabilizer – The stabilizer is essentially the bottom tip of the tail. A horizontal fold in the tail creates the stabilizer. This fold also provides the paper helicopter flight stability by shifting the model’s center of mass downward.

Independent, Dependent, and Controlled Variables

The paper helicopter experiment requires that you control some variables, change others, and look for cause and effect. A variable is a characteristic or quantity that can be measured or counted in an experiment. Most experiments for this age group account for three kinds of variables: independent, dependent, and controlled.

Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher. These variables are changed and studied to determine if they are the cause in a cause-and-effect relationship. Independent variables are not influenced by other variables. Sometimes independent variables are not manipulated by the researcher but monitored to see how their changes may affect other variables. For example, time (seconds, days, years) is an independent variable that can be tracked to see how it may affect other variables (e.g., the growth of a plant).

Dependent variables are what researchers observe, measure, or count in an experiment. Changes in dependent variables depend on various influences. Independent variables are factors that may change a dependent variable.

Why are Variables Important in an Experiment?

That’s the point of an experiment: To find out what may or may not influence a dependent variable! These types of variables are the “effect” in a cause-and-effect relationship.

Controlled variables are variables that the researcher does not allow to change. The variables are maintained to be constant so that they do not influence any of the dependent variables. Variables that are kept the same for every measurement and test in an experiment, ensure that the dependent variables produce data that are as accurate as possible.

Knowing variables’ roles helps researchers be systematic with their observations, accurately collect relevant data, and be logical with their scientific thinking.

How Do You Make a Paper Helicopter Fall Slower?

A common problem to examine is how to make a paper helicopter fall slower. In other words, many paper helicopter designers want to know how to make a paper helicopter that stays in the air the longest. A simple two-rotor paper helicopter is a good design choice to study this common problem.

The researcher can manipulate any of the four helicopter parts to determine what factors affect the flight time of a paper helicopter. By adjusting a part of the helicopter, researchers are manipulating the independent variable to determine if this change affects the time the helicopter stays in the air (time in the air is the dependent variable). Parts of the helicopter that do not change from a standard model to an adjusted model, are considered control variables.

Paper Helicopter Variables

To ensure that testing is fair so that cause-and-effect data are a reliable source of information, the three types of paper helicopter variables need to be defined. For our paper helicopter experiment example, the independent, dependent, and controlled variables are identified as follows.

I ndependent Variables :

• blade length (which changes the body height)
• body height (which changes when the rotor blade length is adjusted)

Dependent Variable :

Controlled Variables (Helicopter Parts):

• rotor blade width and thickness
• body width and thickness
• tail length, width, and thickness
• stabilizer length, width and thickness

Controlled Variables (Materials and Conditions):

• paper size and mass
• drop height
• drop start time

From a persnickety perspective, there are more variables to control like the angle between the blades and the body. This should be 90 degrees by the way. How deep you go as far as what variables are controlled–what you look at–depends on the students’ age group and experience.

By taking into account the types of variables in an experiment, our actually scientific inquiry question for the paper helicopter experiment is:

Does changing the blade-length-to-body-height ratio of a paper helicopter affect how long it stays in the air?

It’s important to note that since paper helicopters easily offer many cause-and-effect relationships to explore, students may eagerly start changing parts of the helicopter to see what happens–how flight changes. Once students get their hands on a template, without focused guidance, teachers may see many different configurations, and helicopters being thrown up into the air.

The time to be creative with designs to more freely explore flight dynamics is after a procedural scientific experiment is conducted.

Paper Helicopter Experiment Considerations

If you are conducting the paper helicopter experiment in a classroom, you will need to set up a testing area. Two paper helicopter models are needed as well to explore how to make a paper helicopter fall slower. It may be easiest to refer to each model by their blade lengths: shorter-blade model and longer-blade model.

The student tester usually holds the completed helicopters away from their body and just above their head while standing on a chair. This drop distance is sufficient for comparing two different helicopters. Make sure there is enough clearance between the tester and any objects or observers to not interfere with the paper helicopters’ descent (i.e., to avoid introducing unwanted variables).

Having multiple students drop the two different helicopter types from the same height and at the same time can provide a simple and solid experimental design.

Here’s an example from NASUWT showing three students testing paper helicopters at once:

How Many Trials Should a Good Experiment Have?

What is a trial in a science experiment? A trial is one of many tests that make up the experiment itself. For example, each time you drop the paper helicopter from a fixed height to see if increasing the blade length increases how slowly a paper helicopter falls, you are conducting a trial.

We want a good experiment–one that offers fair testing and produces not only accurate data but lots of accurate data. The more trials we have, the more evidence we have that random factors are not influencing the outcome.

Other ways to think about the role of trials are: How many trials in an experiment should you conduct to get valid results? How many trials are required to validate a hypothesis? We want the results to truly represent what we are investigating.

So, how many trials should a good experiment have? As many as possible. Three trials minimum seems to be a consensus. With easy-to-test paper helicopters, students can conduct many trials in a short period of time. Multiple helicopters can be tested at once as well. With a design such as the aluminum foil boat investigation , fewer trials are possible because it takes more time to prepare and test.

How to Collect Data in a Science Experiment

If you can gather as much good data as possible without too much logistic fuss, do it! For example, provide half of your class with the shorter-blade paper helicopter template. The other half of the class would be given the longer-blade helicopter template.

When ready, the two helicopter groups could be separated, face each other, hold up their models at the same height, and then drop them simultaneously. Repeat as needed. Students should keep their hands and arms as far away from the helicopters as possible, holding the tips of the blades before release.

Videos of the experiment offer easily reviewable data that would offer a more sound determination to see if longer or shorter rotor blades cause a paper helicopter to stay in the air the longest. Each model type should be clearly identified especially if relying on videos for data analysis.

Other Ways to Collect Data

There are other ways to collect data while ensuring a fair test. Establishing a fixed height from the floor (i.e., controlling the distance-flown variable) can be done by hanging a small mass from the classroom ceiling with thread.

One successful set-up I have used has a paper clip on one end of a thread with a piece of blue painter’s tape on the other end. The top end with the paper clip is tucked into the metal drop ceiling frame grid, and the piece of blue paper tape has enough mass to hang down properly and be easily visible. I prefer not to have a paper clip hanging on the lower end because if hit or smacked for “fun” it could hurt someone’s hand, stick in the ceiling, etc.

A distance of 200 cm from the tape to the floor is a good distance to establish as a controlled variable for dropping and observing paper helicopters. Place six to eight of these paperclip-thread systems around the classroom to create testing spaces for groups of two to four students.

Paper Helicopter Flight Times

The easiest and quickest way to determine which paper helicopter model falls more slowly may be the aforementioned multi-copter drop method with or without a video recording. So, if you need a quick and easy STEM activity, go this route.

Another way to perform a fair test requires a stopwatch. After setting up the six to eight test stations around the classroom with the paperclip, thread, and blue painter’s tape, each group of students can perform the 200 cm drop and time the helicopter models multiple times.

If students do, say, ten trials for each model they should have sufficient data to minimize random factors. Each group’s ability to time the drops accurately will factor into the integrity of the results. Measuring the paper helicopters’ times over a fixed distance will also produce data that can be analyzed mathematically. Some examples of mathematical analyses are:

• represent and interpret data in a chart or graph
• measures of center (e.g., average time for each model)
• measures of variability (e.g., differences in trial times for each model)

Other Simple Paper Helicopter Launcher Ideas

There are other ways to launch paper helicopters rather than dropping them from your hand. For example, two meter sticks, side-by-side, can launch two to four helicopters at once. Two people are needed to hold the ends of the meter sticks. A bit of practice helps to keep the sticks level at a prescribed height and to separate them at the same time for launching.

With the two-stick method, you can launch even more helicopters at once using longer pieces of wood. Consider using two 1 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. furring strip boards for launching seven to ten paper helicopters at once with just two people.

Paper Helicopter Experiment Lesson Plan

The focus of this paper helicopter investigation explores how the independent variables of blade length and body height together affect time aloft. Remember that, the blade length cannot be changed without changing the body height (unless we change the mass, which is a variable we are controlling). This means for both types of helicopters:

Blade length (shorter) with body height (taller) = equals = Blade length (longer) with body height (shorter)

And, as a reminder, our paper helicopter scientific inquiry question is:

Lesson Plan Parts and Documents

Paper Helicopter Template – There are four free printable pdf templates (8.5 x 11 inches, 21.6 x 27.9 cm). Each helicopter template is one page with the two types of helicopters:

• paper helicopter template with instructions and labels
• paper helicopter template with instructions (no labels)
• paper helicopter template with minimal instructions
• paper helicopter template no instruction (just cutting and folding lines)

Choose the template that makes the most sense for your students. Generally, the lower the grade level, the more instruction, and guidance are needed to make a paper helicopter.

Teacher Lesson Plan Outline

Grade Levels 4 – 7 (8 – 10 works too!)

Time How deep do you want to go? What is the grade level? Are you looking for a quick STEM activity or a long-term stem project ? Consider 45 minutes (one class) to 90 minutes (two classes), and keep in mind any extension activities.

Scientific Inquiry Question Does changing the blade-length-to-body-height ratio of a paper helicopter affect how long it stays in the air?

If you’re working with lower grade levels, or want to simplify the question, pose it like this: Does changing the blade length of a paper helicopter affect how long it stays in the air?

Standards Connections Common Core Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

Elementary School

• 3-5.Engineering Design
• 3-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Middle School

• MS.Engineering Design
• MS-PS2-2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Materials and Set-Up (for the multi-test station method)

• Stopwatch (can be an online version )
• 8.5 x 11.5-inch paper helicopter template – one per group
• Group of two to four students students
• Six to eight helicopter test stations spaced about the classroom. A testing station consists of a thread hanging from the ceiling vertically that ends with a piece of tape 200 cm above the floor.

Paper Helicopter Experiment Lesson Documents

If you would like additional instructional activities to extend the paper helicopter activity and go deeper into learning, check out the Paper Helicopter Experiment (purchase link) resources at TPT !

You’ll find all the resources shared in this blog post, plus :

• teacher lesson presentation with custom graphics
• paper helicopter experiment report template
• pre/post test
• reading comprehension activity
• thinking routines writing activity
• group member role definitions
• vocabulary definitions for the paper helicopter experiment
• vocabulary definitions for the scientific method

Books about Paper Helicopters and Flight

Check out this captivating collection of books (paid links) that explore the fascinating world of flight. From exploring the mechanics of flight and the similarities between living creatures and machines to unraveling the story of the Wright Brothers, these books provide an immersive experience of the wonders of aviation.

Planes, Jets and Helicopters: Great Paper Airplanes Make your own fantastic flying paper aircraft! Instructions to fold paper, fly, and troubleshoot paper planes and helicopters from standard 8.5 by 11-inch paper. No glue, scissors, or tape required! Two dozen fold and fly designs with fold-by-fold illustrated instructions.

Science Comics: Flying Machines: How the Wright Brothers Soared A National Science Teachers Association Best STEM Book Winner in 2017! A delightfully illustrated comic about the history of the Wright brothers told by Katharine Wright Haskell, the younger sister of American aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright.

P lanes, Gliders and Paper Rockets: Simple Flying Things Anyone Can Make–Kites and Copters, Too! A STEM-oriented book for older students who have access to tools and want to go beyond paper designs. Great for going deep into making hands-on, DIY flying crafts with everyday materials!

Paper Helicopter Experiment Summary

Teachers, are you searching for an engaging and cost-effective STEM activity to foster scientific thinking among your upper elementary and middle school students? High school students as well can benefit from the paper helicopter experiment!

This exciting low-budget DIY activity encourages students to develop essential scientific thinking skills by creating hypotheses, gathering relevant data, and interpreting results to draw conclusions. As a result, they will gain invaluable skills that will serve them well in future studies.

But the benefits don’t stop there! The paper helicopter experiment also allows students to explore various scientific concepts such as gravity, lift, and air resistance. Students will better understand these essential scientific principles by testing different blade sizes.

The paper helicopter experiment’s simplicity and low-cost nature make it an excellent starting point for Year 1 students to learn the MYP Design Cycle . Students can better understand the design process by identifying a problem related to helicopter design, creating a prototype, testing and evaluating their design, and communicating their findings.

To get started, check out the free resources in this blog post and on TPT ! They offer step-by-step instructions for building a paper helicopter and comprehensive tips for conducting the experiment and analyzing results. So what are you waiting for? Get started on this exciting hands-on STEM activity today!

Paper Helicopters

Activity length, forces and motion, activity type, make & take.

Twirling and turning takeoff!

In this activity, students will explore how gravity and air resistance work together to create a graceful, twirling miniature helicopter.

As you let go of the helicopter, gravity pulls it toward the ground . Air resistance pushes up on the helicopter as it falls. The air pushing on the wings of the helicopter makes it spin.

This is a recommended post-visit activity for a field trip to Science World and the Fantastic Forces  Online Science Adventure .

Describe how force can be applied to move an object.

Per Student: copy of the Paper Helicopter Template (on ordinary paper) paper clip

Key Questions

• Why does the helicopter spin?
• Why does the helicopter drop slowly?

Preparation:

• Create a sample so that students can see what the finished helicopter will look like.

Instructions:

• Cut around the outside of the helicopter.
• Cut along the solid lines.
• Fold the side pieces in to form the body of the helicopter.
• Fold one wing toward you and one wing away from you  to form the rotor.
• Fold the helicopter body up about 1 cm from the end. Use the paper clip to hold this fold.
• Drop the helicopter from a high place and watch it spin.
• What would happen if you changed a variable (different type of paper, more/less paperclips, different sized wings etc.)?
• How can you measure the difference your changes may make?

Other Resources

Science World | Paper Helicopter Template

Science World | On The Road | Why do Helicopters Spin? 

About the sticker

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

Comet Crisp

T-Rex and Baby

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

Buddy the T-Rex

Science Buddies

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

Western Dinosaur

Time-Travel T-Rex

Related School Offerings

Forces Online Science Adventure

Visit Eureka! Gallery

Related resources, discovering a way for people to take flight is undoubtedly one of the most awe-inspiring feats of human ingenuity…, what happens when a bat hits a baseball why does a rolling ball eventually stop how do we…, the air up there, in this unit designed for kindergarten classrooms, students participate in activities exploring air and wind. the air up there…, in these activities students explore the impressive force of air and learn how air pressure affects their daily lives., we believe that now, more than ever, the world needs people who care about science. help us fund the future and next generation of problem solvers, wonder seekers, world changers and nerds..

Paper Helicopter Science With a Free Printable Template

This post may contain affiliate links.

A paper helicopter is a fun classic science activity that kids really love. You can do this one with kids of all ages. Today I have instructions for you, a printable template, and the science behind what makes these fun paper helicopters spin! 

Using hands-on activities and simple experiments like this one to teach a science concept is one of the best ways I have found to really help learning to sink in to kids minds.  Seeing science principles in action helps kids grasp them so much better.

Toy paper helicopters are the perfect science experiment to teach about the force of gravity, about air resistance, engineering and more. They are easy to make, fun to fly and a great way to explore the complex topic of physics in a simpler way. You’ll definitely want to add them to your physics or physical science lesson plans whether you teach elementary school middle school or high school. All the kids will enjoy this one. 

These paper helicopters have always reminded me of a maple seeds’ descent. If you have some of those around you, compare them and see how each spins!  The way these seeds travel have always fascinated me. It’s fun to look at nature for inspiration and comparison. 

We have so many hands-on activities for science, math and more here on my site that I hope you’ll explore, too!  See my Science Art and Drawing Games for Kids Book!

Supplies Needed to Make a Paper Helicopter

• Paper (Use my printable template linked below)
• Paperclips (optional)
• Decorate with markers, stickers, or crayons if desired

With such simple supplies, it makes these paper helicopters easy to create for a large group of students at a very low cost!

Download My Free Printable Helicopter Template Now.  This is a PDF file. 

How to make the paper helicopter:.

Watch this video to see how they are made!

Begin by cutting a small rectangular strip of paper.  If using my paper helicopter template, they are clearly marked.  There are three on each printed page.  You will cut all of the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines. 

Create the rotor blades . On one end of the rectangular strip, cut down the middle about halfway to create two flaps. These will be the rotor blades (or propeller blades) for your paper helicopter.

Form the body of the helicopter.  At the other end of the rectangle, make two small cuts on each side, about an inch from the end. Fold these two small flaps inward to create a small base for stability. It also lowers the center of gravity offering more stability and balance. You can add a weight by attaching a paperclip to the bottom of the helicopter. This is optional, but it helps it stabilize as the helicopter spins and descends.

Decorate your helicopter! This is a great time to customize the helicopters. Color or decorate as desired! This is totally optional, but kids might love naming their copter, giving it their favorite number, or adding some cool colored stripes. 

Fold and adjust the rotor blades:  Fold one rotor blade forward and the other backward. Folding them in opposite directions will help create the spin needed for the helicopter to descend slowly.

Test your helicopter:  Hold the helicopter by the body (the bottom part) and drop it from a high place such as a balcony, stairway, or even just standing on a chair. Watch how it spins as it descends.

The Science Behind The Paper Helicopter Experiment:

There is a lot of science involved in this activity, particularly physics.  Paper helicopters can help you teach about some of the forces at work in a tangible way. 

Teach the Physics of Flight:

The paper helicopters are spinning because of the force of air acting on each of the helicopter blades. The air presses on each blade with an equal force but in opposing directions. Plus, gravity is pulling it downward all at the same time!  All of this causes it to spin. Who knew there were so many forces at work at once time?! 

• Gravity  is the force that pulls the helicopter down towards the Earth. 
• Air Resistance: The rotor blades create air resistance, slowing the descent. They won’t move upward like a regular helicopter does because there is no thrust in this paper helicopter. 
• Lift and Drag: As the paper helicopter falls, it will begin to spin. The blades generate lift and drag, which stabilize the helicopter and create a controlled, slow descent.  This is called Bernoulli’s Principle which describes how when the speed of the air goes up, the pressure goes down, and vice versa.  
• Aerodynamics: Kids are learning how the shape and structure of objects affect movement through the air.
• Engineering & Art: Kids learn basic principles of designing and testing to achieve a desired outcome. You could even use this with older kids in graphic arts and design classes by having them create their own custom paper helicopter templates!

Why Use Paper Helicopters In Your Science Lesson:

Paper helicopters are great to use in any classroom, or homeschool environment!  Here are a few reasons why we love them. 

• They are a hands-on learning activity.  We love activities that involve kids because it enhances learning and retention. 
• ​ Kids learn about gravity, air resistance, lift, and drag in a tangible way.
• This activity encourages experimentation.   Students can modify the design (size, shape of blades, weight) and observe changes in performance.  This encourages critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Interdisciplinary Learning is always a great thing in my book!  Paper helicopters combines art (decorating), engineering (designing and building), and physics (understanding forces).
• It is accessible. The simple materials and steps make it easy for all kids to participate.

Extend the Learning:

Experiment with different variables.  Encourage experimenting with variables in this activity.  Once you have the basic template, you can change it up. Change the length of rotor blades or the body length. Make your paper helicopter design in different sizes.  Remove the weight or add more. Try a different type of paper, such as cardstock or even a notecard. Use stopwatches to time the airplanes descent. 

Record observations and make not of how the different changes affect the speed, flight time, spin.

Relate them to the real world. How do these paper airplanes work in relation to an actual helicopter?  

Download The Printable Helicopter Template Now!

Also Try our Paper Airplane Experiments !

Check out some other cool paper craft learning activities:

Twirligig~ Rainbow Paper Spinner Toy The Science of Flight with Paper Airplanes Six Paper Tricks That Seem Like Magic! 3-D Paper Shape Templates How to Make a Book With One Piece of Paper Blooming Paper Flowers Experiment Engineering: Make Paper Hold Up Books!

Former school teacher turned homeschool mom of 4 kids. Loves creating awesome hands-on creative learning ideas to make learning engaging and memorable for all kids!

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Roto-Copter

What do i need.

• print-out of the Roto-Copter pattern which you can click-on in Step 1
• paper clips
• crayons or markers
• cereal bowl

What do I do?

Print out the Roto-Copter pattern. Cut along the solid lines only. Fold on the dotted lines.

Get Pattern

Fold A toward you. Fold B away from you.

Fold C and D over each other so they overlap.

Fold the bottom up and put a paper clip on it.

Hold the Roto-Copter by the paper clip. Throw it like a baseball, as high and far as you can. It will spin to the floor. You can also stand on a chair or on the stairs and drop it. Ask a grown-up if you can drop it out the window.

If you want, you can use crayons or markers to color your Roto-Copter before you fold it. The colors will blur together when it spins.

ROTO-TARGET

Make three Roto-Copters for each person. Use a marker to draw a 1-foot circle on a piece of newspaper. Put a cereal bowl in the middle of the circle. The circle is the target area and the bowl is the bull's-eye. Take turns standing on a chair at the edge of the newspaper and dropping your Roto-Copters. At the Exploratorium, we get 3 points for a bull's-eye, 2 points for a copter inside the circle, and one point for just hitting the newspaper-but you can make up any rules you want.

What's Going On?

Why does the roto-copter spin.

When the Roto-Copter falls, air pushes up against the blades, bending them up just a little. When air pushes upward on the slanted blade, some of that thrust becomes a sideways, or horizontal, push.

Why doesn't the copter simply move sideways through the air? That's because there are two blades, each getting the same push, but in opposite directions. The two opposing thrusts work together to cause the toy to spin.

Next time you drop your copter, notice which direction it spins as it falls. Is it clockwise or counterclockwise? Now bend the blades in opposite directions-if blade A was bent toward you and blade B was bent away, bend B toward you and A away. Drop the copter again. Now which way does it spin?

In the Spinning Blimp, air pushes up on the flat sides of the strip of paper. When the flat side of the paper strip is parallel to the ground, the blimp drifts down like a flat piece of paper. But if the blimp tilts so that the flat side of the strip is at an angle to the ground, the paper strip gets a sideways push, just like the blade of the copter, sending the blimp spinning. Each time the flat strip comes around, it gets another push and goes for another spin.

Wow! I Didn't Know That!

Igor Sikorsky designed the first successful helicopter in the late 1930s. His inspiration came from drawings of an aircraft with a spinning wing, drawn by Leonardo da Vinci nearly five hundred years before.

Places to Visit

• Igor I. Sikorsky Historical Archives: Lots of photographs and information about helicopters and the man who invented them.
• Leonardo da Vinci Museum: This online gallery displays images and other information related to Leonardo da Vinci. The " West Wing " of the gallery has images of helicopters and other flying machines.

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Out for a spin — paper helicopters.

Grade Levels

Grades K-4, Grades 5-8

Physical Science, Flight and Aeronautics

Play and Learn

By building and test flying two different paper helicopters, you will learn how the size of the Mars helicopter, Ingenuity’s, rotor blades are important for it to be able to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mars.

Out for a Spin

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• how-to-make-a-paper-helicopter

How To Make A Paper Helicopter

Paper aeroplanes are great and a great way to learn about science but they've got nothing on paper helicopters, that's for sure!  All you'll need is some paper, scissors and maybe a paperclip!

What Do I Need?

• A piece of paper
• Some scissors
• A paperclip

How Do I Do It?

STEP1  - The perfect size to make your helicopter is 1/8th of a piece of paper. Great news as you can make 8 of them out of one sheet of paper! Fold your paper into eights and cut one out ready.

STEP2   - I've marked on the image how to make it! Just make a cut where you see a solid line and make a fold where you see a dashed line!

STEP3   - Make the two small cuts and fold the paper over and use a paperclip to hold it in place, as shown.

STEP4   - To make the wings simply make the cut down the middle of the unused side and fold the wings down so you've got something that looks like our final helicopter!

STEP5   - No pre-flight checks needed! Simply hold the helicopter up high and drop it! Watch how it spins! If you're feeling brave you can try throwing it but pretty soon you might need to make another helicopter!

What’s Going On?

As you helicopter starts to fall the air pushes past the wings. 

Most of this air pushes upwards against the falling helicopter (which is why it falls slowly) but each wing causes some of that air to push to the side. 

There's an equal sideways push on each of the wings but in opposite directions and that's what causes the helicopter to spin!

More Fun Please! - Experiment Like A Real Scientist!

• What happens if you add more weight? Blue Tac is great for this!
• What are the perfect proportions to make your helicopter spin as fast as possible?
• How big a helicopter can you make?

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HOW TO MAKE A PAPER HELICOPTER

Let’s explore the principles of flight through a simple yet mesmerizing experiment: creating paper helicopters. Through this experiment, children will delve into the intriguing world of aeronautics, discovering how the size, shape of the blades, and the weight of a paper helicopter can influence its spinning motion.

( Disclosure : Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase)

MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED

Before we take flight, let’s gather the necessary materials for this experiment:

• Paper clips

CRAFTING YOUR PAPER HELICOPTER

Start by obtaining a strip of paper measuring approximately 20 cm in length and 4 cm in width.

Cut the paper along the dotted lines to create a specific shape for your paper helicopter.

Fold the longer length of the paper strip and secure it in place using glue. This will form the main body of your helicopter.

Congratulations! Your paper helicopter is now ready to take to the skies. Hold it at a height and release it, observing its captivating motion.

Flight Dynamics: The Science Behind the Spin

As your paper helicopter gracefully descends, let’s explore the scientific principles governing its flight. The phenomenon can be understood as follows:

• The force of gravity pulls the helicopter downward, setting the stage for its aerial adventure.
• Simultaneously, the air rushes out from under the wings of the helicopter in all directions.
• This rush of air creates resistance, pushing up against each blade of the helicopter individually.
• As a result, a fraction of the initial thrust is redirected sideways, generating a horizontal push and initiating the mesmerizing spinning motion of the helicopter.

RELATED POST : SPINNING GHOST COPTER

the Impact of Weight: Adding Paper Clips for a Thrilling Twist

Now, let’s introduce an intriguing twist to the experiment by exploring the influence of weight on the paper helicopter’s flight dynamics. By attaching paper clips to the bottom of the helicopter, we can observe fascinating variations in its spinning speed.

• Attach a paper clip to the lower end of the helicopter’s body.
• As the weight of the paper clips increases, several interesting phenomena occur:
• The increased weight reduces air resistance, allowing the helicopter to descend more rapidly.
• Simultaneously, the added weight enhances the impact of air hitting the helicopter’s blades, causing them to spin at a faster rate.

This captivating interplay of weight, air resistance, and spinning motion serves as a captivating illustration of the scientific principles governing flight dynamics.

Embracing Science and Adventure: Inspiring Young Minds

The paper helicopter experiment exemplifies the fusion of scientific exploration and adventure. By engaging in this experiment, children not only gain insight into the fundamentals of flight but also develop critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the wonders of science.

At MyWorldTheirWay , we encourage educators and parents to incorporate interactive and engaging activities like the paper helicopter experiment to ignite a passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects in children. By fostering a love for science at an early age, we empower young minds to reach new heights of knowledge and discovery.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Soar to New Horizons with the Paper Helicopter Experiment

In conclusion, the paper helicopter experiment unlocks a world of scientific wonder, allowing children to witness firsthand the magic of flight. By manipulating the size, shape, and weight of their paper helicopters, young aviators embark on a thrilling exploration of aerodynamics.

We invite you to join us in nurturing the innate curiosity and creativity of children through captivating experiments like the paper helicopter. Let’s inspire a new generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators who will shape our world with their boundless imagination and scientific prowess.

Bon voyage on your flight of discovery!

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How To Make A Paper Helicopter

Make a paper helicopter that actually flies! This is an awesome   paper STEM challenge  for young kids and older ones too. Learn about what helps helicopters rise into the air, with a few simple supplies. We have loads more fun  STEM activities  for you to try!

Paper Helicopter STEM Challenge

Get your kids thinking about forces in motion with this simple helicopter activity. STEM for kids doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive.

Some of the best STEM activities are also the cheapest! Keep it fun and playful, and do not make it too difficult, as it takes forever to complete.

Take up the challenge to make a paper helicopter with our easy paper helicopter instructions below. Find out what makes a helicopter able to lift off from the ground and see how high and long you can get your own paper helicopter to fly.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Physics Acti vities For Kids

FREE Printable Paper Helicopter Project!

• Helicopter template

Instructions:

STEP 1: Print the paper helicopter template and cut out the cardstock.

STEP 2: Fold it into a pinwheel shape.

STEP 3: Use the push pin to secure the pinwheel and attach to the wine cork. This will provide weight to your design.

STEP 4: Take your paper helicopter outside and toss into the air! How long can it stay in the air?

The Science Behind the Paper Helicopter

Unlike airplanes, helicopters have rotor blades that spin horizontally. It is the spinning of the blades that creates lift, which is an upward force of air.

When your pinwheel helicopter falls, it is due to the force of the earth’s gravity. Lift, and the design of the rotors help it stay in the air.

It naturally falls to the ground, which causes the paper to bend slightly upward due to lift. When your paper helicopter falls, air pushes up against the blades with equal force, and the shape causes the copter to spin. This is because the blades are designed so that the incoming air is captured and pushes the blades in one direction.

STEM Questions for Reflection

These reflection questions are perfect for kids of all ages to discuss how the challenge went and what they might do differently next time.

Use these questions for reflection with your kids after they have completed the STEM challenge to encourage discussion of results and critical thinking.

Older kiddos can use these questions as a writing prompt for a STEM notebook. For younger kiddos, use the questions as a fun conversation!

• What were some of the challenges you discovered along the way?
• What worked well and what did not work well?
• What would you do differently next time?

Helpful STEM Resources

Here are a few resources that will help you introduce STEM more effectively to your kiddos or students and feel confident yourself when presenting materials. You’ll find helpful free printables throughout.

• Engineering Design Process Explained
• What Is An Engineer?
• Engineering Words
• Real World STEM
• Questions for Reflection (get them talking about it!)
• BEST STEM Books for Kids
• 14 Engineering Books for Kids
• Jr. Engineer Challenge Calendar (Free)
• Must Have STEM Supplies List
• Join us in the Club

More Fun STEM Activities to Try

Also try one of these easy engineering projects below. It’s fun to build things that go!

Build your own mini hovercraft that actually hovers.

Design an airplane launcher to catapult one of these paper plane designs .

Investigate what factors affect how fast a parachute falls .

A good breeze and a few materials are all you need to tackle this DIY kite project.

It’s a fun chemical reaction that makes this bottle rocket take off.

Make a paper rocket with free rocket template.

Make a balloon-powered ca r out of recyclables, or try a balloon rocket !

Printable STEM Pack For Kids

80+ Doable Engineering Projects in one convenient pack!

• Full instructions with sample images
• Activity-specific instruction sheets
• Data Collection Sheets
• Questions for Reflection
• Architecture Building Cards: Try the tallest tower challenge
• Bridge Building Cards: Explore different types of bridges to build your own.
• Paper Chain STEM Challenge: Who can make the longest chain? Great icebreaker or quick challenge!
• 3 Little Pigs Architectural Pack: Design a house that won’t blow away!
• Great marshmallow challenge: A classic challenge kids love!
• Real-world STEM challenge lesson but don’t know where to start? Our easy-to-follow template shows the steps!
• What’s the difference between a scientist and an engineer?
• Crossword and word search with engineering vocabulary.
• Engineering vocabulary cards
• Design a one-of-a-kind invention and write about it with this 5-page activity!

Subscribe to receive a free 5-Day STEM Challenge Guide

~ projects to try now ~.

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SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS FOR KIDS

Making paper helicopters.

Use up those extra office supplies while giving your kids a quick science lesson

This animal is not on exhibit in the habitats.  It is one of our Animal Ambassadors and is used in public and school programs.

Download a PDF of this experiment

“Falling with style” is how Woody famously described Buzz Lighyear’s flight in “Toy Story,” but he might have been describing these paper helicopters too.

Paper helicopters are a fun activity that demonstrates gravity, drag and thrust. Using paper, scissors, and a few paper clips to make helicopters, you too can design something to fall with style. Use the attached template for the design of the helicopters, or design your own! Even Woody and Buzz would be impressed.

GATHER THIS:

• Paper clips
• Color pencils

THEN DO THIS:

• Cut along all of the solid lines of the helicopter pattern.
• Fold the lower sections (C & D) toward each other along the dotted lines.
• Hold the folded sections and place a paper clip at the end.
• Fold the top blades (A & B) in opposite directions.
• Hold the helicopter high above your head. Release!
• Try shaping your blades or using different amounts of weight. You can also try uneven blades.
• Did the helicopter rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise?
• How can you make it rotate in the opposite direction?
• Does the height you drop it from affect its flight?
• How does the weight (paperclips) affect the flight?
• If you cut the blades unevenly how does it affect the helicopter’s travel? How?

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

When the helicopter falls, air pushes up against the blades and bends them up just a little. When air pushes upward on the slanted blade, some of that thrust becomes a sideways – or horizontal – push.

The helicopter doesn’t move sideways through the air because there are two blades, each getting the same push but in opposite directions. The two opposing thrusts work together to cause the toy to spin.

Like this experiment? Explore more flight science with the  CuriOdyssey Flight Science Kit  in the  CuriOdyssey Shop !

WHAT THIS TEACHES:

Skills:  Scientific process, fine motor skills, observation

Themes:  Gravity, drag, lift

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Make it fly

A paper plane, glider or helicopter falls to the ground much more slowly and more gracefully than a scrunched-up piece of paper – as the designs in this activity show. It’s all thanks to the forces generated by air pressing on and moving over the surface of the paper.

Printable downloads

 follow these steps….

Think and talk about…

• Which design travels fastest and why do you think this is?
• Why do these designs behave differently to a scrunched-up piece of paper?
• How do your paper planes compare with the shapes of real planes you’ve seen?

Investigate…

Which way does the helicopter spin? Can you make it spin the other way?

What do you notice if you make the front of the plane heavier?

Make your own plane design and see if you can make it travel further than the others.

Did you know?

In December 2010 a paper aeroplane thrown by Takuo Toda in Hiroshima, Japan, stayed in the air for 29.2 seconds – a world record.

What’s the science?

Moving through air also creates a kind of friction called air resistance, or ‘drag’, which tends to slow down anything moving through the air.

Science in your world

Look out for these designs in nature as well.

Related resources

Can you make milk move without touching it?

Rocket mice

Make a paper mouse fly like a rocket using a milk bottle and some air pressure.

Kitchen science

Step-by-step instructions for science activities and experiments to do in the classroom or at home.

Paper Helicopter Experiment - The Best DOE Lab for the Design of Experiments Course

Paper helicopter from the Paper Helicopter Experiment DOE lab.

The task is to find the optimal paper helicopter design that maximizes its flight time .

Primary audience: students and educators in Design of Experiments courses.

Main offering: educational materials and PDF templates for conducting the Paper Helicopter Experiment, which aids in learning and teaching DOE principles through hands-on experience and statistical analysis.

Design of experiments

The Paper Helicopter Experiment is the most instructive project for students in the Design of Experiments course. Learn and excel in your DOE lab using our educational resources:

We help students generate paper helicopter templates for their DOE lab, and assist lecturers in incorporating a unique variation of the classical paper helicopter experiment in their design of experiments course.

We also ensure that students have all they need to engage with the Paper Helicopter Experiment independently.

Paper helicopter experiment

The paper helicopter in Figure 1 was assembled using our free paper helicopter templates . These templates are designed for a quick start, allowing you to test the flight performance. You can even conduct a simple statistical analysis, such as a Student's t-test , to determine which design performs better. For a more advanced investigation, which is the core objective of the Paper Helicopter DOE lab, you can generate custom paper helicopter PDF templates in different sizes by visiting the PDF TEMPLATES section. The HELICOPTER DESIGN section contains detailed explanation of the paper helicopter template design and assembly instructions .

For the students - learn Design of Experiments with the Paper Helicopter Experiment

Our customizable DOE lab offers a fun and efficient way to learn material from the Design of Experiments course. Through performing the Paper Helicopter Experiment, you will familiarize yourself with the fundamental principles of experimental planning, diving deep into the theory behind two-level fractional factorial designs. Our project mirrors real-world industrial scenarios and requires the generation of authentic data. To aid this process, generate your own paper helicopter templates in different sizes , specifically designed to reflect your experimental plans. Start by adjusting factor levels and parameters of the paper helicopter design , then simply populate the design matrix, and voila! Download the PDF file with your tailored paper helicopter templates ready for assembly and experimentation . This will save you hours of your time, enabling you to concentrate on the critical statistical analysis aspect of your DOE lab.

For the teachers - integrate a unique variation of the Paper Helicopter Experiment in your Design of Experiments course

The Paper Helicopter Experiment is an excellent assistant in teaching two-level fractional factorial designs. You are invited to integrate the Paper Helicopter Project into your syllabus - simply create a unique variation of the DOE lab by following instructions in the DOE LAB section. And if you find this website useful, help others discover our customizable paper helicopter templates by placing a link to the paper helicopter experiment website on your Design of Experiments course homepage.

This is the HTML code:

And this is how it will look like on your DOE course homepage:

Explore more

Check the Paper Helicopter Project task in the DOE LAB section, explore the paper helicopter template design and step-by-step assembly instructions in the HELICOPTER DESIGN section, and generate your custom PDF TEMPLATES that will not only save you hours of your time but also ensure that your paper helicopters align perfectly with the specified dimensions. To learn more about the Paper Helicopter Experiment website visit the ABOUT section.

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