I finally discovered who I am. According to the New York Times, Sunday August 31 2003, I am a “kidult” or a ”rejuvenile”, a person who wants to keep his or her inner child alive. Kidult Games defines “kidults” as the “adults who take care of the kid inside of themselves.” I think any adult who likes to fly kites fits into that definition. So all you “kidults” out there, let’s go make and fly a kite!

Kites…on a Roll® News


The last two years have certainly made the world a smaller place. One of the news making items from the beginning of the war in Afghanistan was the continual reference to the lack of freedom to fly kites. As kids study different cultures throughout the school year, they might be surprised to discover the role kites play within those cultures. A story about Seoul Korea in 1473 was recommended by one of the teachers using our kite kits: The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park, published by Clarion Books, 2000.

People have been sending us wonderful pictures for our website from their Kites…on a Roll® kite making activities. And we thank all of you who have done this. If there are children’s faces that are easily seen, please get the parent’s permission for us to use these pictures on our site. We will either block out the faces or make them blurry so the kids won’t be identified.

Check out our new link presenting an international kite history from 400 BC to the present day. This site originated in France, but offers an English translation. www.carnetdevol.org. Fascinating site!

Hints for an Easier Activity

One customer had her group making their kites outside. Since there was a bit of wind, she had the kids tape the patterns down on a table so they could decorate and assemble their kites without worrying about them blowing away before they were ready to fly.

Someone asked a question about the delta pattern: once the two pieces are cut out and put together into the delta shape, he noticed that blue printed lines are on one side, but not the other. We decided to print the whole pattern on one side of the plastic; this means one of the pieces needs to be flipped over to form the delta (triangle) shape. The plastic is translucent so you can see the lines for cutting the fringe, even though the ink is on the other side.

The dotted and solid printed lines are important for the correct construction of the kite. Once the kite is correctly assembled, either side of the plastic can be used for design, though the sled and malay bird kites have a writeable coating (allows for crayons) on the blue printed side. Just make sure the kids have the top of the kites placed in the correct position before decorating and have their design face them while the kite is in flight.

People really like the new tail material. It has made the kite making much easier (for the sled and malay bird) when there is a shortage of time or difficulty in cutting out the tail pattern.