Stem at home

Parachutes: Assembling parachutes

Assembling parachutes

Below are instructions for making three different parachutes of different sizes and materials. The first is a small plastic canopy parachute. Second is a medium size parachute with a cotton handkerchief for canopy. The last is a parachute made from a sheet of newspaper. Again, don’t be limited by what we show. Be creative! Experiment!
1.Plastic Parachute: A small (9” square plastic canopy) parachute with plastic strips for cords, tape to connect the parts, and a Lego figure for the load.

Materials for Large Toy 1. Collect materials: 9” plastic square, four 10” plastic strips, tape, Lego figure

Materials for Large Toy 2. Lay out the plastic square and tape one plastic strip to each corner.

Materials for Large Toy 3. Attach the free end of each plastic strip to the weight (in this case, the Lego figure).

4.Now, see how it falls. In the video the parachute falls quite fast. To slow it you could try a lighter load.

2. Cotton Parachute: A medium (15” square cotton canopy) parachute with string, knots, and a toy for load.

Materials for Large Toy 1.Collect materials: cloth handkerchief (ours is 15” x 15”), four 18” pieces of string, toy

Materials for Large Toy 2. Lay out cloth square and tie one string to each corner.

Materials for Large Toy 3. Join the free end of each string together with a knot. (in this case, the Lego figure).

4. Tie the four strings to the toy

5.Test it. This parachute with the metal toy as load fell much too fast. So we tried a much lighter load: two small bull dog clips. It is still pretty fast.

3.Newspaper parachute: A large (22” square paper canopy) parachute with paper strips 22” long, tape, and a plastic container and materials to put in the container for the load.

Materials for Large Toy 1.. Collect materials: 22” paper square, two 22” paper strips, tape, a plastic clip, and more weight if needed (a container and things to put in it.)

Materials for Large Toy 2. Lay out paper square and tape one strip to a corner and tape the other end to the diagonal corner. Tape the second strip to the other two corners corner.

Materials for Large Toy 3. . Connect the middles of the two strips together with a clip at their middles

4.Add more weight to the clip, if needed.