Paper Airplane Day

Word of the Week

Aerogami (air-oh-gah-mee): The practice of constructing paper airplanes. It comes from the Greek word aer for "air" and the Japanese word origami meaning "the art of folding paper".

Kon'nichiwa!

Finally, a hello in a new language again! Bet you didn't know that there was a fancy word for making paper airplanes. I sure didn't! So now you can share this new vocabulary word with others. But what do you about the origin of the paper airplane?

I can honestly say that no one can really know when the first paper airplane was made, but we do know that origami has been around for quite some time. . .since 500BC. Wow!

So, we don't know when they first appeared, but we do know that paper airplanes became a very popular toy during World War II. Because of rationing, plastic and metal toys essentially couldn't exist for a while. Paper, on the other hand, was very readily available.

226 feet, 10 inches to be exact. It's true, and it was made by using a single sheet of paper! This record was made in California in 2012 by Joe Ayoob and John Collins, an aircraft designer. Wow! I'd like to see a copy of those plans. . .

Now, before you ask me how to make a paper airplane, I need you to understand that there are SO many different ways and different kinds of planes. The sky is the limit! Get it?

I found a really neat boomerang style paper airplane tutorial. When you fly the plane, it's supposed to come back to you! How NEAT! Take a peek and feel free to give it a whirl!

Until next week!

Gram