The “sled” is a relatively modern kite (i.e. the design is less than a hundred years old), with many variations in proportion, size, material and detail. This version is probably the simplest, and can be made in only a few minutes.

Tools and Materials

• Scissors
• Ruler or other straight edge
• Pencil or pen
• Sticky tape
• Paper (just about any kind except heavy card or stretchy crêpe paper)
• Sewing thread (if you are making a larger kite, say from wrapping paper, use light string)
• A tail (see below for the exact requirements for the tail)
• A reel or winder

What to do

Firstly, mark out a rectangle to be the sail area. The exact dimensions are not critical, but heavier paper will require a larger kite and small kites must be made of lighter paper. It is the proportions that are important.

The rectangle should be 4 "units" wide and three "units" tall. What "a unit" is is up to you. If your paper is the thin tissue used to wrap lingerie, you could work in inches or centimetres. If you are using wrapping paper or newspaper, a unit could be 20cm. A good starter is to make “1 unit” 5cm, then the kite can be made easily from a single sheet of A4 writing paper.

Starting at the top left corner, mark a point 1 unit along the top edge of the kite and a second point 1 unit down the left edge of the kite. Join these points with a straight line. Mark a third point 1 unit along the bottom edge of the kite. Join this point to the point marked on the left edge of the kite. You should now have two triangles marked at the left of the kite; a smaller triangle at the top and a taller triangle at the bottom. The triangles should touch one third of the way down the left hand side.

Mark similar triangles on the right-hand side of the kite, mirror images of the first two triangles, with the smaller triangle still at the top. Cut the triangles off and discard them. You will be left with a shape quite unlike the traditional kite shape, being flat across the top and bottom¹.

Your sail is now complete. The long edge with the smaller triangles removed is the leading edge of the kite. You may now wish to decorate your kite, using coloured pencils, markers or paints². If you do, make sure the decorations are completely dry before moving onto the next stages.

Cut a piece of thread about four times as long as the kite is wide. Tie it into a loop using a knot of your choice (reef knots are good for this task). When tied, this loop should stretch twice as wide as the widest part of the kite. Lay the loop so that part of it passes across the back of the kite, between the two points at left and right, in a straight line. Tape the thread in place at the two points. You should now have most of the loop hanging in front of the kite. This is the kite’s bridle.

Lie the sail down on its back³.Gently fold the kite sail in halfby lifting the points at the side until they touch. Try not to crease the sail. Now find the centre point of the bridle and tie a small (a centimetre or two across) loop in it. Tie the remainder of your thread to this loop. The thread is your flying line and the reel it is wound on is your winder. Please remember that sewing thread often comes in 100m reels, but the law only allows kites to be flown to a maximum altitude of 60m.

The only thing missing from your kite now is the tail. You need to select the correct tail for the size and weight of kite you have made. Please also remind yourself about kite safety and how to launch and land a single-line kite.