How To Make a Toy Parachute

So this will be the first in a series of toys in my "Chop Chop" series. They are quick and easy; Bam! Done! You can always take time to make this with your kid, but, usually I treat this like a paper airplane. Make it and hand it off to be attached to Something, and played with. With Supplies on hand, it will take 5 minutes. This project can be scaled, and, materials swapped. The Best Parachute My son and I ever made (exactly the same way, just not a bag) was from the skin of a kid's umbrella. So, Recylce Materials into toys.

Parachutes are excellent fun. Boys and Girls love them. Throw them off stairs, balconies, wad and throw them, use a pole to lift them from the inside enter and let them drop. 

SUPPLIES: plastic grocery bag, scissors, string

1. Lay out your bag.

 
2. cut it in half (2 broad sides).

3. Grab the center of the bag with your index and thumb, make a ring with your other fingers and pull the edges down (like a ghost).

4. As far back as you can from the point, cut straight across (or at a very subtle arc).

5. So now you have a circle. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle to work perfectly.

6. Using a sharpie, mark 5 points at equal distance around the circumference of the circle.

7. Take the string and fold it over five times equal in length to about 1.5 times the diameter of your chute.

8. Cut the looped end of the string at each end. You should now have five fairly equal lengths of string.

9. Grab your chute at one of the marked points and pinch it.

10. Tie one end of the string and the small pinched tab of chute together in a knot.

11. Then tie the remaining string back around itself just once, or it may slip. This method of securing the string to the chute is far more durable than taping or punching a hole, and it takes the same time.

12. Repeat steps 9-11 at each of the 5 marks around the perimeter of the chute.

13. Pinch the center of your chute and pull the strings even and taught.

14. Tie it to something. Chop Chop. Bam! Done!

Afterward: You may find that the parachute spins as it descends. This is caused by air spilling out from under one side of the canopy, thereby causing it to spin. By cutting a hole in the top center of your chute, or slits on it's surface. A fun project may be to experiment with different hole and slit patterns, or even canopy shapes.