It’s SO MUCH FUN and such a great STEM experiment! Follow the easy step-by-step instructions below and take your paper airplane game to a whole new level!

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Check out our Paper Airplane Launcher video tutorial:

How to Make a Paper Airplane Paper Airplane Templates How to Make a Paper Jet

Why does a paper airplane launcher send planes further than throwing them?

The answer is simply that rubber bands can store a lot more potential energy than your hand or your arm. That potential energy gets transformed into kinetic energy (aka motion) as you send the plane flying. More energy equals more lift for the plane, which means a faster airplane. The elastic gives the plane extra speed, which allows it to accelerate over a shorter distance.

How can I make a paper airplane for this plane launcher?

Whether you want to make a paper airplane or a paper jet, we have lots of fun and easy tutorials for you to follow. You can even use one of our free, printable paper airplane templates! There are so many great paper airplanes, but for distance and speed we highly recommend making The Distance Flyer!

Which paper airplane launcher worked best?

We found that shooting the planes with the elastic, pencil, and paper clip worked a lot more reliably than the card stock launcher. With the elastic and pencil method our planes went really fast and flew really far! The cardstock launcher was definitely fun to try, but it was hit or miss with our paper airplanes. Sometimes they’d fly far. And sometimes they’d curve and crash down.

Compare the 2 paper airplane launchers and see which launcher sends your paper airplane flying the fastest and farthest. It’s such a fun activity for at home or in the classroom!

Here’s even more paper airplane ideas:

How to Make a Paper Airplane

Paper Airplane Template

How to Make a Paper Jet

Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!

Where to buy:

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