Paper Airplane Maker Project
Every time I had made a paper airplane, I always kind of just winged it. Each paper airplane I made was unique in a not-so-good way. I thought deeply about when the last time I had made a craft was, and I realized it had been years. I wanted to revisit a part of my childhood and make something I would have loved to make as a kid. I decided that, for this project, I would perfect the art of making a paper airplane.
I immediately went to YouTube in search for a tutorial to make the perfect paper airplane. I initially thought about YouTube because visual tutorials, for me at least, are the best way to learn. The first few videos were dragged on way too long, and were not straight to the point. After going through a few of the top results, I came across this video that I thought was right to the point while also being adequately informative. I looked through the creator’s channel, “My Fun Place”, and quickly realized that his target audience is definitely for creative children who like simple, fun crafts. He shows his viewers how to use paper to make cute animals, ninja stars, fortune tellers, boats, and airplanes in a calm, clear, and nicely timed manner. This makes it particularly easier for kids to follow. I was able to follow the entire process along with the video and did not have any difficulty with the speed of the instructions, even though the video was only two minutes and twenty seconds long. After every step that I had completed, I looked up at the video on my monitor and I was almost perfectly in sync. Each step was made clear by showing the direction to fold the paper, as well as how far each fold needed to be. My final product turned out very similar to, if not exactly the same as, the final product in the tutorial. One thing I think the tutorial could improve on is the presence of speech. There is a music track over the video instead of spoken instructions. I think spoken instructions along with the video could help children follow along easier, without having to pause it. I actually learned something unexpected from this video as well. In the last step of the tutorial, the creator tears the bottom of the plane near the back, and pushes the separated piece upwards to create this parachute-like part of the plane. At first I thought this was useless, but after further testing and comparing I had realized this single step significantly improves how long the plane will glide in the air.
Overall, I learned even more than I had expected by following a quick tutorial on YouTube. I now feel confident enough to make my own YouTube tutorial to show how to make a paper airplane, but I would definitely talk through each step so that my audience, specifically children, can complete the steps without having to stare at the video. YouTube tutorials are an awesome resource because they’re designed for people to be able to perform the task alongside the video and if someone misses or forgets a step, they can always refer back to it.
