Friday, January 9, 2009

Parachutes





PARACHUTES

You can use anything you'd like. A handkerchief. A portion of an old sheet. A discarded curtain. A rag (be sure the material isn't too heavy).

Oh boy!
It was so exciting! We used to spend hours trying to make the best parachute of all. Remember cutting that material to the right size? Then tying a string on to each corner - making sure they were the same length so they met perfectly in the middle. Then do you remember trying to find something as a weight? We used rocks . . .which always seemed to slip out. Nuts and bolts . . .which were usually too heavy. You name it, we tried it! But the best weight of all was those plastic army men. They were the best because they looked like a real person.
After we were done making the parachute we thought was the best, all of us would roll them up into a neat, tight ball. Then we would throw them as high as we could toward the sky and watch as they slowly unfolded. As those homemade parachutes floated gently to the ground, we squealed with joy and excitement!
We all knew that ours was the best! Ours went the highest!
Sometimes -
Some of us would even get crazy and climb onto the garage roof! Way up there, we would throw our parachutes high into the sky. The little ones on the ground would stand there watching in awe as the material slowly opened and the parachutes gently drifted back down to earth.
What fun those days were.
HEY! Do you have an old hanky and some string? I'm sure we could find something for a weight.

Want to go float some parachutes?