I have been flying single line kites with the kids for a while now and there is nothing better than heading out on a nice sunny day and watching them marvel at their brightly colored kites floating in the sky. Even my smallest child likes flying the kite, and the older ones have graduated to larger more fancy single line kites, their favorite being beautiful box kites.
Just the other day we were out having a picnic and watching the kids enjoying the day when they started asking me about the kites I had as a youngster. I think they thought kites were a new invention and I was pleased to see how thrilled they were to learn that kites have been around in places like Asia for over 3000 years. The Chinese in particular, I explained, were experts at making amazing kites, they even made musical ones. My favorite I told them was the Chinese centipede kites, shaped often as Dragons, these kites move in the sky as if they are alive. We saw lots of other more modern fancy kites that day, in fact everything seemed to be out flying, there were single line kites, parafoils, stunt kites, 3D kites and even a couple of kite surfers out in the water.
“Did you have all these kinds of kites as a child” one of my kids asked me. No, I explained these are all new kites, made out of new materials and much fancier than anything I saw as a kid. I told them I had only recently begun to see the kite surfing and stunt kites were much more impressive than the old fashioned delta kites I was used to. They all wanted to know more about the types of kites I had as a kid, so I told them about the kites I had made with my own dad, usually simple lozenge or diamond kites. And how we had used bamboo to make the frames and light weight material or even paper to create the sails, and they were always single line, using whatever string I could find at home.
During the school holidays I had once created a simple kite train, with several diamond kites all flying one on top of the other, these were great fun and could give a very strong pull in decent winds. We had always made our own, it was just something everyone did back then. They were amazed that you could make your own kites, so I have promised them we could make a diamond kite on the weekend, and they can decorate it. I think that’s part of the fun of single line kites, that you can actually make your own. I had forgotten how much fun you can have, and of course if you get a bit more creative they can end up looking amazing. People often don’t realize how much fun single line kites are or how easy it is as a family to get together and learn how to build one.I know fancier kites have become popular and yet whenever we go to the festivals or for a walk down the beach it’s the eye-catching, amazingly shaped single line kites that get so much attention.
It’s a breeze. Remembering, once you have a breeze you’ll have kites in season.
