The Changing Winds of March

March can have wonderful kite flying weather. Make a kite in February and plan to fly it each day in March. Mark the days on the calendar to indicate which days were actually good for kite flying. How did they correspond to the lion and lamb winds?

My children have always loved making kites with their dad. They measure the dowels, cut out the tissue paper and attach string. That is all you need to make a proper kite. Oh, well, maybe a bow or two for ballast. It turns out that Benjamin Franklin also liked flying kites and not just on that famous day that he experimented with electricity. When Ben was a young boy, according to the article to the right, he got into a pond while flying a kite, tied the kite to his toe and let the wind pull him across the pond.

My children have enjoyed flying kites in the wind where ever we have lived. The wind lifted our kites above the California hills, soared over the beaches of Costa Rica, crashed into trees in Boston and climbed high over the snow covered fields in Vermont. Each time we flew kites we could feel the wind and with each of these experiences came to understand the changing winds a bit better.

Where have you flown kites? How strong was the wind?

Let's start the month of March with a new calendar and use the old saying about the lion and lamb as our calendar theme. We will be observing the wind this month and recording it's furiosity with pictures of lions to represent strong cold winds and lambs to represent soft, gentle breezes.

Start with a blank calendar. Each day, go outside and feel the wind on your cheeks. Does the March wind feel more like a lion or lamb. Draw a picture or use clip art of lions and lambs to add a picture a day.

Recently I discovered these lion and lamb stamps that would work wonderfully for quickly creating a lion or lamb graphic image to add to your March calendar.

On March 31, study your results. Were there more lions during the first half of March or during the second half? Could you see a trend toward warmer, more gentle winds?

Now remove the lions and lambs and arrange them on a bar graph. Were there more windy lion days or breezy lamb days in March?

Brainstorm all the words you can think of that describe the winds of March. Keep adding to the list as you read books and poems about the wind. Use this list of words to create a matching cards game. Write two sets of cards using synonyms for the word wind. Play Go Fish or Concentration with these cards to help the children learn to read the words and encourage discussion of the various intensities of the winds.

Start collecting pictures to illustrate the various intensities of winds. Refer to the Beaufort Wind Force Chart for ideas. You might find illustrations in famous paintings or draw your own. How about taking digital photos of a tree in your yard as different winds blow through it's needles. Use these pictures to create the 3rd and 4th cards to your set in order to play a version of Authors.

Mix up the cards and see how quickly you can divide the cards into lion and lamb witnds.

Here are some examples of words you might consider using.

You might also like to fly a flag throughout the month of March. Take ditital pictures to show how much the flag blows in the wind each day. Create your own wind scale similar to the Beaufort Wind Force Scale.

Flying kites in the Middle East is more than just a fun way to experience the wind. Men spend considerable time and money creating the very best kites to compete against each other. The interesting twist to this sport is that they glue broken glass to the kite strings in order to cut other kites out of the sky, trying to be the last kite flying in the March wind.

The young boys are the runners who follow the movements and directions the kites fly in the wind and then run to collect the ones that fall to the ground. So much time and money is put into these kites that the men are willing to pay the kite runners to return their kites to them.

Why not make your own kites. On the next March day when the wind is just right, maybe you too would like to try your hand at the sport of Kite flying and running.

To learn more about Kite Running I suggest that adults read The Kite Runner. As you read the book, mark the sections about the sport of Kite Running that you would like to read to your children.

Pick up your kite and let's run with the winds of March...