Games

Chain Link Chuckin'

This is the best playground dart game we've ever heard of. You'll need a friend or two, three dart-type planes per person, and a chain-link fence. First, make a bullseye by marking one of the holes in the fence about halfway up. You can use almost anything, but we use a piece of paper crumpled up and crammed between the fence spokes. Then, mark off ten paces from the fence. This is your throw line. Players take turns throwing a plane at the fence, trying to stick it in between the wires as close to the bullseye as possible. The bullseye is worth 5 points, and each diamond-shape away is one less point. You only score if your plane is still caught in the fence when everybody has thrown all their planes. Which means that sneaky pilots with a cool hand and dead-eye aim can knock other players' planes off (or through!) the fence. And if you manage to knock another plane through the fence and stick yours in on the same throw, score 25 points. First to 50 points is the winner.

Planes Versus Plane-eating-monsters

This game is just like Three Flies Up—if you replaced the bat and ball with a lot more fun. To play, grab a high-flying glider-type plane, two to two-hundred friends, and find a big grassy field.

Pick a thrower and hand him or her the plane. Everybody else is a monster, and diets only on the soft underbelly of paper airplanes. The monsters stand a ways back from the thrower.

The object is simple: the thrower throws the plane, and any monster who catches the plane before it hits the ground gets a point. Three points and the winning monster becomes the thrower. Only one catch: if you crush the plane when you catch it and it no longer flies, you lose all your points and have to fold a new one.

Activities

Plane Train

If, no matter how much you yell and scream at them, you just can't get your fleet of planes to fly in formation, try this: Make a large and a small paper plane. The larger one should be at least twice the size of the smaller one. Then, tie a foot or two of thread between the back of the big plane and the front of the small plane. Throw the big plane and watch the tiny one go crazy just keeping up!

Flight 007

Got a secret to blab? A note to pass to a fellow spy? We've got just the trick. Fold a paper airplane, using any design you want (but the more complex the better). Then, carefully unfold the whole thing, looking, as you go, for places on the piece of paper that get folded up inside when you make the plane. Almost every plane has a little bit that you couldn't possibly see when it's folded and done. When you find one, write your note in that space, refold your plane, and deliver your message via plane, ol' airmail.