make it: fastest flyers paper planes

Welcome to Small for Big! This blog is the other half of Smallful.
Small for Big is full of inspiration, playful design finds, and DIY projects. Read on for instructions to make your Cricut Explore project…

It is so satisfying to make a boring old piece of paper fly across the room. It never gets old, even though we might get older! These paper planes feature aero-dynamic cutouts along their tails, making them balance better and fly farther than your average paper plane.

The Fastest Flyers Paper Planes are available in two colors. We highly recommend making both of them right now – how else will you hold contests to see which person threw their plane the farthest?

This project was designed for the Cricut Explore. But you can make it without the machine too – scroll to the bottom of the post to see how to make this printable without a Cricut machine (and with access to your handy dandy scissors!).

Materials:

• Cricut Explore® machine
• Cricut Design Space™ software
• Cricut® 12” x 12” StandardGrip mat
• Cricut Explore® Scoring Stylus (optional, but useful)
• White cardstock (works best with approximately a 67 lb. weight cardstock)

Prep:

• Using the Print Then Cut option in your Cricut Design Space™ software, print the planes onto 8.5” x 11” cardstock.

Cut:

• Follow the steps in the Cricut Design Space™ software to cut out the planes.

Assemble:

• Lay the planes on the table print side down.
• Using the score lines, fold the paper airplanes like a traditional paper plane.

• Start with the top 2 triangles, fold them into the center line.

• Then fold the two sides in again, following the same angles.

• Now fold the plane in half, and fold down your wings.

• Finally fold up the wing tips, and get ready to soar!

Want to see some more paper craft ideas? Check out all the projects in Smallful’s Cricut Shop!

Make this Printable without a Cricut machine:

If you don’t have a Cricut Explore, you can still create this project as a printable – you’ll cut them out with your scissors instead. Follow the steps below. This will let you purchase the file, and Print Then Cut by hand. There are some interior cuts you may want to ignore, but otherwise you’ll be just fine.

• Click the “Customize” button for the project you want to make from Smallful’s Cricut Shop.
• Cricut Print Then Cut projects can only print within a 5.5” x 8” area. You’ll notice the images are laid out and grouped to be printed that way – over multiple pages.
• Select each image and click the “flatten” button in the pop-up menu on the right so you have a total of 2 Flattened Sets.
• Hit “Go” and then Sign In or create a Cricut ID and enter your payment info.
• If you aren’t using the Cricut to cut, you will want to remove the bleed by clicking the ‘Bleed (for print then cut)’ box (find this by clicking the blue “more mat options) under the print copies in the upper LH corner). This will give you a cleaner print.
• From there, click the “Print and Go” button. At this point, your printer menu will pop up and you can print the image. After you hit print, it will ask you to make sure you have connected your Cricut Explore, but you can just ignore this because you’re all finished! Now you have your own printable to cut out and use!