Children's books and activities
Flight
Do you know any kids who are fascinated by airplanes, spaceships, hot air balloons, and other fantastic flying machines? We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about flight.
Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres [6] (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as flight. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge [7], vocabulary [8], and comprehension skills.
You might also want to explore DIY Science Camp: Flight [9].
How to explore this theme:
- Read fiction and nonfiction books
- Try some hands-on activities
- Build writing skills with these fun ideas
- Dig deeper with kid-friendly websites
- Play and learn with mobile apps
More themed resources:
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Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
Abuela
By: Arthur Dorros
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [19]
Astronauts Today
By: Rosanna Hansen
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Astronauts Today is a journey into space exploration. With fun facts like what astronauts eat...
Purchase book [20]
Kite Flying
By: Grace Lin
Age Level: 3-6 years old
The young narrator describes how she and her family each contribute to a handsome kite which...
Purchase book [21]
Rocket to the Moon
By: Lerryn Korda
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Lester explains the basics about the moon and space travel to Little Nye before they take off on...
Purchase book [22]
The Adventures of Sparrowboy
By: Brian Pinkney
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Mild-mannered paperboy Henry collides with a sparrow and turns into Sparrowboy just like his...
Purchase book [23]
The Airport Book
By: Lisa Brown
Age Level: 3-6 years old
To visit grandparents, a family travels to the airport, boards the plane, and flies to their...
Purchase book [24]
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot July 25, 1909
By: Alice Provensen, Martin Provensen
Age Level: 3-6 years old
By 1909, Louis Bleriot's persistence had paid off: this Frenchman became the first aviator...
Purchase book [25]
Zephyr Takes Flight
By: Steve Light
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Zephyr's imagination takes off when her family is too busy to play or watch her fly her model...
Purchase book [26]
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
Air Show
By: Treat Williams
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ellie and her brother accompany their pilot father in his airplane to an air show where they see...
Purchase book [27]
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride
By: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Two well known women sneak away from the White House for an aerial adventure in this handsomely...
Purchase book [28]
Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon
By: Suzanne Slade
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Spare, poetic text and luminous, realistic illustrations chronicle the Apollo missions....
Purchase book [29]
Flight: A Pop-Up Book of Aircraft
By: Robert Crowther
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Loaded with flaps, pull-tabs, and pop-ups to manipulate, this fact-filled exploration of flying...
Purchase book [31]
Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh
By: Robert Burleigh
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Charles Lindbergh was only 25 years old when he made his historic non-stop flight across the...
Purchase book [32]
Floating in Space
By: Franklyn Branley, True Kelley
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Have you ever dreamed of being an astronaut? Wondered what it might be like to see the sun set...
Purchase book [33]
Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman
By: Louise Borden, Mary Kay Kroeger
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Bessie Coleman grew up picking cotton in Texas, but she aimed high -- soaring into history as...
Purchase book [34]
Flying Machine (Eyewitness)
By: Andrew Nahum
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [35]
Give Me Wings
By: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Take flight with a bit of imagination and a varied collection of poems. Handsome illustrations...
Purchase book [36]
Go for the Moon: A Rocket, a Boy, and the First Moon Landing
By: Chris Gall
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A boy looking out his bedroom window into the night sky begins, “The moon is out tonight. In the...
Purchase book [37]
Into the Air: An Illustrated Timeline of Flight
By: Ryan Ann Hunter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This picture book traces flight from the era of prehistoric flying creatures to the future of...
Purchase book [38]
Kids' Paper Airplane Book
By: Ken Blackburn, Jeff Lammers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Sophisticated children (or children with an adult) will appreciate the variety of aircraft...
Purchase book [39]
Lighter than Air: Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot
By: Matthew Clark Smith
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Sophie admired Jean-Pierre Blanchard, the first man to cross the English Channel in a hot air...
Purchase book [40]
Look to the Stars
By: Buzz Aldrin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin takes the reader on a journey through centuries of air and space...
Purchase book [41]
Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space
By: Amy Sklansky
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [42]
Owly: Flying Lessons
By: Andy Runton
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [43]
Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee
By: Marissa Moss
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The true story of one of only two Chinese-American women to fly for the U.S. Air Force during...
Purchase book [44]
Soar, Elinor!
By: Tami Lewis Brown
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Elinor Smith was a girl whose dream of flying was realized in the 1920s, a time when girls and...
Purchase book [45]
Tar Beach
By: Faith Ringgold
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Cassie doesn't have to actually go to the beach; she's got her very own "tar...
Purchase book [46]
The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont
By: Victoria Griffith
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [47]
The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes
By: Doug Stillinger
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From very easy to more challenging, paper airplane folding is a craft that soars! Clear...
Purchase book [48]
Wind Flyers
By: Angela Johnson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A young African American boy tells the story of his great-great-uncle, who realized his dream of...
Purchase book [49]
Wings
By: Christopher Myers
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Stunning, bold collage illustrations carry the action in this reworking of the traditional Greek...
Purchase book [50]
Wings
By: Sneed Collard
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Many creatures have wings: birds, bats, insects. How these amazing appendages work and how they...
Purchase book [51]
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
Flying Machines
By: Nick Arnold
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Do you know how flight forces such as gravity, drag, thrust, and lift work? Kids who are raring...
Purchase book [52]
Skywriting: Poems to Fly
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old
In this picture-book anthology of 13 poems, celebrate the dramatic adventure of flight, from the...
Purchase book [53]
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane
By: Russell Freedman
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Using excerpts from Wilbur's and Orville's journals and letters, young readers will find a...
Purchase book [54]
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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Baking Soda Rockets [55]
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Balloon Rocket [56]
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Devil's Kite [57]
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Exploring Gravity [58]
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Garbage Bag Kite [59]
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Hovercraft [60]
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Indoor Boomerang I [61]
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Indoor Boomerang II [62]
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Jetpack [63]
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Make an Alien Spaceship [64]
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Mars Lander [65]
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Nakamura Lock Paper Airplane [66]
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Paper Airplane Catapult [67]
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Paper Airplane Designs [68]
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Paper Airplane Landing Strips [69]
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Paper Airplane Launcher [70]
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Paper Airplane Templates [71]
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Paper Hoop Flyer [72]
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Paper Kite Guaranteed to Fly! [73]
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Parachute Drop [74]
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Roto-Copter [75]
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Science in Your Airplane Seat [76]
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Swinging Bird Toy [77]
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Two-Stage Balloon Rocket [78]
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Zappy Zoomer [79]
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Zoom Ball [80]
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
- Airplane Anatomy: Helping Orville and Wilbur Assemble the 1903 Flyer [83]
- Alex's Paper Airplanes [84]
- Aviation for Kids [85]
- Dad Can Do [86] $
- Flight Adventure's Flight School [87]
- Forces of Flight [88]
- How Do Airplanes Fly? [67]
- How Do Wings Work? [89]
- How Things Fly [90]
- Let's Go to Mars [91]
- National Air and Space Museum [92]
- National Geographic Kids [93]
- NOVA: Space and Flight [94]
Mobile Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
- Airport Mania: First Flight [95] $
- Bean Bag Kids Apollo 11 [96] $
- Flight Control [97] $
- Paper Pilot [98] $
- Rocket Math [99] $
- Sector 33 [100]
- Simple Rockets [101] $
- SimplePlanes [102] $
- This Is My Spacecraft: Rocket Science for Kids [103] $
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Science vs. Science Fiction [104]
Download PDF: English [105] | Spanish [106] -
Think Like an Inventor! [107]
Download PDF: English [108] | Spanish [109]
Our Summer Blog
Washington DC for Kids
Places
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East Potomac Park [116]
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Einstein Planetarium [117] $
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Gravelly Point [118]
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National Zoo [120]
Events
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Ride Simulators [122] $
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Summer Safari Day Camp [123] $