This is great for a camping day activity or can be covered in several days including a visit to a local small airport or museum.

Start with a brief lesson on aerodynamics, tailor the difficulty to your group.  If possible get someone with knowledge to come to your meeting, otherwise, do your own research.  NASA has some good information here and here.

Provide a work space with templates for paper airplanes and folding, weighting, and decorating supplies.

• Consider having older kids help the younger kids or make sure there are enough adults to provide help, as folding can be challenging for kids still developing motor skills.
• Try different options
  • Have all kids fold the same design and then test it.  Allow kids to “tweak” their designs and then re-test
  • Let each kid pick their own design and test them all
  • Do both options
• Once planes are folded, test them by trying to fly them through a hoop hanging from the ceiling,  trying to hit a target on a wall (like darts), or trying to fly past a line on the floor
• Allow everyone to tweak their design or try another design to see how different weights or silhouette changes the planes ability or effectiveness in flying.
• Keep going until time or interest runs out.

Clean up area

Some other sources for lessons or folding techniques:

• Kid Activities
• Study.com
• Emma Owl