Edible Aircraft

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to learn the parts of an airplane.

Materials

• ice cream cones (sugar or wafer)
• marshmallows
• pretzel sticks (thin and small)
• gumdrops
• pretzel sticks (thick and large)
• white frosting
• crackers (square or rectangular)
• licorice
• taco shells (soft or hard)
• cookies
• toothpicks (Do not eat the toothpicks!)
• toaster tarts
• butter knife

Procedure

1. Gather the materials that you plan to use to build your plane. Add your own ideas to the materials list. Be creative!
2. Decide which type of aircraft you would like to create. Examples: biplane (Wright Flyer), monoplane (1 set of wings), jet, and Space Shuttle. The pictures below, from NASA, may give you more ideas!
3. Review the parts of the plane and decide which materials you will use for each part, then record the materials in the space provided.

   propeller ____________________________________________________
   engine ______________________________________________________
   fuselage _____________________________________________________
   landing gear __________________________________________________
   wings _______________________________________________________
   cockpit ______________________________________________________
   ailerons _____________________________________________________
   flaps _______________________________________________________
   rudder ______________________________________________________
   elevators ____________________________________________________
   tail/vertical stabilizer ___________________________________________
   horizontal stabilizer _____________________________________________
   

Tips

• Use the frosting as glue and let the frosting dry before moving the model to a place where the family can admire it!
• Use a butter knife to cut materials into the shapes you need.

Visit http://nix.nasa.gov/ for more NASA images.