Orville and Wilbur Wright
(Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons}
It’s our last week of Monday Mix-Ins for this school year! We know that you aren’t doing a lot of homeschooling this week, but we are so fascinated by the Wright Brothers that we still wanted to give you and your kids a few fun links to enjoy, if you’d like to.
Monday Mix-Ins are a great way to alleviate summertime boredom, too! Come back anytime throughout the summer and select “Monday Mix-Ins” from the Categories menu on the left to find every week from the whole school year.
VIDEOS:
The Wright Brothers in Flight – Here’s a wonderful video made in the old “silent movie” style using footage from the Army Air Corps film and additional images from the papers of Wilbur & Orville Wright and the Library of Congress:
How We Invented the World: Wright Brothers – Here’s a 3-minute Discover Channel video about how the Wright Brothers figured out the secrets of flight:
The Home of the Wright Brothers – From the Smithsonian Channel, here’s a look at the hometown of the Wright Brothers:
American Hero Classics: The Wright Brothers – This is an animated episode, about 26 minutes long:
STEM in 30: Kites to Flight: Inventing with the Wright Brothers – This is a video of a live program for students presented at the National Air and Space Museum. It introduces them to the Wright Brothers, the process of innovation, and the concepts of flight:
The Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine – Here’s an hour-long documentary from Nova:
American Experience: The Wright Stuff – The Life of the Wright Brothers Part 1 – This hour-long documentary has been split into 6 parts, and is narrated by Garrison Keillor. The rest of the videos can be found here.
Early Flying Failures Stock Footage – Just for fun, here’s an assortment of crashes and mishaps from the early days of aviation:
WEBSITES:
Taking Flight with the Wright Brothers – from National Geographic Kids
The Wright Brothers Interactive Experiments – from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The Wright Brothers: Build a Plane – An online activity where you make decisions about how to build and airplane, and then see if it will fly. (Hint: read the links in the left column to learn from the trials of the Wright brothers!)
2003 Wright Brothers Game – from NASA, test your knowledge about the Wright’s first historic powered flight and see if you can fly further than they did on December 17, 1903.
Pilot the Wright Brothers’ Flyer – an interactive site from NOVA
Wright Brothers Photo Collection
Printable Wright Brothers Activity Book – from Animated Hero Classics, here’s something you can print and use this summer to keep kids busy.
Inside the Wright Brothers' Engine | STEM in 30 – For kids who like mechanical things and engines, here’s a peak inside the engine that powered the first airplane. See how a simple engine works from the inside out with this cut-away replica.
Online Wright Brothers Word Search
