boomerangs

Elazar was interested in boomerangs last month, and I never got around to researching if there was actually an easy way to make one.  Today I did, and I found 2 really easy methods.  Well, the origami one has a lot of steps, but in theory if I follow the directions it should probably be manageable.  The cardboard one looks so simple I might just do it.

here is the easy one:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Boomerang

you just take a cereal box and cut out a three armed figure, with the arms the same size and shape and 60 degrees apart.  Then you fold back a "corner" of the rounded edge of each arm.  Check out the pictures.

and here is the origami one:

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-boomerang.html

This one involves lots and lots of folding but the included pictures are very clear.  (I originally found a wikihow with no pictures! From the descriptions, I couldn't envision exactly where to fold.  There are videos, but I prefer instructions with pictures.)

So we made the first one.  It took me a while to draw it correctly.  I finally drew a circle.  I'm not sure where my compass went but it would have been useful.  Elazar is now throwing it (the boomerang, not my missing compass).  It doesn't come back perfectly (that might be because we need to practice throwing it correctly), but the folds clearly cause some turning and it flies in an arc, even though it doesn't come directly back to us.