Airplane
Preschool · 3–5An airplane soaring through the sky! Color the body, the wings, and the tail. It is an exciting way to talk about flying, travel, and how planes stay up in the air. Print it on A4 or US Letter, or color it online with tap-to-fill.
Wings, body and tail
A plane is three named parts — the body, the wings and the tail — and it is one of the few subjects where a child will happily learn the proper words. Wings are the ones worth dwelling on, because they are the reason it flies rather than decoration on the side.
Drawn from the side, the plane shows one wing rather than two, and children sometimes notice that and object. They are right, and it is a nice moment: a drawing shows you one view, and the other wing is behind.
Why planes fly
The honest four-year-old version: the wings are shaped so that air moving over them pushes the plane up, and the engines push it forward fast enough for that to work. A sheet of paper held at the lip and blown over the top will lift, which is the same effect and takes ten seconds to demonstrate.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I explain flight to a young child?
- The wing's shape makes the air push it upwards when the plane moves fast enough. Blowing over the top of a strip of paper makes it rise, which shows the effect without any explanation at all.
- Why can I only see one wing?
- Because the plane is drawn from the side, so the other wing is hidden behind it. Children who spot this are reading the picture properly and it is worth telling them so.