Bird Gliders

by nickupton

Have lots of bird flying fun with this collection of feather-light polystyrene bird gliders.

Bird Gliders are fun, inexpensive toys that encourage playing outdoors, something that too many children do not do often enough.

These bird models make children construct the toy themselves and then they can be played with alone or with friends and family; these toys are a great opportunity for parents to play with their kids, indoors or out.

Bird Gliders Set Of Twelve

Buy these for bird-lovers with a sense of fun

Put these bird gliders together to make realistic birds then fly them in the garden or in the park. When they crash readjust them and repair then see what they do. With little alterations these bird gliders will take long glides, short glides, curved glides or nose dives! However they glide, these are a lot of fun to play with.

You find a set of 12 to buy here.

Assemble your bird glider

Assembling these bird gliders is a simple affair  and you can leave your child to follow the instructions provided on the packet themselves; this will give them a sense of achievement in completing the task themselves. If your bird glider enthusiast is of an older type, following the instructions will allow them to prove that as yet they have not lost the plot.

If they are unable to follow the instructions this brief summary will allow you to help.

  • Remove the pieces from the packet. There should be a body, a wing and a tail as well as a plastic nose weight.
  • Gently punch the slot in the bird's body out to create an opening.
  • Slide the wing piece into this slot. If it does not slide easily into the slot don't force it. Instead widen the slot as needed with some scissors or a knife.
  • Slide the tail piece into the slot at the back of the bird's body. Try and evenly distribute the tail for steady gliding. You may have to come back and alter the distribution of the tail to get  a straight glide.
  • Slide the plastic nose weight over the bird's beak (proper birders call it the bill, but you know what I mean). This provides stability during gliding and again it may need adjustments as you play with the glider.
  • Throw the bird glider as you would a paper airplane and watch it glide.

My Bird Glider Story

Lots of fun with my sister!

These bird gliders are cool! When I was young my parents used to take me on holidays to the New Forest in England where we used to have lots of space for playing outside. In a nearby shop bird gliders like these were for sale and I used to use my pocket money to buy the latest ones. After putting them together my sister and I used to glide them towards each other, taking great delight if one crashed into a nearby cow pat!

Quite frankly some of them glided well, others not so well! But it was great fun adjusting and readjusting them to find out how far, how fast and how erratic they would glide.

Playing with these bird gliders also spurred me and my sister into trying to make our own models out of old cardboard boxes - with very mixed results!

Good Things About Bird Gliders

  1. They make an inexpensive gift.
  2. They are colorful and closely resemble real bird species.
  3. They can be played with indoors or outdoors.
  4. They can be played with alone or with friends.
12 Bird Gliders

Children love dreaming of flying like these cool Bird Gliders. These gliders are perfect carnival prizes or goody bag treats.

Only $3.95
12 Piece Bird Glider Assortment [Toy]

A 12 piece assortment of easy to assemble gliders that look like birds.

Only $11.0
Sir David Attenborough gliding with Birds
How Do Birds Glide?

Birds glide in more or less the same way that an airplane flies. The shape of the bird's wing forces air to pass over the wing in a different way to how it passes under the wing. This creates a higher air pressure below than above and makes the bird lift. A bird gains the speed to create airflow by flapping its wings whereas a plane uses its engines.

However, bird also glide by holding out their wings over pockets of warm, rising air called thermals. This type of gliding is called "soaring". A plane does not do this.

 

Insect Gliders

Flying insects with funny grins for play at home, in the garden or in the park. They make great hanging displays too!
Foam Insect Gliders (1 dz)
Only $1.98

More Foam Gliders

Cheap foam gliders of many types; planes, birds, dinosaurs, insects and other fun designs.

Foam Airplane Glider
Foam Airplane Gliders are inexpensive, fun toys that encourage children to play outdoors.

Dinosaur Gliders
Colorful and realistic foam dinosaur gliders. Inexpensive hours of play time.

If you like the bird gliders then these insect gliders may also appeal; coming in the shape of rather fanciful insects these gliders are slightly more complex in form and also come in a pack of twelve.

It is difficult to say how well these insects will actually glide, due to their funny shapes, but they certainly look a lot of fun. These look great for messing around with in the garden.

More Pages For Bird Lovers

Birdwatching Equipment I Recommend
As a lifelong birdwatcher I have used a large number of binoculars, telescopes, cameras, identification guides and other birdwatching equipment. In this lens I will talk about the birdwatching equipment that I currently use and which has really enhanced my birdwatching over the last 7 years. I have been a professional birdwatcher since January 2008 and I have found a set up that is not only very effective but is reasonably priced.

The Life of Birds
The Life of Birds is a fantastic, ten-part documentary BBC televison series first broadcast in 1998. Narrated by David Attenborough, The Life of Birds contains some of the most memorable footage of bird behaviour ever seen, including many species never filmed before: it is a wonderful series and a must see for any bird lover from armchair bird enthusiast to serious ornithologist, indeed, it is bound to convert many non-birdwatchers into bird enthusiasts.

Updated: 10/06/2017, nickupton
 
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DerdriuMarriner on 08/09/2021

nickupton, Thank you for pictures, practicalities and product.
Two aunts who were teachers had these gliders. I know birds from their flying and gliding styles because of my aunts modeling them with their bird gliders. It was the same with their insect set, in which my favorites were the odonates.

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