NOTE TO PARENTS
Thank you for purchasing this activity book! We are happy to provide this fun and educational resource for you. There are pictures to color and puzzles to complete. The aircraft featured here are examples of great aviation accomplishments over the last century, and they are featured in pairs in order to illustrate the progress made over the years. For example, there is a picture of Igor Sikorski flying the first practical helicopter, the S-300, in 1940. The Bell Jet Ranger is the next aircraft - it is recognizable as the model flown by news organizations, traffic reporters and rescue teams today. Another set of aircraft contains the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Charles Lindbergh flew on the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in over 33 hours. The next aircraft is the Concorde, a supersonic jetliner that crossed the Atlantic in about three hours. We hope that the contrasts will illustrate how far aviation has developed, and inspire future generations to learn about aviation history and also dream of new creations.
There are brief descriptions and labels on each page to introduce the featured aircraft. The text also contains the information necessary to complete the puzzles that follow the pictures. Parental assistance may be necessary to complete the puzzles. It is hoped that the reader will be inspired to do further research using the references listed in the Sources section. In addition to the knowledge gained by studying the drawings and text, the activities in this book will help the reader develop reading comprehension, symmetry and logic skills.
Parents should actively assist their children in learning about aviation, especially considering the enormous contribution that the United States has made in this area. Children should be encouraged to read about aircraft in general, but more importantly, about the scientific principles of flight. Age-appropriate biographies of aviation pilot heroes, and aircraft designers and builders, provide an exciting medium for generating knowledge and enthusiasm for aviation. Field trips to aviation museums, especially those that allow children to touch or enter the aircraft, provide vivid and enduring memories. Constructing models of wood or plastic, both static and flying, gives the child a sense of accomplishment with a physical product to display or fly. As the child matures, more intense experiences such as air shows may become appropriate, but home video tapes made of a live air show also provide a meaningful and controllable experience. Fun activities such as kite flying, bird watching and stargazing are also valuable learning experiences.
As with any other learning experience, creativity and enthusiasm are invaluable when encouraging children to learn. Fortunately, aviation is one of those inherently interesting scientific endeavors that will continue to fascinate generations to come.






