National Aviation Day is observed in the United States on August 19^th every year. It was established in 1939 by Franklin D. Roosevelt to celebrate the development of aviation. It is no coincidence that this special day falls on Orville Wright’s birthday. Orville, with the help of his brother Wilbur, is credited with being the first person to successfully fly. This flight took place in Kitty Hawk, NC on December 17^th in 1903.

This special day is a wonderful reason to learn more about airplanes, and try fun family crafts and activities that are related to airplanes.  These are also great for classroom and youth groups.

Try some of these ideas and then feel free to share your own:

 Aviation Related Activities

• Take a field trip to an airport or somewhere nearby where you can watch planes take off and land.
• Create a dramatic play area that looks like the inside of an airplane.
• Learn more about aviation history.

Aviation Related Recipes

• Make some of these sweet airplanes using candy.
• Use airplane-shaped cookie cutters to cut sandwiches.
• Use a classic Rice Krispie treats recipe and then cut them into airplane shapes and decorate as desired.
• Make a healthy airplane snack using celery, peanut butter, a graham cracker, and a few other supplies.
• This cute airplane is made using melon.
• Use a banana to make an airplane treat.
• Learn how to make an airplane-shaped cake.

Aviation Related Crafts

• Print out some airplane related coloring pages and make your own coloring book.
• Make paper airplanes.
• Make airplanes using styrofoam from meat trays or styrofoam plates.
• Cut a piece of paper into an oval shape (the shape of an airplane window) and draw a picture of what you might see looking out the window of a real airplane.
• Learn how to make an airplane using a straw and loops of paper.
• Cut airplane and airport related pictures out of magazines and catalogs and use them to make a collage.
• Make an airplane using a toilet paper roll.
• Use a clothespins and some Popsicle sticks to make an adorable airplane.

Aviation Activities for Groups/Classrooms

• Invite a pilot to come and speak
• Ask the group if anyone has ever been in a plane. Have them share their experience.
• Have the group name things that fly. See how long of a list you can come up with.

 More Aviation Related Fun

•  Find some fun airplane books for your kids like The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane (affiliate link), My First Trip on an Airplane (My First Adventures) (affiliate link), The Noisy Airplane Ride (affiliate link), or Airplane Flight!: A Lift-the-Flap Adventure (affiliate link).
• Do some flight experiments — check out thisThe Magic School Bus: Soaring into Flight Kit (affiliate link) or this Tabletop Scientist — The Science of Air: Projects and Experiments with Air and Flight book (affiliate link).

I hope you enjoy all of these fun ways to celebrate. Please feel free to share your airplane related ideas also.

Disclosure: As noted above, this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for details.