Learn how you can make your own mini parachutes at home with this video guide from the Royal Institution, the home of British science.
This DIY science project demonstrates how easy it is to make your own version of the parachuting soldier kits which have been a fixture in toy shops for decades.
With an empty yoghurt pot as your passenger carrier, all you need is string, a bit of material (for instance, a plastic bag) and a little sellotape to magic up a basic parachute.
And, unlike the cheap sets you might pick up in the shop, the homemade version allows you to sneak some educational science into all the fun.
By making the parachutes yourself, you can experiment with different types of material, strings and passengers to demonstrate the affect they have on your flight. By observing the impact these variable have on the parachute, children will be able to see the principles of air resistance in action.
You will need
A ball of wool
Bags/pieces of material (various sizes/thicknesses)
An empty yoghurt
Download a helpful homemade parachute fact sheet here for more detail on this experiment and the science behind it.