Paper Kite Template — Free Patang for Makar Sankranti

The paper kite template, flat and folded

Paper kite template — free printable dieline with cut and fold lines, any size — The printable dieline at its standard size. Type your own size above for yours.

Paper kite folded up from the template — the finished piece — The finished paper kite, made from it.

What this template is for

The Indian fighter kite (patang) for Makar Sankranti and Uttarayan: a square sail on its corner, the spine down the middle, the bow glued corner to corner, bridle holes, a tail and patches. Flying kites in tissue, wall and class kites in card.

Also called paper kite · patang template · fighter kite · makar sankranti kite — all the same shape, and this is it.

Makar Sankranti and Uttarayan
School and kids’ craft lessons
Wall and classroom decorations
Kite-making workshops

How to use this template

All four downloads are the same paper kite at the same size — only the format changes.

Which file goes where: PDF, PNG, SVG or DXF

PDF printing at home: Print at 100 per cent, or hand it to a print shop as "actual size, no scaling".
PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate: Upload, lock it in place and design your paper kite on top. Free plan and phone included. Full Canva walkthrough →
SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity: Vector, with cuts, folds and labels on separate layers. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters: Two layers, CUT and FOLD — and the one free Silhouette Studio Basic will open.

Getting it printed properly → · Putting your own design on it →

Printing it

Type your size above, then download the PDF.
Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
Too big for the paper? Pick your paper size and leave Fit the pieces to the page ticked: each piece gets its own place on a sheet and the PDF comes out with every page in it, nothing cut in half and nothing to tape.

How to put it together

These pictures are the paper kite itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the steps never do. The names in capitals are the labels printed on the template.

Cut the solid lines
Every solid line is a cut. Do the inside shapes first, while the sheet is still whole and easy to hold.
Score every dashed line
Dashed lines are folds. Score each one first — an empty ballpoint against a ruler — or the card cracks along the outside of the bend.
Step by step
1. Cut out the KITE, the TAIL and the three PATCH squares, and the four small holes.
2. Glue a thin bamboo spine along the dashed middle line of the KITE.
3. Bend a thin bow stick from the LEFT corner to the RIGHT corner, arching up past the top holes, and glue each end under a PATCH.
4. Glue the TAIL by its (glue) strip to the bottom corner, and a PATCH over the bottom of the spine.
5. Tie the bridle string through the top pair of holes and the bottom pair.

Glue: a glue stick for paper, white PVA on card — hold each seam thirty seconds, and let it dry before you use it.

Questions about the paper kite

What size is a patang?

A fighter kite is a square standing on its corner. The default is 180 mm corner to corner, which prints on A4 or US Letter for desk and wall kites. Flying kites are usually 400 to 550 mm: print those on A3, or tile them and join the sheets with tape along the spine.

Where do the sticks go?

The spine is glued along the dashed middle line. The bow is bent from the left corner to the right and glued at both ends under a patch, arching up so it crosses the spine 0.22 of the kite above the corners, through the top pair of holes. The bottom pair of holes is a quarter of the way up from the bottom corner.

Which paper will fly?

Kite tissue or thin kite paper, about 20 gsm, with thin bamboo sticks. On card the kite is a decoration, not a flyer. Tie the bridle (kanni) through both pairs of holes so the kite hangs nose up.