What are parachutes?

A parachute is like a big, fluffy blanket that helps you fall slowly from high up.

Imagine you’re playing tag and you jump off a slide, whoosh! You go fast! But if you have a parachute, it’s like you’re jumping off the slide with a pillow, you float down gently instead of crashing into the ground. That’s how parachutes work: they catch the air as you fall, slowing you down so you land softly.

When someone jumps from an airplane, they start falling really fast. But when they open their parachute, it acts like a big sail catching the wind, whoosh! The air pushes up against the parachute, making the person float gently to the ground instead of slamming into it.

Think about a leaf floating down from a tree in autumn, it doesn’t fall straight down. It twirls and drifts because it's catching the wind. A parachute is like that leaf on a super big, windy day!