Paint the Bathroom with Dices

Try to decide how to paint a bathroom wall using dice.

Starting with the first square, roll a dice to colour according to the table at the bottom of the page.

Continue in this way until all squares are coloured.

Compare each other’s results when you are finished.

From this you can think about probability.

bathroom picture

To print: Måla badrummet med tärningar (PDF, 49kB)

Make Your Own Air Blaster

Air blaster

WHAT IS AN AIR VORTEX CANNON?

You generally can’t see an air vortex unless there’s a good deal of particles in the air such as smoke. However, you can see the effects of it by making this fun air cannon! An air vortex cannon releases doughnut-shaped air vortices — similar to smoke rings but larger, stronger and invisible. The vortices are able to ruffle hair, disturb papers or blow out candles after travelling a short distance.

YOU WILL NEED:

  • Plastic Bottle
  • Balloon
  • Paint or Stickers (optional)

HOW TO MAKE AN AIR CANNON

STEP 1: First, you want to cut off the ends of the bottle and balloon.

Where to cut the bottleWhere to cut the balloon

STEP 2: Decorate the bottle if desired! This step can be done before or after the next step depending on what you want to do to it.

STEP 3: Then you will want to stretch the balloon over the end of the bottle.

Pieces assembled

Done! You’ve made a super simple awesome air vortex cannon to blast out air.

HOW TO USE YOUR AIR CANNON

By using the end of the bottle with the balloon, to essentially suck air back, you can then aim and shoot that air out the front of the bottle. You can even knock over dominoes with that force of air! Amazing! Simply stretch out the end of the balloon and let it go.

What can you knock over with your own air vortex cannon? You can try making paper targets, setting up paper towel tubes, cups, and more! Ready aim fire!

HOW DOES AN AIR CANNON WORK?

This air vortex cannon may be super simple to make but it also includes some great science to learn too! If you really want to keep kiddos engaged with science, make it fun and hands-on!

As mentioned earlier, we can’t see air but we can see the effects of air moving through trees, the beach ball being blown across the lawn and even the empty trash can as it blows out of the driveway and down the street. You can also feel air when it’s windy! Air is made up of molecules (oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide) even if you can’t see them though on a windy day, you can sure feel them!

Why does the air move? Generally, it’s because of air pressure caused by temperature changes and moves from high pressure to low pressure. This is when we see storms pop up, but we can also see it on an ordinary day too with a soft breeze.

Although the temperature is a big part of the pressure change, you can also make that pressure change yourself with this cool air cannon project! The air blaster creates a burst of air that shoots out of the hole.  Although you can’t see it, the air actually forms a donut shape. The difference in air pressure from the fast-moving air through the opening creates the spinning vortex that is stable enough to travel through the air and knock over a domino!

10-buddies

The ten-buddies

  • Thread a flower stick into the wooden wheel. Attach it with some glue if necessary.
  • Thread on beads. Decide what number your character will represent and thread that number of beads onto the stick.
  • Thread a wooden ball on top. This too can be attached with a little glue if needed.
  • Cut a few pieces of yarn. Put some glue on the ends and thread into the hole on the top of the wooden ball.
  • Paint the eyes, nose and mouth on the wooden ball.
  • Also write the number your friend represents on the wooden wheel.
  • Then try to see which friends belong together. Those who make 10 together belong together.
  • Which one will be alone?
  • Don’t forget to make two fives so that you can show the children that the twins five together make ten.

Thanks lekolar.se for the idea!

M-and-M Science

A simple experiment on how the colour from M&Ms mixes in water. Simple, fast, cheap and beautiful makes it an interesting experiment. Get the kids to think first what they think will happen. Questions are an important part of the scientific method, along with observation and investigation.

The Science Behind

The science behind why the colors do not mix is known as water stratification. Each color of M&Mhas a slightly different chemical make up which, when dissolved, creates a water solution that has slightly different properties such as density, salinity, and oxygenation. This creates a barrier that prevents the water from mixing and is why salt water and fresh water do not mix.

Another scientific property that is at work here is called concentration gradient. Simply put this is the process where molecules will move from high concentration to lower concentration areas. We see this as the colors move through the water.

HOW WE DID OUR EXPERIMENT

  • Set out the supplies
    You will need a good sized white plate, lots of M&M , and water. Ensure you are set up in an area where the plate will not be disturbed. Any vibration or movement could affect your results.
  • Arrange the M&M:s

Consider what you want your art to look like and start arranging your Skittles in a pattern around the plate that you think will work best for your Skittles colorful art creation.

Add water

Gently pour the water onto the plate.

Wait and watch

Very quickly you will start to see the colors travel. Watch to see how they move about the plate and what happens when they meet up with other colors. Depending on the size of your creation this will take about 10 minutes.

Repeat

Our favorite part of this experiment was creating a variety of different art pieces.

Analyze the Results

One way to analyze it is to create a timelapse movie. Set up your iPad to take a picture at a set interval and then combine it to a movie. For my movies did I use iMotion.

Two inspirational movies: Film 1 and Film 2

MORE IDEAS

  • What happens if you use water at different temperatures?
  • What happens if you use different types of liquids? Water, vinegar, juice, pop?
  • We used Skittles, but what would happen if you tried different candies? Lollipops, M&Ms, Starbursts, etc.

Recycling Scavenger Hunt

Materials:

  • Recycling Scavenger Hunt Sheets
  • Scavenger hunt items
  • Bags for collecting items
  • Bins

Instructions:

  • Make your list. It can be a visual list. It can be as simple as cutting and pasting a few images from the internet into a word doc and printing. If you like you can use this: Recycling-Scavenger-Hunt-Sheets (PDF,315kB)
    Set-up the hunt.Hide the items belonging to every category before anyone sees you.
  • Pair kids up & set them free!Give one child the list and the other a bag and let them start looking.
  • Collect itemsYou can have three bins: blue, black, and green; and when the kids finished finding all the items on their list they can come and sort everything in the appropriate bins.

Milkrocket

What you need: an empty milk carton, scissors, coloured pencils, craft glue, yarn in different colours. A barbecue stick, a straw and possibly some clothespins.

1. Drink up and wash out a milk carton.
2. Download the template (PDF, 82kB ) and cut out. The template includes one in colour and one that you can colour yourself. To make the rocket sturdy, cut out a piece of the milk carton that is the size of the malleable part.
3. Stick the rocket to the piece of milk carton and leave to dry.
4. Cut some fringes from fire-coloured yarn.
5. Cut a barbecue stick to about 11 cm. The barbecue sticks are soft and can be cut with a large pair of scissors.
6. Fold the rocket in half and put craft glue on the inside.

7. Place the barbecue stick all the way up to the fold. Then add the lashes to the bottom edge.
8. Press the rocket together, press it under something heavy or hold it together with clothespins until the glue has dried.
9. When the glue has dried, press more stick into a straw. Take a deep breath…

… and blow HARD and short! Reload and fire away again.

Thanks ARLA for the idea!

Paper Mountain

What happens after the storm?

Materials
• Copy paper
• Washable markers
• Dropper bottles
• Microfiber towel
• Water

Execution
• Crumple up a piece of paper and gently open it most of the way. It should still show ridges (high points) and valleys (low points).
• Choose one of the ridges and color the whole ridgeline with a washable marker. Use lots of ink! Place the paper on an absorbent microfiber towel.
• Make a prediction. If water fell on the ridge you just colored, where would it go? What would happen to the colored ink? Now, test your prediction. Use the dropper to place water onto the peak, simulating a rainstorm. Was your prediction correct? Were you surprised by anything?
• Repeat this experiment with more ridges on your crumpled paper. Do your predictions change as you make and observe more simulated rainstorms?

Earth is a constantly changing and dynamic system.
The shape of the land and the pull of gravity both influence how water moves over Earth. The paper mountains in this activity behave like a miniature model watershed. The way the marker ink moves with the water represents how water can carry surface particles through a watershed. A watershed is all of the land that drains runoff into a shared body of water.
Rainwater and snowmelt pick up and carry whatever is on the land—such as trash and debris on streets, exposed soil from landslides or construction, or pollution from mines or farms—to the nearest body of water. What happens upstream always influences the water quality and processes downstream.

Conversational Prompts
• “Can you predict how the flow of water will change over the landforms? Can you define your watershed?”
• “What do you think the marker ink could represent? Can you think of anything that gets washed away in the rain? (e.g., sidewalk chalk, oil, seeds, trash) Where will that stuff end up?”
• “If you were going to live somewhere on your paper, where would you want to live? Whywould you choose to live there? Where would you get your water? Would you have
neighbors? What kinds of rules would you and your neighbors follow about water?”
• “What is the water like around your house/town/city? Do you get lots of rain? Or is the weather dry? Are there any lakes or streams around where you live? What have you noticed about them? Has your water/weather been in the news lately?”
• “How might your life be different if you knew exactly what the weather would be like tomorrow? Next week? Next year? Can you think of anyone for whom weather has an even bigger effect on their life than it does on yours?”