Sunday, August 14, 2011

Setting Up Sailboats

Sorry, I've been off of the blog-wagon for the weekend.  We had a visitor (my mom), and we were just very busy (we did do a science experiment, so stay tuned tomorrow for that post - video needs uploading).

Well, my mom is gone and the kid is asleep.  I promised a science lesson to J's class for this Friday.  I realized that I haven't shopped for it or tried it out.  I wanted to do Sink/Float with the Toddlers for sure, but I also wanted something a little more mechanically oriented - like sailboats.  Originally, I wanted to do dowels in styrofoam plates.  I found the coolest (clean looking) styrofoam trays in the recycling bin at Stanford (but these are little kids who like to put everything in their mouths, so I refrained from claiming them).  Anyways, the design I was thinking might be too clunky for little hands.  I was searching around my house and found a sponge, a toothpick (with the pointies cut-off), and an index card.  I had my husband try out my design in the sink and it seems to work with blowing on it (I'm just hoping our handheld fans get here before Friday).  I might try to see if I can hot glue the toothpick in so it doesn't get pulled out, but it might affect the buoyancy of the boat.  Ultimately, the goal of this project is to let the two year olds see that they can move something with the wind (pressure, force).  I'm sure it'll turn into a splashfest, but hey, they are two and science is supposed to be fun!

Anyways, I'll keep posting this week, so stay tuned and keep voting, please.

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