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Kids Projects at Home

Simple Kids Crafts is a video blog dedicated to reviving the old art of handicrafts for people of all ages. How do oil spills affect aquatic plants? A Miniature Solar Panel Fire Water Balloon Make Clouds in a Bottle Secret Messages Make a Rocket Make a Hovercraft Make an Anemometer Make a Sundial Make a Radio Make an Electroscope Make a Stethoscope Make a Telescope Make a Periscope Make a Camera Bending a stream of water with a comb Lighting a bulb without electricity Simple Motor Cotton Ball Rocks? Salt-Absorbing Art and Science Color Changing Glue Art Baking Soda Clay Oil Sun Catcher Grow a Pineapple Plant! Bead Bowls Wow, what an Air-Gun Funny Diver ! Water boils without fire Ice with Boiling Water Water that boils instantly Water boils in a Paper Pot Soap-driven Boat Pulse Moves Pin Pretty Garden—without Plants Picture made by Fire Magic Pictures Dancing Doll Smoke Goes Down The Dancing Coupl The Umbrella Dance Magic Butterfly Colorful ...
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Flying Tea Bag Rocket

Materials: Tea bag Nonflammable surface (a flat dinner plate works well) Matches or lighter Scissors How to: Remove the staple, string, and label from the tea bag. If your bag of tea is not open on its ends, cut both ends off and empty out the tea into the trash. Unfold the bag of tea so that it is straight. Use your fingers to open up the bag. You will end up with a cylinder shape. Stand the cylinder on one end on your dinner plate. With a lighter, ignite the top of the cylinder. Watch the flame travel down from the top of the cylinder. The tea bag will rise up like a rocket!  Explanation: Air Density- the flame heats the air inside the cylinder. Warm air rises above the cooler, less dense air (convection currents). The tea bag then turns to ash that is super lightweight and is lifted by the smoke!
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Stalactites

Purpose To naturally grow stalactites. Materials Water, two tiny nails, eighteen inches of string, two one quart milk bottles, and Epsom salts. Experiment Cut the tops off of the two milk containers. Put fifteen teaspoons of Epsom salts and two cups of warm water into each carton. Mix well. Soak the string in one of the containers. Tie a nail to each end of the string as a weight. Hang one end of the string in each of the cartons, which should be placed about a foot apart. Store the cartons somewhere that they will not be disturbed for a couple of weeks. What's forming on the string? **Are there differences information time among stalactites?
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Seismology "Recorder"

Stating the Problem - The Big Question How does a seismograph record the magnitude of an earthquake? Materials * Scissors * Ruler * String * Masking Tape * 5-oz (150-ml) Paper Cup * Adding-machine Paper *Black Marking Pen * 5 ounces (150 ml) small rocks * Modeling Clay * Sharpened Pencil *Cardboard Box, measuring about 12 inches (30 cm) on each side * Adult Helper Planning the Procedure 1. Ask an adult to prepare the box as follows: *cut the lid off the box, then turn the box on its side so that the opening faces outward. *Cut a 2-inch (5-cm)-diameter hole in the center of the top of the box. *Cut two t-by-4-inch (1.25-by-1O-cm)slits in the box. Make the first slit in the center of the bottom, near the opening. Make the second slit, in line with the first slit, in the back of the box. 2. Cut a 24-inch (60-cm) section of adding-machine paper. 3. Thread the strip of paper through the slits in the box so that about 2 inch...
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A Rheostat

Purpose To prove that electrical current decreases as resistance increases, and to build an instrument that will test this-a rheostat. Materials A large square battery and two short lengths of wire (probably from a hardware store), a small light bulb and socket, a knife, and a lead pencil. Experiment Cut the wood away from a lead pencil until you have exposed about two inches of the lead. Connect one side of the miniature socket with its bulb to one pole of the battery. Strip the ends of the loose wires so that they are no longer insulated. Press the two exposed ends to the lead. If the ends are close together, the bulb will light. As the distance between the two ends is increased, the light intensity decreases.  Why does this happen? **Lead is a very poor conductor, a resistor, and as the resistance is increased, the current decreases.
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How do atoms and molecules arrange themselves in minerals?

Materials * Large, shallow Baking Pan * 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dishwashing liquid Planning the Procedure * Tap Water * Spoon * Drinking Straw 1. Fill the pan half full with water, then add the dish washing liquid. 2. Gently stir with the spoon to thoroughly mix the liquids without producing any bubbles. 3. Place one end of the straw beneath the surface of the water. 4. Slowly and gently blow through the straw to make a cluster of 5 to 15 bubbles. CAUTION: Only exhale through the straw. Do not inhale. 5. Move the straw to a different location and blow a single bubble. 6. With the straw, move the bubble so that it touches the bubble cluster. 7. Move the straw to a different location and blow through the straw as before to make a cluster of 5 to 15 bubbles. 8. With the straw, move one bubble cluster so that it touches the other bubble cluster. Results The single bubble attaches to the bubble cluster. The two clusters of bubbles jo...
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Human Machine

Stating the Problem - The Big Question What kind of simple machine is your forearm? Materials Plastic Bucket with a Handle Planning the Procedure 1. Place your elbow on a table so that your forearm lies flat and your hand extends straight out over the table's edge. The palm of your hand should be face up. 2. Place the handle of the bucket in the hand of your extended arm. 3. Lift your forearm, but do not raise your elbow from the table. Results As the height of your forearm above the table increases, the height of the bucket also increases.  This project is Tom Janice VanCleave's book, Guide to the Best Science Fair Projects, New York, Jossey-Bass Publisher, A Wiley Imprint, 1997. The Guide is available on line at: SchooDoodle.com Why? A lever is a simple machine, consisting of a rigid bar and a fixed point of rotation called a fulcrum, that is used to life or movethings. In a third-class lever, such as your forear...
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Crystal Gardens

Materials • 3 clean, dry sponges • Aluminum pie plate or cake pan • Glass measuring cup • 1/4 cup table salt • 1/4 cup water • 1/4 cup laundry bluing (You can buy bluing at the grocery store under the brand name of Mrs. Stewart’s Liquid Bluing.) • 2 tablespoons household ammonia • Mixing bowl • Metal spoon • Blue and green food colouring Instructions 1. Arrange the sponges in the pie plate. (You can cut the sponges to fit in the pie plate if needed.) 2. Pour the salt, water, bluing, and ammonia into the mixing bowl and stir well to mix. 3. Pour this mixture over the sponges and then spoon out the rest of the thick portion, spreading it out evenly over the sponges. 4. Sprinkle drops of food colouring randomly on the sponges. 5. Let the pan sit. It may take hours or even days to see the results. Results In a crystal, atoms or molecules join together in a pattern that repeats itself over and over to create a certain shape. A crystal gro...
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Grow a Gummy Bear

This is a neat and easy science project for younger children. All you need is a package of gummy bears, some small see-through containers, water, and a marker. The time frame for this project can vary depending on how much time your child is given for the project. The project can be done in as little as a week (7 days) or it can be stretched out over a couple of months. Here are the basics: Take the small containers and the marker. Label the containers for the number of days your child is going to do the project. (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc.) I recommend empty baby food jars with lids since the day can be written on the lid. Fill the containers about half full of water – cold or room temperature, not hot. For each day of the project, drop a single gummy bear into one jar and close the lid. I sorted my gummies by color, but this is optional.) Store containers in a cool space so that the water in the container does not get too warm and melt the gummy bear. (I stored the...
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Fooling Your Brain with a Mirror

Aim: To prove that what we see is often affected by what we expect to see with the help of the mirror image experiment. Materials required: 1. Mirrors – 2 in number, square in shape, 12 inches (30 cm) a side, could be either made out of plastic or glass. 2. Epoxy glue and duct tapes. 3. Wooden dowels – 2 in number with diameter as 1 inch (2.5 cm) and 12 inches (30 cm) long. Procedure: 1.      Stick the mirrors together by pasting their backs. If you have a glass mirror then for safety, tape their edges using the duct tapes to seal the sharp edges. Take the two wooden dowels and paste them right in the centre of the mirrors vertically. 2.      Hold the dowels with each hand and as you look at one side of the mirror move the hand which is on the other side. What do you actually see? What happens? Your brain expects the image in the mirror to move as it is fooled to believe that the image it sees is actually your othe...
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The Mathematics of Sympathetic Vibrations

Objectives/Goals  Which notes on a piano can induce sympathetic vibrations on an open string? Mathematical relationships between test note and open string frequencies will be used to predict which notes cause sympathetic vibrations. I predict the three test notes in my sample that are harmonics of the open string will resonate the longest. Methods/Materials  Materials used were: a piano, a stopwatch, a frequency chart, and a helper. I depressed a piano key, the damper lifted and the string was "open," or free to vibrate. I played all the notes in one octave higher than the open string. My helper timed the durations of the tone coming from the open string. I averaged and graphed the results.  Results  The thirteen test keys in each sample caused the open string to resonate. Seven test keys caused brief resonance; the vibration inside the sound box caused the open strings to produce a tone.  Three test keys produced tones of intermedi...
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