TRY IT! Rain Stick
What you need:
■ 1 cardboard tube from a paper towel roll
■ 1 piece of aluminum foil - 20” x 6”
■ 1/4 cup uncooked rice
■ 2 wax paper circles - about twice the size of the end of paper towel tube
■ Rubber bands
■ Scissors
■ Crayons or markers
Celebrate Spring with sounds of rain.
What you do:
1 Cover one end of your tube with a wax paper circle. Secure it tightly with a rubber band.
2 Shape the aluminum foil into a coiled snake (see illustration.) Put the aluminum coil
into your tube.
3 Pour the rice into the tube.
4 Cover the open end of the tube with the other piece of wax paper. Secure tightly
with a rubber band.
5 Slowly turn the stick from side to side to create a rain sound effect.
You can also:
Experiment with different materials in your rain stick to see how the sound changes.
Decorate your rain stick with paints, markers, stickers – whatever inspires you!
Egg Drop
Design a container that will stop an egg from breaking when it’s dropped from ten feet.
What you need
Try It!
an egg
a paper cup
15 straws
10 popsicle sticks
What You Do:
1 Think of some strong shapes. How can you use
these shapes to protect the egg?
2 Build your container so the egg won’t fall out.
3 Drop your egg container from 10 feet. You might
need an adult’s help. You could drop it off a porch,
off the top of a ladder or from another high up spot.
4 Check your egg, did it survive?
■
4 tablespoons vinegar
■
3 tablespoons baking soda
■
1 tall, clear glass or jar
■
Enough water to fill half the
glass or jar
■ 8 or more raisins
1. Fill half the glass with water;
add the vinegar and baking
soda. The mixture will begin to
fizz.
2. Drop raisins one at a time into
the mixture. The raisins may
sink at first. Soon they will rise
to the surface, then sink, then
rise again. The raisins will continue to "dance" for at least an
hour.
2 sheets newspaper
Things to Try:
■ Want to make it harder?
Try to make a safe contain-
er without using a cup.
■ Want to make it softer?
Try to make a safe container
out of only soft things - no sticks allowed. The
wrapping can only be 1 inch thick around the egg,
so choose your material carefully.
Try It!
Dancing Raisins
You will need:
tape
How does it work?
Combining vinegar and baking soda
creates bubbles of carbon dioxide,
the same gas that's in carbonated
soda. The bubbles of carbon dioxide
collect on the raisins and lift them
up. When the raisins reach the top
of the water, the bubbles pop and the raisins
sink. Bubbles begin
to form on the raisins and the
whole process starts over
again!