Up, up and away!

Art with a difference today! Taking a scenic flight over the Bucket Tree!!

We have a lovely park in Tawa called Willowbank Park. It has a tree that is clipped in the shape of an upside down bucket - hence the name "Bucket Tree". It has been that way for over 150 years! The tree was planted by European settlers when they had a farm here.

Hot Air Balloons

We wanted to find out how hot air balloons work and if we could make one ourselves. We know that hot air rises and is less dense than cold air, so we searched for some ideas.
This clip showed us how to make a hot air balloon so we basically followed what they did (on a shoe-string budget though!!)

We tried to lift a plastic bag with a hair drier on Wednesday afternoon, but it wouldn't rise. After some thinking, we realised that the classroom was too warm -- so we tried the same thing the following morning when the temperature was cooler. The bag lifting off was a real success.

Next step was to make a large tube that was light enough to lift off the ground. We used very thin computer paper, fine bamboo, tape, and balloons.
A little decoration was added but not too much as paint would have weighed our hot air contraptions down.

Then down to the hall Friday morning to experiment.
Success! They lifted off the ground. The hair drier gave enough wind to lift them off the ground. A bot too much heat though so one balloon popped. (Interesting thing about that though was that the popping balloon caused the paper to rip - the force of the air was that strong!)
Check out the photos!

More Amazing things about Air!

Another experiment to do with 'Air' that we tried was to see if molecules of air could stop paper from getting wet.

What we needed:

Small Glass

A screwed up ball of paper

Glass bowl filled with water

What we did: Put the paper in the bottom of the glass then turned the glass upside down over the bowl and lowered it in to the water. We then lifted the cup straight up out of the bowl and took the paper out.

What happened and why?

The paper remained dry because when the glass was pushed in to the water, the molecules of air did not escape. Instead, they were pressed together and acted as a shield between the water and the paper. 

Pretty cool -  huh?!

Air Force

We are looking at "Air" at the moment. It's amazing what this important, but invisible force can do!
Today we saw how air stops water from entering a bottle.
This is what we used:
A funnel
Small bottle
Plasticine
Glass of water

What we did:
Put the funnel in the bottle and made a small long worm out of the plasticine and fitted this around the bottle neck - making the funnel seal completely and the bottle airtight. We then slowly poured a small amount of water into the bottle - until glass of water was empty.

What happened and how come?
A little water went in to the bottle but as we poured, less entered. Finally, the funnel was full and no water entered the bottle. This was because the air molecules in the closed bottle started pressing together and taking up what space there was- and so stopped any more water from entering.

Try this at home the next time you refill the Tomato Sauce bottle!

Wind socks

With the "Wind" theme that has taken off this week- we just had to make some wind socks! Not sure how long they will last in a Wellington wind, but they look lovely for now!!

Kite Flying

Making kites is always fun. This time though, we made the simple diamond kite with plastic and kebab sticks, had a go at flying them, them went back to the drawing board to add modifications to our kites to make them fly even better.

Some fabulous thinking, designing and constructing went on here - as well as some fabulous fun!

(Remember if you want to add a comment do it below rather than on the Photopeach slide show- thanks)

Drawing Clouds

What a beautiful afternoon to draw clouds! Just wish they would stay still!