WEEKLY ROUND-UP

     This week, Wonder Kids Campers brainstormed and created amazing feats of amusement park and circus science. 

     After “winning the amusement park lottery,” campers designed a never-before-seen roller coaster.  It sent a marble “rider” off the end of the track as far as possible, and then into a waiting cup (not for the light of heart!).  Every camper succeeded in making their ride work - and some delivered their marbles into cups almost 5 feet away!

     Campers then exceeded all expectations by successfully including not 1 or 2 vertical loops in their roller coasters, but as many as 5 or 6 - including one with an additional corkscrew turn!  Kids were helped by considering the potential and kinetic energy of their marbles, as well as their speed and velocity.  They also considered the slope and friction of their ride. 

    Campers also turned a study of bubble and magnet properties into an explosion of imaginative circus acts.  While designing their “bubble delivery systems,” they considered such factors as ratio of soap to water in their individual bubble recipes, bubble surface tension, spherical shape, and thickness of the bubble wall, as well as the pros and cons of adding sugar to their solution.  One team invented an amazing triangular string bubble “wand” that produced enormous bubble sculptures up to 10 feet long!

    Construction of juggling balls led to beginning juggling lessons.  And a discussion of magnet properties - combined with a few clips from a recent Cirque de Soleil performance - led to a host of entertaining magnetic circus acts (see the many photos of these inventions above).  The wire characters for these acts were created in Art, in the style of Alexander Calder.

     In Art, campers also created bubble paintings - literally painting with bubbles!  Wire figures multiplied to create a multi-ring circus of unimaginable feats - among many other fun activities.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

     To engage your child in a discussion of this week’s activities, you might find the following leading questions helpful:

>How did you design your roller coaster?  What changes did you make to get it to work better?  How did you get the marble to land in your cup?

>How did the slope of your roller coaster hill affect your ride? (or its “steepness,” or “height” for the younger kids).

>How do you make a bubble painting?  How do you add the color?

>What kind of bubble solution works best for blowing bubbles?  (How many parts of soap to how many parts of water?)

>How do you use Bernoulli’s principle to keep bubbles in the air longer?

>How do you make giant bubbles with string?

>How do you put a kid inside a bubble?!

>What do you know about magnets?  What properties of magnets did you use to design your circus act?  How did it work?

RELATED INTERNET LINKS

For additional internet links to continue the fun and learning, you may enjoy the following related sites.  (However, as usual, please monitor your child’s internet access from these sites).

Thanks again for letting us share your child’s day!

All the best,

Linda Pelzman

Design Your Own Roller Coaster #1:  http://www.funderstanding.com/k12/coaster/

(May require some parental help, but well worth the time!)

Design Your Own Roller Coaster #2:  http://www.learner.org/exhibits/parkphysics/

Bubble Experiments:  http://www.kathimitchell.com/bubbl.html

Alexander Calder Wire Circus Ideas (younger kids):  http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/wirecircus.htm

Alexander Calder Wire Circus Ideas (older kids):  http://princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/calder.htm

More Alexander Calder Ideas:  http://www.berkshiremuseum.org/programs/youth/1_calder.html