Make a Balloon Hovercraft

Hovercrafts are amphibious, which means they can travel over both land and water. 

To make your balloon hovercraft the first thing that you need to do, is take the pop top from your plastic bottle and place it over the hole in the middle of your CD. You are then going to secure it in place. You can either do this with a glue gun or with strong tape. You will need to make sure that no air can escape at the join.

Once you have attached you pop top to your CD, make sure that it is in the closed position and you can then blow up your balloon and pull it over the top. 

When you are ready to release your model hovercraft you can open the pop top and the air from the balloon will start to be released and the hovercraft will move.

The way the hovercraft works is that air from the balloon is released and gets trapped beneath the CD. This trapped air reduces the friction between the floor and the CD. As air is released from the balloon it allows the hovercraft to glide across a surface on a current of air.

You may like to try out your hovercraft on different surfaces and see how they compare.

You could also try swapping the CD base and trying something like a paper plate and see if this makes a difference...

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Can You Hover?

For our next science activity we are going to be making a balloon hovercraft!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 30 July at 10.30am. 

For this activity you are going to need:

• An old CD
• A Balloon
• A pop top from a plastic drinks bottle

You will also need either:

• A glue gun or
• Strong tape and a pair of scissors

For more information please watch this short introductory video. 

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Make a Rocket Rover

The Rocket Rover is balloon powered. It converts potential energy that you store in the balloon when you blow it up, into kinetic energy when you let it go. 

You may need an adult to help you with parts of this activity!

The thick piece of cardboard will be the base of the rocket rover. The first thing that we are going to do is make the wheels for it. The milk bottle tops are going to be the wheels. You will need to make a hole in the middle of each milk bottle top and then thread two onto a wooden skewer with a small piece of straw in between. You will need two pairs of wheels for the rocket rover

You will next need to attach your wheels to your rocket rover. If you want to decorate your rocket rover the best time to do it is before you attach the wheels! Stick the wheels to the bottom of the card base on the piece of straw. This will allow the wheels to spin freely. Make sure that the wheels do not come into contact with the base. If you have excess skewer you may like to cut the end off.

You now want to attach the balloon to power the rocket rover. You will want to tape a balloon to a straw. Make sure that you use lots of tape so that no air escapes. You will then tape the straw to the top of the rocket rover but make sure that the straw hangs over the edge of the base. This will make it easier to blow up the balloon.

Your rocket rover is now ready to test! When you release the balloon air is pushed out the end of the straw and this propels it forward. 

The video tutorial for this experiment is available on Surrey Libraries Facebook page and Surrey Libraries YouTube channel. 

Blast Off!!!

For our next science activity we are going to be making a Rocket Rover!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 23 July at 10.30am. 

For this activity you are going to need:

• Some thick cardboard (eg. cardboard packaging)
• 2 wooden skewers
• 2 straws
• 4 milk bottle tops
• Tape
• A pair of Scissors
• A Balloon

You may also like to collect some colouring pens/ pencils/ crayons to decorate your Rocket Rover 

For more information please watch this short introductory video. 

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Invisible Ink

We are going to be experimenting with lemon juice as an invisible ink. When you use it to write on paper nothing will be visible but if you want to see your message all you need to do is heat your paper. When you do the carbon in the lemon juice reacts with the air and starts to turn brown.

To make your invisible ink the first thing that you are going to do is squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl and add a little bit of water. Give this a mix, and then you are ready to use it to write a message on your paper:

Leave your message to dry and it will stay invisible until you heat your message. It will then become visible. You could hold it over a lightbulb, iron the paper, put it in the over, or do whatever you want to heat the paper, but you may need an adult to help you.

There are other things that you can also use as invisible ink in the same way. Vinegar, Milk, Orange Juice, Soapy Water, Apple Juice and Honey also work in a similar way so you may like to experiment with some of these other things and see what works best!

The video tutorial for this experiment is available on Surrey Libraries Facebook page and Surrey Libraries YouTube channel. 

I Spy...

For our next science activity we are going to be experimenting with invisible ink!

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 16th July at 10.30am. 

For this activity you are going to need:

• some paper
• a cotton bud
• lemon juice
• water

For more information watch this introductory video.

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Make a Zoetrope

A zoetrope is a spinning cylinder with slits that allow you to see an animation, that predates film. If you have ever used a flip book it works in a similar way. The way it works is that your brain is able to fill in the gaps between frames. So as you look at the image our brain converts the individual images into a moving picture. 

The first thing that you need to do is get your piece of black paper and fold it in half longways. It is then time to do some measuring to make the slits that is going to make up your zoetrope. You are going to measure 2.5cm along the length of paper and then make another mark after 0.5cm. You then need to measure 2.5cm down and make this into a rectangle. You can then cut out this rectangle. 

You are going to repeat this along the length of the piece of paper and then cut the paper along the fold. You are then going to stick the two pieces of paper together so that you have a long strip of paper with slits along one edge.

You are then going to stick your long strip of black paper into a cylinder and attach it to your paper plate

You are next going to want to cut two strips of paper that are no higher than the start of the slits in the black paper. You can then draw your animation on this strip of paper. It could be something easy like my example of a ball bouncing up and down or something more difficult. You could even find some examples or templates online.

You are then going sick your animation strip to the inside of your black paper cylinder.

The last thing that you need to do is make a hole in the middle of the paper plate and attach a straw. You may need to use some sticky tack to secure it in place. 

You are now ready to spin you Zoetrope and see your animation.

To see the video tutorial for this activity have a look at the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page

Spinning Around...

For our next science activity we are going to be making a Zoetrope!

A Zoetrope is a spinning cylinder with slits that allow you to see an animation and works in a similar way to a flip book.

We will be releasing this activity on the Surrey Libraries Facebook page on Thursday 9th July at 10.30am. 

For this activity you are going to need:

• A paper plate
• A piece of black paper
• A piece of white paper
• A ruler
• A pencil
• A pair of scissors
• Tape
• Sticky Tack
• A Straw

For more information watch this introductory video.

Follow Surrey Libraries on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information and don't forget to visit Science Club on the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel

Make a Birdfeeder

There are lots of different birds that are common to parks and gardens. By making a bird feeder you will get the chance to observe the birds when they come and visit your bird feeder as well as helping the wild bird population around you!

Some parts of this activity may be a bit tricky and so you may need an adult to help you!

The first thing that you are going to need to do is cut some holes in your milk bottle for the birds to get inside. You will want to cut holes on two sides of the milk bottle.

The next thing that you need to do is to make two holes near the top of the milk bottle and thread some string through so that the milk bottle can be hung up

You next need to push two wooden skewers through the milk bottle. They need to go through underneath the holes that you have cut and go in at opposite directions. They will act as perches for the birds to sit on while they are eating the bird seed in the bird feeder.

When you have finished making your bird feeder you can decorate it with pens, paints or other decorations if you want to and then add some bird seed and hang it up outside.

You are now ready to start looking for birds

If you would like some help recognising some common garden birds then download this birdwatching worksheet to help you. 

To see the video tutorial for this activity visit the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page or the Surrey Libraries YouTube Channel.