There are over 130 wind farms in the UK. Wind turbines produce a renewable form of electricity. The wind turns the turbine blades, which transfers this energy to a generator to produce electricity.
You may need an adult to help you with parts of this activity!
The first thing that we are going to do is make the base for the wind turbine. To do this you will want to tape a kitchen roll tube to a piece of thick cardboard. Make sure that you use lots of tape so that it is secured properly
You are then going to tape the lolly sticks to the top of the kitchen roll tube. Tape them on opposite sides and so that 3/4 of them sticks above the top of the kitchen roll tube
You will next want to get 2 paper cups. Make a hole in the bottom of each paper cup and then tape them together with the tops of the cups together.
Cut a small circle out of thick card and make a hole in the centre. Make 3 slits at equal distances around the circle. We will be attaching our turbine blades to this circle. Cut 3 rectangles out of the thin craft card and bend them to make your windmill blades. Make a small slit into each turbine blade.
Slide each rectangle turbine blade into the card circle.
You now need to put the three sections of your wind turbine together. To do this you are first going to take your wooden skewer and slide it into the holes in your taped paper cups. It should run through the middle of both cups. You can then tape your paper cups to the top of your kitchen roll base between the lolly sticks. The last thing that you need to do is add the turbine blades. Push the wooden skewer through the hole in the centre of the thick cardboard circle. Use some sticky tack to hold it in place.
Your wind turbine should now be ready to test!
You could try and improve your wind turbine design by experimenting with a different shape of wind turbine blade, or by using a different material to make them. You could even try using a different number of blades and seeing how this effects the design.
The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page or YouTube Channel
