My 3 year old is obsessed with The Magic School Bus series of books. At first I wasn’t too sure of these books but, wow, are these books effective. My son knows more than me about A LOT of topics thanks to this series. So I am not embarrassed to admit that I sourced this idea from The Magic School Bus Inside the Hurricane. The activity is so simple, I had to share it with you.
Materials:
- Piece of paper
- Scissors
- Needle & Thread (or tape)
- Lamp
Approach:
- Draw a spiral on the paper
- Cut out the spiral (older children can do these first two steps on their own)
- Put the needle & thread through the top of the spiral (make sure a knot is tied at the end). I actually ended up taping the thread to the spiral.
- Hold the spiral by the thread above the warm/hot light bulb
- Watch the hot air rise and make the paper spiral spin
Questions:
- Ask your children to postulate on why the spiral spins?
- What does the light bulb do to the air?
- What happens to the warm air? Where does it go?
- What does this activity do to the spiral?
Thanks for visiting!
Marnie
Marnie
Founder, Publisher, Writer & Editor at Carrots Are Orange, Inc.
Marnie began Carrots Are Orange in 2010 after the birth of her first son. Carrots Are Orange is a Montessori inspired learning and living blog for parents and educators. She hails from Maine, a wonderfully down to earth place to grow up. Marnie moved to the west coast in 1999, currently living east of Seattle with her husband and three young boys. She is pursuing Montessori certification. Her work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, PBS Kids, BabyCenter, the Melissa & Doug blog, and WhattoExpect.com.
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Wow, that is so cool. I love simple experiments, mainly because it helps me explain it easily to my kids
I love those books and the show too. Thanks for sharing!
tulip recently posted…Dad Can Pick Up a House… Seriously!
Hi there Tulip! Yes, simple = good for the VERY reason you mention!
~ Marnie
I’ve always been fascinated by this experiment!
This is perfect timing – we’ve been talking about hot air balloons lately. I’m putting this on our summer science list. Thanks!
Natasha recently posted…Making Lemonade
Oh, that makes me so happy. Thank you for your comment. So easy! Your son will get a lot out of it!
Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering
which blog platform are you using for this website?
I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform.
I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
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