Things are Heating Up!

A big part of "WEATHER" is the temperature, and so, our little voyagers are learning to read a thermometer and record their findings. They are trying to do it everyday, morning and afternoon, and, have been mostly successful.

This was project #2 for the DIY Meteorologist badge:

To spark interest, and introduce the "temperature" concept, we started off with our own version of  this (DIY recommended) thermometer project from Instructables:

We didn't have any film cannisters, but these protein scoopers were a similar size, and we had some Zero Water lids that were a tight fight, so... this is what we used:

Materials Needed:

small plastic containers with tight fitting lids

thin straws (we used the stir straws for coffee)

food color

modeling clay or hot glue gun for sealing

water

First, drill a hole in the center of lid. This is where you will stick the straw.

Now, insert the straw...

See - Like this!

Next, add water...

Add food color...

And more water -- We added a little water, the dye, then more water, 

so we wouldn't have to stir it.

Put the lid on -- Make sure the straw is way down in the container, but not touching the bottom. Then use the modeling clay or hot glue to create a good seal around the straw.

We first tried using our hands to warm the "thermometers," but that didn't do anything! We tried cold water -- uneventful. But the hot water worked! Especially in the case of Spiderman's blue thermometer! 

His worked the best out of the three --maybe because he just had to add "a little extra" dye, which made the rising water easier  to see in the straw. He also pushed his straw down in a little further than the girls, and that might have helped, too! So much for following the adult's directions, and good thing he didn't, or we would have been sorely disappointed.

Although this was a fun project, if I were to do it again, I would probably try a different homemade thermometer. This one from EnergyQuest is VERY similar, but looks like it would have more potential for success:

I think using a bigger bottle would make it easier to see the temperature change. Has anyone made this type of thermometer before? How did it work?

DIY Friday - Meteorologist Project #1

For our second DIY badge, the little voyagers will be creating a weather station. learning how to keep records and make observations, as well as try a little weather predicting!

This first project is one part of our weather station -- a barometer. 

In theory, when the weather changes, the air pressure changes, too. Higher pressure means fair weather, while lower pressure indicates a change is coming! Like rain!

This is an easy-to-build, basic barometer. We aren't measuring precise air pressure, just noting the changes for our "norm," the rubber band/blue water line.

What You Need to Make One:

Glass bottle (about 12oz.)

Glass jar (about 18oz.)

Rubber Band

Water

Food Coloring

Saralina will be helping out with this project: 

Pour enough water into the jar so that when the bottle in inverted, 

the end is below the water.

Add food coloring -- This makes the water level easy to see.

Stir it around to blend the coloring with the water.

Invert the bottle so the top is in the water.

Put the rubber band around the jar and move it down to the water level.

Try to make it line up evenly right on the water line. This will be your "norm." 

NOTE: If it is raining while you build this, your "norm" might be low. We had rain the next day, so the pressure may have been on the low side when we made it.

Tip the jar and bottle slightly to let air out of the bottle. You should see a bubble  come up.

And finally, pick a location that does NOT receive direct sun. Put it in an out-of-the-way shady spot, but one where you will be able to check it often, especially if you live in one of those places where, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change."

*     *     *     *     *

Keep watch for a weather progress report; the little voyagers have been vigilant in their weather recording duties!

*     *     *

CREDITS: Photographs taken by little voyager, Rosetta. She is quite the budding photographer!

DIY Friday - Project #3

For our third DIY Salvager project, we decided on some clothespin racers found on the Almost Unschoolers blog. We thought it would be cool to make clothespin monster truck racers by using big plastic juice lids for wheels instead of buttons! But we ( meaning me) also didn't think about the relative size of the lids to the clothespin, and if they would actually fit, before we started the project!

So the little voyagers designed and colored paper hubcaps to fit inside the lids...

And they cut them out...

And they colored their clothespin with sharpie markers...

 Measured the straws...

Cut them...

I drilled holes in the lids...

 We attached the wheels... (these ones are backwards - they needed to have the flat surface facing inside) attempted to put the monster wheels on the clothespins... and quickly learned they wouldn't work! Too Big! The front and back wheels touched because the clothespin wasn't long enough, so the wheels wouldn't spin...OOPS!

But no worries, we had a whole bag of lids, and so we dug out some smaller ones, cut the hubcaps down to size...

And finished putting the racers together.....again!

*     *     *     *     *

And then it was

RACE TIME!

We made some predictions -- High Ramp, Low Ramp, Faster, Slower, Distance... While racing the little cars down our ramp was great fun, they weren't exactly built for a science experiment. The wheels tip out and don't stay lined up when little voyagers put too much pressure on them. This was a reoccurring problem with little Spiderman's racer.

So, even though our science experiments were a bit of a flop, the little voyagers sure did have fun racing the clothespin cars. 

It kept them busy for quite some time!