I recently took on a part time job teaching science to K-7th graders after school.  Today I’m sharing with you one of the activities I did with the fourth through seventh graders:  Giant Slingshots.  Summer is coming and soon-to-be-school-free kids will be scrounging around looking for something to do.  Lest they decide to jump off the roof with bed sheets as parachutes for lack of any other suitable activity (true story), build them a slingshot.

I built this one in under an hour.  It’s not hi-tech, but it doesn’t need to be.  The students were completely captivated by the idea of being The One who slung a ball the farthest down the field.  As a result they listened intently to my (short) lectures on trajectory, velocity, force, mass, and aerodynamics.  I set it up on the grassy field behind the school, and ended up with every kid on the playground standing in line, waiting for a turn, and offering advice on how to get the next ball to go just a little bit further.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Two 10-foot long 2x4s
• One 6-foot long 2×4 (you’ll have a little bit left over at the end).
• Six feet of latex tubing.
• Some tennis balls—the kind that come in a little mesh bag—you’ll need the mesh bag.
• A little bit of twine—say two feet.
• Ten screws long enough to go through a 2×4—say 3 or 3 1/2 inches long.
• Some weights—logs, bricks, or whatever other heavy materials are lying around.

And

• A circular saw or handsaw.
• A drill and two bits: one of a slightly smaller diameter than the 3 inch screws, and one with a Phillips head.

All of these items can be found at your local giant hardware store.  They’ll be confused when you ask for the tubing, but it is there with all the other types of tubing (in my store on the very top shelf).

And here’s what you do:

Step one:  Cut one of the 10-feet long 2x4s in half so that you have two 5-foot long sections.  Cut another ten foot long 2×4 into two 4-foot lengths (you’ll have 2 feet left over that you’ll need).  An cut the third 2×4 into one 3-foot section and one 2-foot section).  You’ll have one foot left over.

Step two:  Connect the 2-foot sections to the ends of two of the 5-foot lengths, so that each forms a T.  Place the 2-foot board so that it is flat against the end of the 5-foot board.  These are the ‘feet’.  Two screws in the base should hold them on.

Step three:  Connect the two 4-foot lengths to the now T-shaped pieces… about 18 inches up from the T-junction.  These should be connected at between a 45° and a 60° angle.  Again, you’ll need two screws per side to keep the piece from swiveling.  These are the braces that extend out the back, so you want them angled in such a way that when the post (the 5-foot piece) is standing straight up, one end of the 4-foot length touches the ground.

Step four:  Connect the two legs that you’ve just created to each other, using the 3-foot section of 2×4.  Two screws per side.

Step five:  Cut the tubing in half, so you have two 3-foot lengths.  Tie each to the top of a 2×4 leg.  I used a couple of half-hitches.  Tie the other end of each piece of tubing to a piece of twine, also using a square knot.  Cut open the tennis ball mesh bag and fasten it between the two pieces of twine to create a ‘basket’.

Step six:  Put weights on the T-pieces on the ground to hold them down.  Alternatively and if you want something more permanent, bury those ‘feet’ in the ground.  You’ll have to dig the angled supports in a bit too, to keep the posts upright.

Step seven:  Insert a tennis ball in the basket, stretch, and release!  You’ll have to practice where to hold the ball to get the best launch.  We’ve launched tennis balls over 50 yards now…

To make it slightly inquiry based, I gave the kids a whole selection of different balls (tennis, nerf, softball, etc.).  We weighed them and measured their diameter, and then compared the distance achieved with ball weight and diameter.  I also attached a protractor to the side of one leg and asked them to determine which angle resulted in the maximum distance, holding all other variables constant (thus, they learned the word ‘variable’ and also one of the keys to a successful scientific experiment without even knowing they were *gasp!* learning.)

Cautionary note:  I used light enough balls that having kids run around underneath to catch them was not a problem, and was half the fun for those waiting their turn (and for a ball).  If you use softballs, beware the sting of catching one.  Each kid was required to yell “heads up!” before firing (which they loved), and they couldn’t fire til everyone was paying attention (which was good for scientific observation too).  One of your kids will eventually think to try water balloons… I can’t comment on this as we haven’t tried it yet (but it would be a great way to ‘mark’ where a ball landed if you’re measuring distance).  We also thought of setting up cardboard boxes Angry Birds style to knock down, but didn’t have time.  Also, helpful reader George points out that it is possible for these to backfire, and shoot the projectile at you instead of forward (not with as much force, but still unpleasant).  I don’t have any personal experience with this so am not sure how it happens, but be aware that it can!

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has put together a yearly event encouraging children, families, schools and communities to go Screen Free and make changes towards a more active and outdoor lifestyle. This year the event will happen April 30 – May 6th.

Tales of a Mountain Mama has pulled together a group of bloggers (like us) to help celebrate with blog posts (such as this one) aimed at encouraging families to go ‘screen free’ next week. She’s also got a week full of giveaways on her site, you can find out more information about that here.

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While helping plan a father/son backpacking trip last summer, we were brainstorming about ways we could keep our boys (ages 4-6) moving on the trail. What could we do to encourage movement and limit whining…

We thought of the usual things: Plenty of snacks and treats (i.e. trail incentives), take some play breaks, emphasize the ‘big boy’ aspect, be patient etc.

We also brainstormed something far more genius: What about creating a kid friendly map, with pictures of prominent landmarks they could keep an eye out for. This would not only give them something to stay busy with on the trail, but would also incorporate some observation skills, as well as a little introduction to reading a map.

It was worth a try.

I can’t take any credit for the final product. One of the men on the tip ran the trail the week before and took photos, then he and his wife put together the maps. I love how it turned out! The large map was printed out as a 4X6; the way-point pictures were printed out smaller. All were laminated and stuck together with a metal ring.

Here’s a picture of the Map as well as a few way-point pictures.

NOTE: Word on the street is that the 6 year old took to it better than the younger kids, so keep that in mind.

A couple of additional ideas I’d recommend for keeping kids moving on the trail:

• Let your kids help plan the hike.
• Find a stick.
• Check out this article by REI. Loads of ideas.

The first Easter that I clearly remember involved a basket, some plasticky green fluff, a bunch of chocolate, a candy shaped like the easter bunny, and a book about kittens.  All in a park.

The best Easter I remember involved a car, 15 or so puzzling clues, a compass, a few 7.5 minute maps and a highway map, binoculars, a bottle of water, some plastic eggs, and a picnic in the desert.  Best.  Easter.  Ever.

So fun we did it the next year.  And the next.  It became a tradition. The day before Easter, my mom and dad would drive all around northern Utah leaving plastic eggs hidden in interesting and obscure places.  Three or so eggs at each place, replete with chocolates and jelly beans, and one egg with a ‘clue’ to the next location where eggs and candy could be found.    They’d give us a clue to start with, follow us around for the first few, and then leave us on our own for the last ones.  The last clue would lead us to a place known only to them.  When we’d arrive, exhausted and excited from our morning of treasure-finding, they’d be waiting there with an extravagant picnic lunch.

One year went something like this:

Clue 1: Lq wkh Edfnbdug.  (A little letter-shifting code for:  In the Backyard.)

Clue 2: Look In Between the Ridges of the Arch to Reap Your reward.  (i.e.:  Look In Between the Ridges of the Arch to Reap Your reward; i.e.: LIBRARY).

Clue 3: Drive three blocks east from here.  Turn north.  Drive one block.  Turn north again.  Drive 3.2 miles.  Turn east.  Drive 1 mile.  Flip a u-eey.  Drive 2.6 miles.  Park on the west side.  Commence searching. (more…)

I’ve had a few outsidemom.com readers suggest getting involved in Project BudBurst. I’d never heard of it until recently, but after looking into it a bit more I can see several reasons to get involved.

1. It’s a great excuse to get you and your kids out for a weekly walk.
2. Your kids get to become little scientists, they collect data. Real data.  And they learn that science isn’t that scary–it’s actually fun!
3. The data actually gets used by scientists and educators, and they can see how their contributions help.
4. It’s a good way to get your kids accustomed to making observations.

Projects like this are important because scientists can’t be everywhere at once. In order to investigate some of today’s most pressing questions, which are often global in nature, scientists are relying more and more on help from citizen scientists across the globe. The ability to gather and manage data on this scale has only been possible in the past decade or so, giving people like us the opportunity to help answer previously inaccessible questions.

So, what can we do?… scientists need data collectors.  Enter:  your kid.

What Project Budburst wants you to do: (more…)

Objective:
Learn about hibernation, run around a lot, be creative, work on sorting, categorizing, counting and number writing.

Materials:
Large cardboard box, or ‘den’ (procured beforehand from a furniture store)
Glue, tape, markers.
Download and print the Hibernation Activity Sheet, one for each child.
Download and print the Food Cards, cut as many as needed.
Book: Time to Sleep by Denise Flemming (Note: I’m sure there are better Hibernation books out there, I was not impressed with this one, it’s just all our library had in).

Optional: Have them bring a toy bear or other ‘hibernating animal’ for show-and-tell. I had them bring bears.

Introduction:
1. Read: Time to Sleep by Denise Flemming
2. Discuss: What does it mean to hibernate? What kind of animals hibernate? Why do they hibernate? Do you wish you could hibernate?
3. Explain: Hibernation is when an animal slows its body down for a long time, often during winter. Lots of different animals hibernate, not just bears: snails, skunks, turtles, woodchucks, ladybugs etc. Animals hibernate because in the winter it’s hard for them to find enough food. (more…)

Ari went through this phase where he insisted on turning everything into a bar graph. It was pretty random, but pretty awesome. We graphed his weight over time, the size of his toy cars, the ages of everyone he knows, etc.

While in the midst of this phase he came to me one afternoon and said “Mom, I want to do some science and make a graph, with this!” He held up a meat thermometer.

I started off by handing him 2 cups of water. One that had been microwaved, the other straight from the tap. I told him to measure the two and see what their temperatures were. He did. Then he wanted to graph them. He then proceeded to measure the fridge, cupboard, yard, plant soil, etc. Each time coming back to me for help plotting it on his graph. He had to wait 2 minutes in between each “experiment” and had to let the thermometer sit for 2 minutes to “run the experiment”. This kept him busy for a good hour while I cooked dinner… which as you can tell from experiment #5 involved chicken. (Sorry, had I know I would be sharing this I would have written a little more legibly).

He felt like a real scientist. He was so giddy.

It also allowed us to discuss things like “why is the backyard warmer than the front yard”, “why is your mouth so warm”, “what temperature keeps things frozen” and other important ‘scientist’ topics. And you know what the big ahaa moment was for him? The van was colder than the refrigerator!! Oh. My. Heck.

We plan to take the meat thermometer on our next bike ride… I’m sure he’ll think of all sorts of things to measure, and we’ll have fun comparing the results to our inside graph.

Next time your child is pining at you for something to do while you cook dinner, hand them a meat thermometer.

Our co-op preschool is in full swing again. That means every 5 weeks I’ll be posting my lesson plan. This year’s charge is to find a way to incorporate the outdoors AND the Montessori method. Here is what I came up with this week.

Note:  Fall is the perfect time to be out searching for seeds. The kids loved it! Also note that this activity took me two days. One day we did the walk (“field work”), the next day we did the sorting (“lab work”).

Objective:
To introduce the concept of how seeds travel (disperse), have a good excuse to get outside and explore, and practice sorting and categorization skills.

Materials:
Bags (1 for each child, for collecting seeds)
Old socks (to walk around outside and attract seeds)
Egg cartons (1 for each child, for sorting seeds)
Touch Box (box full of seeds you have previously collected)
Worksheet about how seeds travel (see below)
Glue, tape, markers.
Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carl.

Introduction:
1. Read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carl.
2. Discuss: Do seeds move? How do they move? Do they have little legs? How far do they go? What would it be like to be a seed? etc…
3. Explain to the kids that today we are going to be scientists; we’re going to try and find seeds and figure out how they move. (more…)

So, you’ve got a little Asa Gray on your hands… a kid who stops to smell the roses, and the dandelions, the geraniums, and the four’o'clocks.  She picks bouquets of flowers just to collect them, and is disappointed when they wilt in her sweaty palm before she’s even back to the car.

I just read this fascinating article in Psychology Today that talked about what skills the current generation will need in order to be successful by the time they’re old enough to hold down a job.  The author points out that the model for our current education system was invented over a hundred years ago—when telephones were just being invented, refrigerators were blocks of ice, and television was pure science fiction.  In other words, during a time that today’s children absolutely cannot comprehend.  More importantly, the goals of education differed significantly a hundred years ago.  Today (as the author says):

“The best jobs will go to applicants who have the skillsets to analyze information as it becomes available, the flexibility to adapt when what were believed to be facts are revised, and to collaborate with other experts on a global playing field requiring tolerance, willingness to consider alternative perspectives, and articulately communicate one’s ideas successfully.”

How do we prepare our children for this future?  The author suggests encouraging activities that teach “predicting, planning, revising, and accountability”.

Here’s an idea: let your child plan the next hike. (more…)