Your children have been out of school for a while now, and at this point, officials are trying to make a decision about the best way to reopen the schools in the fall. Until then, you can keep your children learning with fun activities and with some really good books. We’ve come up with a list for you that you and your family are sure to enjoy. Below you will also find some recommendations for some really good reads. Stay safe and healthy everyone!
Pom-Pom Catapult
This simple machine uses stored energy (the tension in the rubber bands) to release a projectile (also called the payload). Play around with the position of the stopper to get the maximum angle and distance for your launch—and have fun with colors and decorations too.
What You'll Need:
Hole punch, rectangular box, three unsharpened pencils, a few strong rubber bands, masking tape or glue, jar lid, paper clip, and pom poms.
What To Do:
Punch a hole in a long side of the box, 3 inches from a short side. Punch a matching hole on the other side. The holes should be large enough for a pencil to rotate easily. Punch a third hole on the opposite short side; it should be centered and near the bottom.
To assemble the catapult arm: join 2 pencils together perpendicularly to make an inverted lowercase "t" and secure them with rubber bands.
Tape or glue a small jar lid to the longer end of the arm.
Wrap another rubber band around the shorter end of the arm using a slipknot.
Place the ends of the horizontal pencil in the side holes. Thread the tail of the slipknot through the remaining hole and knot a paper clip around the end to hold it in place.
Create a “stopper” for the catapult arm with the third pencil. Place it across the top of the box just in front of the arm and secure it in place by wrapping a large rubber band around one end of the pencil, under the box, and up and around the other end.
Load up a pom pom...and let it fly!
Bath Bombs
Add some science to the tub with these pretty and very simple bath bombs.
What You'll Need:
One-half cup citric acid, 1 cup baking soda, ½ cup corn starch, ½ cup Epsom salt, essential oil of your choice, 1 tsp. water, 1 tsp. olive oil, sphere-shaped mold (such as a clear plastic ornament, available at craft supply stores)
What To Do:
1. Combine citric acid, baking soda, corn starch, and Epsom salt in a large bowl. Mix well and set aside. In a small bowl, mix together one or two drops of essential oil, water, and olive oil.
2. Very slowly, add the wet mixture to the dry. Mix it together quickly and thoroughly so it doesn’t begin to bubble. Once it’s all combined, let the mixture sit for a few minutes. It should look and feel like wet sand. If it’s still too dry, add a drop of olive oil, but don’t over-saturate.
3. Separate the mixture into smaller bowls and add food coloring, mixing in the color by hand.
4. Layer the different colors in both halves of a sphere-shaped mold and pack them down. When each side is completely filled with a slight mound, press them together and gently rotate until the sides lock.
5. Let the bomb dry in the mold for a few minutes, then carefully remove the top half. Leave it for another hour or two, then carefully turn the bottom half out of the mold. Let it dry completely.
How does it work?
When you toss a bomb into the filled tub at bathtime, the water acts as a catalyst, allowing the ions in each ingredient to collide. They react and dissolve, producing tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. The fizzing helps the bombs break down, and it releases the scent.
Balancing Buddy
When completing this STEM activity, your child will be delighted to see this silly pal teeter on his tiny toothpick point!
What You'll Need:
Wine cork, two 12-inch bamboo skewers, toothpick, modeling clay, decorations (like paper, googly eyes, and paint)
What To Do:
1. Place the cork upright on your work surface. Press the pointy end of a skewer into one side of the cork at a 45-degree angle (the ends should point up); repeat on the opposite side. Press the toothpick into the top center of the cork.
2. Roll two equal-size balls of modeling clay and press them onto the ends of the skewers. Decorate the cork as desired.
3. Place the tip of the toothpick on your finger to see if the toy balances. If it leans to one side, adjust the angles of the skewers until it stands up straight.
How Does It Work?
Every object has a center of gravity—the point where its mass is evenly distributed. Because the clay balls are heavier than the cork, they bring the center of gravity to the bottom of the toothpick. In order for the toy to "stand," the weight of the balls must also be in balance. Adjusting the skewers helps to compensate for any difference in size and allows Buddy to stay centered.
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And now here are some book recommendations for your middle and high school aged readers:
The Ascendance Trilogy #1: The False Prince
By Jennifer Nielsen
In this first book in a remarkable trilogy, an orphan is forced into a twisted game with deadly stakes.
In a discontented kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well. As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.
An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats. This is a 2012 Fantasy and Science Fiction CYBILS Award winner.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
By Oscar Wilde
In the wealthy and vain hedonist Dorian Gray, London painter Basil Hallward has found his muse. Only when the portrait of Dorian begins to age, while the man himself remains untouched by time, do they realize they may have made a deal with the devil.
Oscar Wilde’s only novel takes a witty, philosophical, and harrowing look at our obsession with youth and the price we pay for it.
Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury
Sixty-seven years after its originally publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
Franny and Zooey
By J.D. Salinger
"Perhaps the best book by the foremost stylist of his generation" (New York Times), J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey collects two works of fiction about the Glass family originally published in The New Yorker.
A novel in two halves, Franny and Zooey brilliantly captures the emotional strains and traumas of entering adulthood. It is a gleaming example of the wit, precision, and poignancy that have made J. D. Salinger one of America's most beloved writers.