Dorian Kids Club: Crafts & More At Home
Solar Power
Do You Want to Build a Solar Oven:
The sun is hot enough to bake food. Here's how to make a simple solar oven that gets hot enough to warm up cookies and other treats, like s'mores. It won't get really hot, though, so you cannot bake things in it, and you won't burn yourself when playing with it.
Be sure to have an adult help you with this!
What you Need:
- 1 Pizza Box
- Newspapers
- Tape
- Scissors
- Black Construction Paper
- Clear Plastic Wrap
- Aluminum Foil
- 1 Piece of Notebook Paper
- 1 Pencil/Pen
- 1 Ruler/Wooden Dowel/Stick
Ready to Build a Solar Oven:
1. Make sure the cardboard is folded into its box shape and closed.
2. Place the piece of notebook paper in the center of the lid of the box, trace its outline on the lid, and then put the piece of paper aside.
3. Carefully cut the two long edges and one of the short edges of the rectangle that you just traced on the lid of the box, forming a flap of cardboard.
4. Gently fold the flap back along the uncut edge to form a crease.
5. Wrap the underside (inside) face of this flap with aluminum foil. Tape it on the other side so that the foil is held firmly. Try to keep the tape from showing on the foil side of the flap. The foil will help to reflect the sunlight into the box.
6. Open the box and place a piece of black construction paper in so it fits the bottom of the box. This will help to absorb the sun's heat.
7. Close the box, roll up some newspaper, and fit it around the inside edges of the box. This is the insulation that helps hold in the sun's heat. It should be about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. Use tape to hold the newspaper in place, but only tape it to the bottom of the box, not the lid.
8. Cut two pieces of plastic wrap an inch larger than the flap opening on the box top. Open the box again and tape one piece of plastic wrap to the underside of the flap opening. After taping one side, BE SURE TO PULL THE PLASTIC WRAP TIGHT, and tape down all four sides so the plastic is sealed against the cardboard. Then close the box and tape the other piece of plastic wrap to the top of the flap opening. Again, be sure the plastic wrap is tight and tape down all four edges to form a seal. This creates a layer of air as insulation that helps keep the sun's heat in the box.
Finished Building? Try it out:
On a sunny day, pick a treat to warm up and carry it and the box outside to a sunny spot. If it's cold outside, put a towel or blanket under the box so the bottom doesn't get cold. Open the box, put the treat in the center, and close the box. Now open the flap and turn the box so the foil is facing the sun. The shadow of the flap should go straight back from the back of the box. Move the flap up and down and note how it reflects the sunlight. Use a dowel, ruler, or stick to prop up the flap so that it bounces the sunlight into the box. Wait about a half hour for the box to warm up in the sun. Then enjoy your warmed-up treat!
Geothermal Power
Do You Want to Make a Power Plant:
In a geothermal power plant, steam is used to turn a turbine. The turbine is attached to a generator to make electricity. There are two places in the world where natural steam is found under ground and is used to make electricity. One is in Italy. The other is north of San Francisco in an area called The Geysers. The Geysers produces enough energy to power a city of about one million people. But in recent years, the amount of steam produced by the area has decreased. Some people think that it's because there are too many holes in the ground like the pot cover with 20 holes. It's like having a soda with 20 straws in it and all of your friends and you sipping at the same time. The soda glass will be drained VERY fast. That's what some people think is happening to the Geysers, that it's running out of steam.
What you Need:
- Help from an adult: DO NOT ATTEMPT ALONE! YOU'LL NEED AN ADULT TO ASSIST YOU IN THIS PROJECT!
- Children's pinwheel
- Aluminum foil
- Empty soup can or similar sized tin can with one end cut off
- A wooden ruler
- Small cooking pot
- Hot plate
- Hammer
- 10p nail
- Tape or rubber bands
- Mitten type of pot holder
Ready to Make the Power Plant:
1. Take hammer and nail and carefully punch a hole in the end of the tin can near the edge. Punch another whole directly across the top from it. The two holes should not be bigger than 1/8 inch across. Tape or attach the ruler to can with rubber bands.
2. Put water into the pot and cover the top of the pot with two layers of tin foil. Tightly crimp the tin foil around the edges so it seals the top tightly. Using the nail, punch a hole in the top of the tin foil cover in the very center about 1/16 inch across. Put covered pot to side.
3. Put the pot onto the hot plate and bring to a boil.
4. Put on the mitten pot holder, and when steam starts coming out of the top, carefully hold the pinwheel over the one hole. Notice how fast the wheel spins.
5. Take the can on the ruler and place it on the top of the pot so that the hole is in the center of the open end of the can. Steam should now be coming out of the top of the can through the two holes.
6. Carefully hold the pinwheel. Turn the pinwheel so that the holes are on opposite sides of the pinwheel. Notice how fast the pinwheel turns.
7. Take pot off the hot plate and let cool. Carefully take off the tin foil, add more water to the pot and put tin foil top back on. Take the nail and poke lots of holes all over the tin foil. Punch 5 holes close to the edge away from the center hole, repeat the experiment with ten holes around the edge, 20 holes around the edge.
8. Bring the pot back up to boiling. Hold the pinwheel over only the one center hole. How much steam do you see? How fast is the pinwheel turning?
What Will You Discover?
With one hole the pinwheel, how fast did the pinwheel turn? With the can making the steam hit the wheel equally on either side, what happened? When you punched more holes in the tin foil what happened?
Air Power
Do You Want to Experiment with Air Power Transportation?
What you Need:
- Balloons of different sizes
- Masking tape
- 25 feet of thin fishing line (mono-filament line)
- Plastic drinking straws (one for each balloon)
- Some heavy books
- 25 foot tape measure
- A pad of paper and pencil for writing measurements
Ready to Make the Air Power Transportation:
1. Blow up each balloon, holding the end closed with your fingers so it stays full, and have someone else tape a straw to the middle of the balloons. Let the air back out of the balloons.
2. Take the piece of fishing line and stretch it tight between the back of two chairs spaced about 20 feet apart. Leave one end with a bow knot so that you can untie it easily.
3. Put some heavy books on the seats of the chairs to keep them from tipping over.
4. Untie the fishing line and push the line through one of the straws with the front of the balloon facing and bring the balloon and straw back to the other end (the starting line). Retie the string to the chair so the fishing line is tight.
5. Blow up the balloon as much as you can. Pinch off the end. Then let go of the balloon. Measure how far it went along the fishing line. Try another balloon of different sizes, or try the same balloon blowing it 1/2 way full or 1/4 of the way full. Measure how far the balloon travels.
6. Write down each of the balloons type (round, long, small, large) and how much you blew it up (full, 1/2 way, 1/4 full, just a little) and how far each of the balloons traveled.
What Will You Discover?
A law of physic says for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The force of the air escaping from the balloon and pushing out the end forced the balloon to travel forward. This is the same principle used in rockets. Yet, instead of air...the rockets use rocket fuel. The air you blew into the balloon became stored energy. When you released the balloon's end, the stored energy became mechanical energy moving the balloon. Rather than flying all around the room, the straw and the fishing line kept the balloon traveling in a straight line.
What balloons worked best: the long skinny ones or the round ones?
What happened when you blew up the balloon only half way or 1/4 of the way?
Do you think air can be used for moving a car? What about moving an astronaut in space? Can you think of other things that compressed air can do?
Hydro Power
Do You Want to Experiment with Water to Produce Energy?
Water is a renewable resource that is an important source of electricity in California and the Northwest. The potential energy of water is harnessed to produce mechanical energy which can be used directly, or used to generate electricity.
Moving Water, Moving Blades...
You can make a small water turbine model by taping cardboard strips on a cork. Put pins in the ends for axles and make a U-shaped holder for it. You can also slip metal or plastic fins into the slits made in the cork. This will turn as fast as the water stream is moving, so generally turbines have high speed jets directed toward them.
An Overshot Water Wheel:
This model is like the old waterwheels used for grinding grain or running machines. Great power and slow speed were needed to turn the heavy grinding stones at an even speed. This device could use a relatively small stream. It is the weight of the water in the buckets that causes the wheel to overbalance and turn. You can equip your wheel with a string and bucket and find out how much weight the mechanism can lift.
Lemon Power
Do You Want to Make a Battery From a Lemon
What you Need:
- 18-gauge copper wire (smaller gauge will work too, but 18-gauge is stiffer)
- Wire clippers
- Steel Paper Clip (Some people find that a 2-inch strip of Zinc woks better)
- Sheet of Coarse Sandpaper
- Lemon
- Help from an Older Friend or Adult
Ready to Make the Air Power Transportation:
1. Have your older friend or an adult strip 2 inches of insulation off the copper wire. Clip the 2inches of bare wire with the clippers.
2. Straighten out the paper clip and cut about 2 inches of the straightened steel wire, or use a 2-inch piece or strip of zinc.
3. Use sandpaper to smooth any rough spots on the ends of the wire and paper clip or piece of zinc.
4. Squeeze the lemon gently with your hands. But don't rupture the lemon's skin. Rolling it on a table with a little pressure works great.
5. Push the pieces of the paper clip and the wire into the lemon so they are as close together as you can get them without touching.
6. Moisten your tongue with saliva. Touch the tip of your wet tongue to the free ends of the two wires.
7 You should be able to feel a slight tingle on the tip of your tongue and taste something metallic.
What Will You Discover?
The lemon battery is called a voltaic battery, which changes chemical energy into electrical energy. The battery is made up of two different metals (the steel paper clip and the copper wire). These are called electrodes, which are the parts of a battery where electric current enters or leaves the battery. The electrodes are placed in a liquid containing an electrolyte, which is a solution that can conduct electricity. In a solution of water and an electrolyte, like the acid in the lemon, an excess of electrons collects on one end of the electrodes. At the same time, electrons are lost from the other electrode. Touching the electrodes to your tongue closes the circuit and allows an small electric current to flow. A single lemon produces about 7/10 of a volt of electricity. If you connected two lemons together, you can power an inexpensive digital watch (uses about 1.5 volts). (Use a length of thin, flexible wire to connect the silver wire of one lemon to the copper wire of the other lemon. Then attach thin wires from the other two wires in the lemons to where a battery's positive and negative poles connect to power the watch.) The tingle felt in your tongue and the metallic taste is due to the movement of electrons through the saliva on your tongue.
Magnetic Power
Do You Want to Make a Battery From a Lemon
Magnets are fascinating. How many magnets would you find in a car or truck? See Figure 1. Would you have spotted that many? The magnets illustrated here are permanent magnets, one of many types of magnets used today.
Be a car Technician...
If you have any broken riding toys, or vehicle parts, place them outside with tools! (Parts may includewheels, tires, steering wheels, etc.) The kids will have a BLAST experimenting with the tools.
(Dorian Ford and its' employees advise that this activity is supervised.)
Create an Obstacle Course...
Stop by our Dorian Service Department and pick up some old tires. Let the kids set these up to create a track, or even line a long driveway. Next, paint the tires with reflective paint. The kids can use this setup as a racetrack for their bikes!
(Dorian Ford and its' employees advise that this activity is supervised.)
Wheel Sequence...
Cut out various sized circles from poster board (decorate to represent wheels).
Have the kids sequence the wheels from largest to smallest.
This is a great learning game for younger children who seem to love cars!
Send an e-mail to online@dorianford.com with the subject line "Dorian Kids Club" with any of your comments or suggestions!
