How to make a rocket with the kids - easy and fun!

Too exciting to stand still!

Hellooo my lovelies! It's been a while I know, but the summer holidays is in full swing and we have all been busy learning, socializing and playing. Last week was manic as the weather (for once) has been good here in sunny Wales and needless to say we just HAD to make the most of it - you never know when the sun will return here - it could be in another 10 months after all!

One of the highlights of the week has been a fab online live webinar by Aurora Lipper on Rocketry and Spaceflight. It was just brilliant seeing the girls so excited about science (mind you, who doesn't have a little thrill when making a rocket; if you don't, there's clearly something wrong with you ha ha).

Gripping stuff, rocketry :-)

Right so, here is what you will need to have some fun making your own rocket:

Materials

1 x goggles or sunglasses
1 x box of alka-seltza (or generic brand)
1 x bottle of water
1 x empty camera film cassette with lid (NOT the black ones, I'll explain later)
Optional - a toy car, masking tape

Method

First go outside - this won't be pretty on your computer or laptop!

1) Put your goggles on.
2) Pour a bit of water into the film canister.
3) Add the alka-seltza tablet to the container and quickly snap the lid on tightly.
4) Turn the pot upside down and stand back!

5) If you are quick enough you can get 2 or 3 goes out of each tablet.
6) Try taping the canister to a matchbox car and see what happens.
7) Or, tape 3 canisters together to make a rocket like the Delta IV Heavy Rocket!

The opportunities are endless...... I hope you have some fun, I know we definitely did. Of course, we got the wrong kind of canister initially, which caused a bit of an anti-climax as the only thing that happened was a slight hiss from the pot. Luckily for us darling hubby was around to come up with a plan so we ended up using a tin whistle wrapper/pot/thingy which worked just as well. In the webinar the girls were encouraged to find out if adding different amounts of water would change how high the rocket went which you could try too...

If you are interested in Aurora's science curriculum you can buy it at www.superchargedscience.com.

Let me know how you get on!

Georgie xx