Website Archive - May, 2006

Spotlight on Flying

This month we look at some of the many objects that Fly and explore what causes these objects to behave in such wonderful ways. From butterflies to bird and kites to planes, kids are always fascinated by objects small or large that move on the wind. Classroom activities incorporating this theme include science, art, math, and literacy.

This month’s websites offer activities which will help young children explore and understand why some things fly and some do not.

Check out this month's "previews” and links to discover more about things that fly and how they do that.

Children

Teachers will have to download this free software and install it but children will enjoy building their own virtual Balloon Cars and observing what happens to the car’s speed as they change the size of the car’s four parts (wheels, body, etc.) Directions are also included to make a real Balloon Car from a milk carton, a straw, four thread spools, and a balloon. Follow the install directions and save the program to the hard drive and run this program from the hard drive.

Tip: Always allow adequate time for software downloads, especially when using dial-up. Plan to download software before classtime. All software should be downloaded and installed from the Maintenance Desktop for Phases 1 and 2 –white computers and the Staff Desktop for Phases 3 and 4 – black computers.).

Lots of things get carried away by the wind, even hats. When a wind blows off the hats of the people in Fun with Hats by Meddybemp, children must return the hats to the correct person but who gets which hat?

Parents

Here’s a simple Paper Bag Kite that parents can help their child make at home. Then run along with with the child while explaining why the bag flies as it fills with air.

Here’s a simple activity for helping children learn to classify the way things move. All you will need are some old magazines, scissors, and some envelopes. Be prepared to answer questions on how cars and boats and trains move, too.

JayJay the Jet Plane explains the power of air at PBS Kids and offers several fun learning activities to help young children understand how air has weight, volume, and the power to move things.

Teachers

This activity from Exploratorium illustrates how to make a simple paper “spinning blimp” and how to observe differences in how it spins when the design is altered slightly. Consider recording the children’s observations on a chart.

Preschool Express has all the kite activities you could ask for and all at one site, including a basic Kite Pattern . Kids can make, decorate, and fly their own kites and teachers can use a series of small kites to teach counting, color or pattern recognition, sorting, etc.

The bee is one of our most helpful insects and of course it flies from flower to flower in search of nectar. First-School offers a template to make a simple bumblebee. The template is just four pieces – the head, body and two wings though the site suggests making a second set of wings from wax paper for a more realistic fluttering effect.

 

[Posted on May 2, 2006]