Puzzels & Quizzes

Sounds Great—Bottled Music

YOU WILL NEED

Five identical plastic bottles
Water

HERE'S HOW

Fill five identical plastic bottles with varying amounts of water. Arrange the bottles in order from most to least full. Blow across the top of each bottle and compare the different sounds you make.

WHY?

Changing the amounts of air and water in the bottles lets you change the pitch—how high or low the sound is. When you blow across the tops of the bottles, you are making the air inside vibrate. In bottles with more air, vibrations are slower, so the pitch is lower.

All Charged Up

YOU WILL NEED

A comb
A water faucet

HERE’S HOW

Comb your hair on a dry day. Hold the comb near a thin trickle of water from the faucet. The water should bend toward the comb.

WHY?

Running a comb through your hair creates friction that moves electrons from your hair to the comb, charging the comb with static electricity. The comb now has a negative charge. When you move the comb near the water, its negative charge pushes away some of the negative charge in the water, leaving the water with a positive charge. Positive and negative charges attract, so the water bends toward the comb.

Create a Motion Ocean

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Water is denser than oil. Plus, the two liquids never mix. So when the water moves, it pushes the oil around, making shapes like waves.

YOU WILL NEED

Clear jar with lid
Water
Blue food coloring
Glitter
Baby oil
Plastic floating toys
1. Fill the jar halfway with water.
2. Add drops of food coloring until you like the color you see. Shake in a little glitter.
3. Pour in baby oil until the jar is three-quarters full.
4. Place a floating toy on top of the oil, then screw on the lid tightly.
5. Shake the jar gently to set your ocean in motion.

Reusable Grocery Bag

Decorate a canvas tote for your parents to use at the grocery store in place of plastic bags. Be creative and help the environment.

YOU WILL NEED

Canvas tote bag
Cookie cutters

Pencil
Fabric paint

HERE'S HOW

1. Lay the canvas bag flat.

2. Place a cookie cutter on the fabric and draw around it.

3. Paint the cookie-cutter shapes with fabric paint.

4. Allow paint to dry.

5. Give to mom or dad to use to use at the grocery store in place of plastic. Remember, bag the [plastic] bag!

Beach Bowling

There is more you can do with sand than build castles! Play this awesome beach bowling game with your family, or maybe you can think of another creative way to play in the sand.

YOU WILL NEED

A ball
A bucket or cup

HERE'S HOW

1. Fill the bucket with moist sand, pat it down, and turn it over to make your first bowling pin.

2. Continue to fill the bucket with sand to create a total of ten bowling pins and set them up in a bowling triangle by following step three.

3. To create a bowling triangle, place one pin in first row, two pins in the second row, three in the third row, and four in the last row.

4. Take five or six steps from pins and draw a line in the sand.

5. Stand behind the line and roll the ball toward the pins to knock them over.

6. Each player gets to roll the ball twice, like real bowling.

7. The next player will have to create his or her bowling pins by repeating steps one through three.

8. Each player should keep track of the number of pins knocked down for each turn.

9. At the end of the game, winner gets to kick over remaining sand pins while screaming, “I am the beach bowling master!”

Summer Fun: Make a List!

The long weeks of summer fun stretch ahead of you. You'll have more time to spend with your friends and family since you won't have to worry about homework.

You probably have some great ideas for what to do to fill up the next few months. Why not make a list with your parents? Fill it with all the cool things you want to be sure to do as a family before the summer ends.

YOU WILL NEED

A large sheet of paper or posterboard
A pen or permanent marker
Gold star stickers (other colors are fine, too!)
Markers (optional)
Other stickers, glitter glue, and other decorative touches (optional)

HERE'S HOW

1. Sit down with your family and talk about the things you might like to do this summer. Create columns of different types of activities (such as things to learn, things to make, places to go, and so on), then fill them in.

2. Decorate your list! Draw pictures of the things you’ll be doing. Let your imagination run wild!

3. Each time you complete an activity on your list, mark it with a gold star. See how many stars you can collect before you go back to school.