Category: Physics

Physics

Physics & Science Fair Experiments

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Today we feature these neat collections of physics experiments & demonstrations for kids, from Real World Physics Problems.com. This site contains lots of interesting physics problems, complete with solutions, taken from real world applications — but today we are pointing you to the “hands-on” fun stuff:

First is a collection of fun and interesting science experiments which kids of all ages can do at home. These are fun experiments which are easy to do and don’t require a lot of time. These experiments are mostly physics based. Click here for the experiments for kids.

Then, on their Science Fair Project page, you will find several ideas for cool science fair projects for kids of all ages. These projects are particularly interesting because they have practical relevance in real life, and you can use common everyday materials to create them. Click here to view them.

Physics, Science

Explain That Stuff!

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How does it work? What makes it go? What’s the science behind it? If those are the kinds of questions you like to ask, “Explain That Stuff” is the right place to go.

Explain that Stuff is an online book written by British science writer Chris Woodford (author of many popular science books for adults and children). It includes 450 easy-to-understand articles (plus over 2000 photos and 1000 illustrations), covering how things work, cutting-edge science, cool gadgets, and computers. (Their motto: “We take the “pain” from explain and the “tough” out of stuff!”) There’s more information on this website than in your average expensive science book, it’s continually updated, and it’s completely free to use. Highly recommended!

Click here to go to the site!

Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Classic Picture books, Critical Thinking, Lesson Plans, Living Books, Math, Physics, Science

Using Children’s Literature to Teach Science

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Using Children’s Literature to Teach Science by Patricia Bishop McKean (PDF ebook with multiple PDF files)

Patricia Bishop McKean compiled this wonderful ebook that pairs great picture books / young reader books (including such classics as Stellaluna, Follow the Drinking Court, Swimmy, Curious George, Morris’s Disappearing Bag and many more) with hands-on activities that demonstrate basic science concepts to young students. Subjects covered in the activities include earth science, astronomy, math, ecology, physics, chemistry, and process skills. It’s a great approach that makes both the stories AND the science lessons much more memorable.

From her introduction:

Each children’s picture book is linked to a simple, basic science activity. By showing teachers how to “hook” their students by reading a familiar or new story and then doing a related hands-on, minds-on science activity, I have helped teachers feel more comfortable with teaching science.  Sometimes the story comes before the activity, and sometimes it comes after the activity. The activity will stand alone, as will the reading of the story, but if the hook captivates the mind of the student, the memory of the science concept should last in the student’s mind.

About the format:

Each book & accompanying science activity has its own PDF file, so there’s lots of PDFs to download here, making it a little more complicated than just downloading a single PDF file. But it is worth the effort. Check it out and see if you don’t agree. Use the menu on the site to navigate between sections of the collection.

CLICK HERE to go to the website!

Arts & Crafts, Physics, Science

Dragonfly Helicopters & other Science Toys

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SCIENCE TOY MAKER: Mysterious, Kinetic, Noisy, Do-It-Yourself Science Projects that Entice Scientific Investigation

We featured this site in years past, but it just keeps getting better and better as they add dozens more way cool science toys,  gadgets and gizmos (both easy & advanced)  that you can make at home to demonstrate all sorts of scientific principles. (We especially like the “dolphin ring” video and project!) Bookmark this site and refer to it whenever you want a hands-on toy building project that has scientific value & your kids will love to play with!

Click here to go to the site!

Geography, Nature Studies, Physics

Peanuts, Flight and Borneo

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Innovative Classroom.com has three very interesting and well done thematic unit studies for you:

PEANUTS

You and your students will be surprised to find that peanuts aren’t really nuts at all! This unit on this remarkable legume will teach your students all about the peanuts, starting from the cultivation practices and going to practical uses of the plant. They will learn how to make their own peanut butter and uses for all parts of the peanut plant. Major subject areas are covered, including art, math, history, and language arts. Lots of great material in this 36 page study.

FLIGHT

This unit will take you and your students on a tour through the history of Flight. It starts with the dreams of flight and early ideas proposed and finishes with modern jet aircraft travel. Use this unit to get your kids excited about the science of flight and the mathematics involved in the design of flying machines. 40 pp PDF.

BORNEO

Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Located in the South Pacific, it is made up of lush rainforest and unique habitat areas. This unit covers topics ranging from geography and population to wildlife and climate aspects. There is an emphasis in science and math in this thematic unit, but language arts, art, and other areas are covered as well. 18 pp. PDF.

Click here to go to the download page for all three!

History, Nature Studies, Physics, Science

OLogy!

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OLogy! is a science website for kids from the American Museum of Natural History. “OLogy” means “the study of”, and the site has a several extensive collections of resources, games, hands-on activites and videos covering Anthropology, Archaeology, Astronomy, Biodiversity, the Brain, Genetics, Marine Biology, Microbiology, Physics, Zoology and more.

The “OLogy! For Educators” section also provides teacher resources to help you build lesson plans and unit studies around various topics of interest.

CLICK HERE to go to the website!

Physics

Design & Technology: A to Z

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DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY: A to Z

V. Ryan’s TechnologyStudent website is a wonderful resource for students interested in how things work, and industrial design and art. It is chock full of tutorials, lessons, downloads, and tests in all things technology related: the design process, gear systems, electronics, cams, printed circuit boards, PIC microcontrollers / computer control, key words/phrases, structures, vocational work, technology and cultures, basic CNC work and much more. This British site is a great curriculum resource for Jr. High & High School age students!

Click here to go to the page!

Arts & Crafts, Just for Fun, Nature Studies, Physics, Science

Projects, Experiments & Hands-On Fun

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TheHappyHousewife.com has a great collection of almost 100 hands-on projects, crafts and experiments especially for homeschoolers, on all sorts of interesting topics, including:

Turkey Feather Science
Testing for Starch
Milk Fireworks
The Physics of the Trapeze
Fun Ways to Improve Writing Skills
Buoyancy Experiments
…and dozens more.

CLICK HERE Take a look and browse through the collection yourself!

Physics, Science

Jefferson Labs’ Science Games & Puzzles

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The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, also known as Jefferson Lab, is a world-leading nuclear physics research facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. They have put together a great site offering over two dozen online educational games that aren’t full of shoot-em-ups and fancy graphics — but are very well designed… fun… and highly educational.

Included are COOL games about the Periodic Table of Elements… the truly fun and challenging Speed Math game, and other logic and science puzzles that are great additions to your homechool repertoire. Click on over and bookmark this!

CLICK HERE to go to the website!

Physics, Science, Video

Random Experiments from The King of Random

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“Welcome to a world of garage science and backyard experimenting. This page is all sciencey guy stuff .. but girls can play too!”

Here’s a delightfully geeky Facebook video channel with over 70 fun and interesting videos from, with all sorts of “garage science” experiments, inventions, and science — including making waterproof sand, all sorts of colored smokes, slime, a smoke ring cannon, a David & Goliath sling, a T-shirt cannon, melting marbles with electricity, and lots more.

Most of these are NOT suitable for most homeschoolers to try for themselves, as they involve some hazardous chemicals, fire, etc. and are really meant for older experimenters. However, they are full of fun ideas and plenty of science (which is usually fully explained by the very likeable, good natured hosts), and just may pique your student’s interest in physics, chemistry and science.

(We also didn’t spot anything off-color or objectionable on the videos we watched, but then we did not watch all 71 of the videos. You may want to preview some of the more off-the-wall experiments if they freak you out.)

CLICK HERE to go to their Facebook video channel.