Aviation Exploration

For the past two weeks we've been studying air, airplanes and how they fly. I got to see how much I missed in school. Science was not my strong point, but I'm enjoying it so much now. I think we did 6 experiments in one day. First the boys had to find out if air takes up space (blow up a balloon). Then they explored whether or not air has weight by balancing the full balloon on one end of a ruler and an empty balloon on the other. Two of the most cool experiments were also done that day.

Cool experiment #1

Stretch a balloon over the top of an empty water bottle. Put the bottle into a bowl of hot water (we boiled ours). What happens? Why?

The boys discovered that hot air expands and rises. "JJ" took it a step further and said "I bet if we put it in cold water the balloon will go down." He then repeated this experiment for "J" when he came home, explaining what happened and why. This from the child who often has a difficult time getting his thoughts and words to go together. I was so proud of him! This is discovery learning at it's best.

Cool experiment #2

You will need a peeled hard boiled egg, an empty quart size glass milk jar (opening should be just big enough for the egg to sit in), and a half sheet of paper. Roll the piece of paper and light with a match. Immediately place in the upright glass jar. Wait for all of the fire to go out. Set the egg on the opening of the jar. What happens? I won't tell you. Just think, vacuum.

From there we learned about the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and Baron Von Richthofen (The Red Baron). Do you remember the song Snoopy vs the Red Baron?

"IJ" thought it was unpatriotic to sing about him, since he was the enemy, but the tune got stuck in his head and he can't get rid of it. HA, HA! Lots of paper airplanes were made and most of them crashed shortly after take off, prompting us to try again and again to perfect our designs.

The most fun came last Friday when we joined a group of friends for a field trip to a local aviation museum. We saw everything from fighter to passenger planes as well as several helicopters. The real fun came when the kids were given the opportunity to be the crew on a Boeing KC-97. The pictures show "IJ" as co-pilot and "JJ" as flight engineer. Our tour guide, a retired teacher, was very knowledgeable and great with keeping the kids interested.

This was a great unit. Keep reading to hear about our next learning adventure.