Science Craft: Hovercrafts

Our last elementary-age drop-in craft for our Summer Reading Program was to create hovercrafts. It involved really simple supplies, and was a hit with the kids.

Each kid needed:

• 1 CD (we asked for donations of old/used CDs initially, but didn't get nearly enough, so I purchased the cheapest 100-pack I could find at Staples)
• 1 water bottle pull top (again you could get donations, but if you're doing this craft with a large group, I recommend just purchasing these from US Plastic Corp)
• 1 balloon

We also used the library's hot glue guns, and packs of Sharpie markers.

The steps: (I posted these around the room and on the tables)

1. Take a CD. Bring it to a table and decorate one side (this will be the top) with markers. 
2. Bring your decorated CD back up to the counter to have a library volunteer or an adult hot glue a pop-top-cap onto the colored side.
3. Take a balloon and return to a table.
4. Once the hot glue is cooled and dry, make sure the pop-top-cap is in the “closed” position. Blow up your balloon and stretch the neck over the top. Lift the pop-top-cap to the “open” position and watch your hovercraft scoot across the table!

If the air seems to be coming out of the balloon too fast, place a piece of scotch tape over the hole and poke a few smaller holes in it with a pin. We didn't need it with ours. The kids also discovered they could blow their balloon up through the CD hole while it was attached, twist the balloon, then set it down on the table and untwist.

I eventually also put out scrap paper, to put the CDs on top of
while coloring, to keep the Sharpie marker off my tables!

Kids who came in the afternoon had a special treat. A local gentleman had seen our flyers about making these crafts, and asked if he could bring in his own, real hovercraft for the kids to see. OF COURSE!!! I made sure to get his name and number to maybe have a full program with him sometime. :) What a special treat for our kids in our last week of Summer Reading!

Craft: Binary Code Bracelets/Necklaces/Keychains

One of the crafts listed in the CSLP manual for the Fizz Boom Read! season was all about binary code. This one caught my eye as my husband loves computers and coding, and... well... I'm a nerd too...

In short, binary code is a way of writing letters and numbers and symbols using an 8-digit string of 0's and 1's. For example, the uppercase letter "A" is written 01000001. Using black beads for 0 and white beads for 1, with colors in between for spacing, we were able to create bracelets, necklaces, and keychains with coded messages.

I offered this program for my teens, but it could easily be something for elementary kids to do too. Most kids wrote their names or initials, a few middle school girls wouldn't share whose name they were writing. :)

The keychain spells "Carrie", and I made the
blue necklace for my daughter "Abby".

Science Craft: Tornado in a Bottle

I've seen a number of different recipes for a tornado in a bottle all over Pinterest. Many used two bottles connected together, but for 100 kids I just didn't want to mess with that. I tried a few that included dish soap, and while the bubbles showed off the swirling, it eventually got too bubbly to see. I then found some that used colored lamp oil, which was REALLY cool, but that stuff was too expensive for 100 kids. I went with vegetable oil instead.

Each kid needed:

• 1 bottle of water (I initially asked for donations of empty bottles, but didn't get enough, so we just bought a few cases so they already had water in them)
• 1 drop of food coloring (any more and it would be too dark to see)
• 25ish drops of oil (probably could have used more, I was afraid I would run out but we never even came close)
• a sprinkle of glitter

I had a volunteer hot glue the tops on once everything was in the bottle.

It took most kids a few tries, but eventually they all were able to see the tornado. I heard sooooo many "WOW!"s that day. :)

Science Craft: Rubber Blubber

Our first science experiment/craft of our Fizz Boom Read! Summer Reading Program for grades 1-6 featured Rubber Blubber (aka Homemade Gak). I found a number of recipes online, and settled on this one from Erika. I did a bit of unit conversion (my algebra teacher hubby would be proud!) to come up with how much supplies I would need for the 100 kids we expected to come through that day.

I figured I would need 2/3 cup Borax in a gallon of water, to
make the "Borax solution" ahead of time for 100+ "servings".

I set up the craft in a buffet-style format, along two counters so we could have two lines going at once. Instructions were everywhere with how much of each ingredient to place in their bag. Then the kids went to a table and started squishing their bag!

My sample, which I took out every so often to show.

 Each kid would use:

• 1 plastic baggie (I used quart sized freezer bags, so they would be sturdy enough for all the squishing)
• 4 spoonfuls of water
• 2 drops of food coloring (neon colors are great!)
• 4 spoonfuls of glue (I went through about a gallon of Elmer's School Glue, but didn't have nearly as many kids as we'd hoped for)
• 2 spoonfuls of Borax solution

Spoonfuls was a really easy measuring system. I just made sure to keep the proportions correct from the recipe. The glue was the hardest to measure, and I often ended up adding another spoonful after kids had squished for awhile.

They never believed me when I said they needed to squish for over 5 minutes! :) My last instruction on the paper said "Even when you think you're done, MIX MORE!" I had food coloring stains on my hands that I showed them, from trying to take my blubber out of the bag before it was mixed all the way.

This craft was such a huge hit. Unfortunately there was also a day camp going on at one of the local schools that took a lot of my kids away. Parents came in saying their children were so disappointed they couldn't come, and did I have the recipe I could share? So I posted the link above to our Facebook page, and directed parents there so they could make it themselves.

I wish Borax came in smaller containers. Oh well, I bought this box myself and am using the rest at home with my laundry. :)

Elementary Drop-in Craft: Mummy Masks

I can take no credit for this idea, I found it on Pinterest. Click here for the original post from Betsy at Tippy Toe Crafts. 

My mask that I quickly put together
the night before the program

Since mummies are buried "beneath the surface" and are "dug" out of their pyramids and tombs, I thought this idea fit great with our summer reading topic.

The tough part was making it happen for 100+ kids. I purchased white masks from Oriental Trading, and a 50-pack of white posterboard and 6 cans of gold spray paint (it was cheaper than getting 5 cans) from another supply store. I traced and cut out a headdress piece from a half-sheet of posterboard, then used it to trace onto all the other posterboard halves. If I'd planned ahead a little more (and had a few more volunteers) I would have pre-cut the headpieces. Instead the kids cut their own on the day of the craft.

I spray painted all of the masks myself (ok, with help from my husband). I strung them up in my garage to dry. It was kind of creepy, all of these gold heads staring at me...  (I was sure I'd taken pictures but I can't find them... if I do I'll add them!)

I left the headpieces white, and provided random supplies to decorate -- it was a great way to use up miscellaneous craft items! We had tons of scrap paper, markers, feathers, pipe cleaners. Scotch tape, scissors, and glue were on the tables.

And the kids went at it -- decorating and making the masks uniquely their own!

 

If you decide to include feathers like I did... be prepared for a mess!!! My teen volunteers helped me pick up the big pieces, then we still had all this left to vacuum up:

It sure was fun though. :) And the rest of the library staff upstairs loved how the kids came up and showed off their creations to them!

Elementary Drop-in Craft: Garden Gnome & Flowerpot

To go with the Dig into Reading Summer Reading Program theme, one of our drop-in crafts for elementary-age kids was a garden gnome and flowerpot. We had around 100 kids come through between 9-11am and 2-4pm.

The flowerpots had been purchased by the previous youth librarian -- I'm guessing last fall when gardening stuff was being clearanced out. They're biodegradable pots, so once the kids' sunflower was starting to grow, the entire pot could be planted in the ground.

The garden gnome was something I found on Pinterest. I found a bunch of wooden clothespins in my storage closet, from a SRP craft a year or two ago. We followed the original post pretty close, except we used scrap paper and glue for the hats instead of sewing little caps of felt. Oh and we didn't do the beeswax finish. It would have been a little much for 100 gnomes!

I made one a few weeks ahead of time, hoping the 
sunflower seed would sprout and the kids could see 
it. My poor little plant looked SO much better 
the day before the craft! :( 

Supplies set out on the countertop, clearly labeled!

I bought way too much dirt for this project. 

Instructions and paintbrushes out on the tables.

Since this was the first event of the SRP for the 1st-6th grade kids, and it was when they could pick up their first reading log, the day was busy and packed.

The only clothespins left at the end of the day...
whew! We cut that one close! 

Overall I think the kids had fun, made a cute craft (if their plants didn't survive, I haven't heard about it yet :) , and I survived my first big SRP event!