• Karlie’s Science Fair Project! More = Less!

    Karlie Science Fair

    More = Less!

    Karlie did a fun Science Fair project this year for 5th grade!  It was fun and a great learning experience for her.  Her friends and classmates were fascinated by it.  We are proud of her hard work!

    The purpose of the experiment was to see if the changing the velocity movement through a pipe will cause the pressure to increase?  Bernoulli’s Principle says that when a fluid is traveling in a horizontal direction, as the velocity increases the pressure will decrease and vice versa. The principle shows when the pressure is at it’s lowest, and is at it’s highest.  Some of the things that use Bernoulli’s Principle are race cars, airplanes (Bernoulli’s Principle makes it possible to fly), and it helps a baseball player throw a curve ball. The fluids increase speed, when pushed through a narrower space, will cause internal pressure to decrease even though it is in a tighter space.  The external pressure increase at slower speeds.

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    Karlie presenting her Science Fair Project!  She did excellent!

  • Curious Kids: Swing Experiment!

    Notice anything odd about the jungle gym?

    The girls are always asking questions and trying new things.  As parents we get the privilege to answer these questions and teach them more about how things work.  Occasionally, they come up with some interesting ideas on their own.  I love how they use their creativity and are able to pull together some fun experiments.  Not every creative moment ends up perfect but glad to see them thinking outside the box.

    We were outside playing one sunny winter afternoon when I looked over at the girls playing on the swing set and noticed something a little odd.  They had taken their cherry red lawn chairs from the front porch and put them on top of the swings on the jungle gym.  It was hilarious watching them swing on the lawn chairs.  A piece of me was thrilled that they figured out how to “invent” something silly yet not dangerous.  They had a blast swinging on their “redneck” swings.  It was great hearing their bursts of giggles as they watched each other swing.

    They came up with this creative Redneck "swing" all on their own!
    They did pretty well swinging on their little red lawn chairs!

    Karlie and Brina Swinging on their silly swings!
    So proud of their little experiment!

    It was pretty funny watching them swing on those little red lawn chairs.  They were so excited their experiment worked out so well.  As Jake and I moved around in the yard the girls would just rotate their chair swings to face us.  They make me laugh with some of the things they come up with but I am glad to see their imaginations running full throttle!

    What started out as mere curiosity ended up being a fun new way to enjoy time swinging on the jungle gym.  Encourage your kids to be creative and curious, you never know what you’ll see when you come around the corner!

    Curious Kids is a series of posts on various questions kids ask as well as creative things they come up with on their own.  If you have ever been around a toddler you know they will have a season when they start asking all the “Why” questions.  Then as your toddler gets older you begin to see them start experimenting with objects, becoming even more creative, and trying to figure out new ways to make things work.  As a parent of Twins my girls hit those stages at the same time!  I was (and am) determined to not answer….”Because I said so” to their questions and allow them the freedom to be creative (as long as it isn’t dangerous) but there there are days when it is difficult coming up with all the answers to their questions and the mess behind their “creative” experiments sometimes gets a little too crazy for even Mom.  Most days I love having the opportunity to teach my girls and encourage them to use their curiosity to be creative when they play!