How many questions do you get asked in a day? My count right now has to be close to 100. Inquisitive, curious kids are fabulous – though, truth be told, exhausting.
While I have been known to respond with the day-dreamy “yep” in the car after responding to 38 questions about clouds, I really do try to encourage these curious kids of mine.
With the birds starting to migrate, the questions have started to fly (ha!).
Where are they going? Why are there so many birds sitting on that wire? When will they leave? What about return? Do they go with the monarch butterflies? Why are the geese going in the shpe of a “V”?
Aha! Finally – that last one we can have some fun with!
(Please note that I watched my little ones very closely when we did this activity. I explained about the dangers of a fan and that it was not a toy. We were being scientists and needed to use our tools carefully.)
We took long strips of construction paper and drew some little birds on them. We then placed them in front of the fan and tried to keep the paper flat.
The sides of the paper kept blowing back – which, as it turns out, was hilarious to these little boys of mine.
After awhile, and it was quite the while, we folded the paper in half creating the “v” shape. Right away the boys noticed the major difference in wind resistance. They could hold the paper up to the fan with only one finger.
Lots of experimenting ensued with tons of learning happening right along side.
I just love when a good question turns into a good experiment (and I also love when it is such a good time!)
These great experiences that stem from those fabulous questions make me feel a bit better about those day-dreamy car ride “uh-huhs” and “mm-hmms”. Because really, if the clouds are made up of water, why are they white? Hmmm? Mama? Why?
You feel me, I know you do.
Thank you so much for being here friends, I hope you are having a wonderful week.
Holly says
October 19, 2017 at 12:48 pmCool experiment. Would love to see what you told them about why this is, in a way that’s simple for young children to understand.
Sarah says
December 4, 2017 at 9:26 pmThanks Holly. I did use the term wind resistance, but did not get into too much detail. We talked about how the wind hits the middle of the paper and it breaks, just like how we don’t feel the wind behind our house on a windy day, but in front of our house we are bound to get blown over! We discussed how impressive animals are. How they instinctively know all about this and how they fly in a way that is easiest for them. We also chatted about how the birds take turns being in the middle. It is just all so fascinating! Hope this helps – and thanks for writing!
Clara Smith says
February 13, 2018 at 11:58 amThank you for sharing this! And thanks for sharing how you explained it as well.
Clara Smith says
February 6, 2018 at 11:30 pmThis is such an awesome object lesson! I hadn’t seen this before and I’m very grateful! I’m totally going to remember it and use it down the road.
Sarah says
February 24, 2018 at 8:04 pmWonderful Clara! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. xo