The UV Animal

With July a few days away, here is a craft activity with a scientific twist. From a number of science toys dealers you can buy pony beads sensitive to UV light. I have bought mine from Educational Innovations - 240 beads for $6.95. Out of the sun they are white, and when they are in the sun they change to various colours like yellow, orange, red, purple and blue. This is an excellent reminder to use suntan lotion if you have tender skin like me.

The webshops suggests making a simple bracelet of the beads, and that works well with small kids. For kids aged 7 and up (and boys who don't want to use bracelets), a colleague of mine, Anne Bruvold, has made a different product of the pony beads. She has called it "The UV Animal" (UVdyret), and here is a description of how to make it:

You need 25 UV beads, 2 normal pony beads (for eyes) and 70 cm elastic band. Start at the tail end, tread one bead onto the elastic band and make sure the two ends are of the same length. Continue with the next beads as the drawing underneath shows, and take care to get the body and the legs assembled correctly. If you want to make the animal with beads of specific colours, take them outdoors to "activate" them before you choose which ones to use. Good luck!

I have made a number of these and have attached them to bags and rucksacs. You can also put it on your throusers, like this boy has done.

Speedmonster, the toy that sparks creativity

Technology and design is a new topic in the school curriculum here in Norway. At the Science Center we have a toy construction activity for the mid-level classes called Speedmonster. The activity is designed by Elisabeth Kanebog and Marte Karidatter Skadsem, as a collaboration between "Den kulturelle skolesekken" and the Science Center. Elisabeth is an art teacher excelling in design and the design process and Marte is our tech expert in the house. Speedmonster is partially based upon old mechanical toys and the activity is divided in three parts;

• learning the history and technology of toys
• learning and doing the design process
• making, testing and improving the toys

The Speedmonster is a half sphere made from Cernit clay (or similar), with a hole either at the front, the top or the back. Use a small bowl (8-10 cm across) underneath to get the shape right. Cut away excess clay and make sure you have a thicker layer of clay on the sides, to fit the two screws placed on each side underneath the shell, before the shell is baked in an oven. The shell will crack if you try to screw the screws into the clay after it has hardened in the oven.

As you can see on the photo to the right, the mechanichs is a set of wheels with a small piece of wood glued between them. The wheels are attached to the monstershell via rubberbands, glued to the wheels as well. To make sure the rubberbands are firmly attached to the wheels, put a matchstick with glue on in between the two rubber ends. After the glue has dried and hardened, cut off the part of the matchstick sticking out of the wheel hole.

Tie a piece of thread onto the wheels and push the end out of the hole you've drilled in the shell. Attach a small object to the end of the thread, preferably something you've made of the clay, fitting your Speedmonster design.

If you have problems making the Speedmonster walk properly, cut small bands out of a balloon and make rubber tires on the wheels. And if you still can't make it walk, improve your design and make another one! Be creative!

The activity has been a huge success for us, and all the kids have loved it, even if some of them left us with a broken, non-working toy. Their designs have been very creative, it is amazing what they produce. We will continue having the Speedmonster on our activity program, and will offer this to the local schools next spring. If you are interested in more information about the Speedmonster, and live outside Tromsø, I'd be happy to let you in on our tips and tricks, as well as the design protocol.

Steady hand game, also known as Buzz wire game

At our latest science club for kids aged 9-12, our theme was technology and design. One of our activities was to make a steady hand game.

It turned out to be one of our most popular events ever, based upon the feedback we got from the kids and their parents. The parents were very impressed of what the kids had managed to build.

The games we made required cutting and shaping plastics, assemblying and soldering the electronics, and shaping and mounting the wire. With some help from the adults, even the youngest ones at 9 managed to make stylish looking, fully functioning toys. The games we made were based upon the instructions from a Norwegian book called "Trigger - teknologi og designboka" (2006) written by Eva Celine Jørgensen, Svein Briså and Rolf Ingebrigtsen.

If you want to make one of your own, and have problems with my native tongue Norwegian, do not worry! There are plenty of kits available at various internet stores; just google buzz wire game or steady hand game.

And if you want to do as we did; make it from scratch, there are options out there for you too. Here are a few, varying in difficulty level:

• Test your steady hand from Worsley School (simple)
• Steady handbook from St. Mark's Catholic School (intermediate)
• The Thyristor - breadboard circuit from V. Ryan at technologystudent.com (intermediate)
• Buzz-wired for sound from Tim Surtell (advanced)

Invent to learn

Until Easter we had the pleasure of hosting the exhibition Toy Tech, created by Invention Evangelist Ed Sobey at the Northwestern Invention Center. Ed is a remarkable man, and his "Invent to learn" philosophy is a learning strategy we found very intuitive and efficient.

Toy Tech is an active exhibition, where visitors can play with toys and view adjacent cut-always to see how they work. The exhibition includes some of “The World’s Greatest Toys” exhibit and a workshop. At the workshop visitors can make a variety of toys from inexpensive materials. They learn physics and building skills while becoming empowered to do more exploration. We used the "Invent to learn" philosophy at the workshop. The kids got a task to solve without getting an "instruction leaflet" from us. The idea is to learn by doing mistakes; make a prototype as fast as possible, then test it and correct one flaw at a time. Ed has written several books of this learning method, and I highly recommend two of his books entiteled Rocket-Powered Science: Invent to learn! Create, Build & Test Rocket Designs and Loco-Motion, Physics Models for the Classroom: 25+ Hands-On Projects.

[Update: The Toy Tech exhibition can be viewed at Jærmuseet, the Science Centre in Sandnes, from september. There is also an American version on tour, contact Ed if you want to know more.]

Balloon hoover craft

Here is another funny experiment for you! It is a great activity at birthday parties, both for kids and adults. And it is a nice ice breaker or a fun way to start a lesson about gases or air. As many as 10-15 kids, depending on weight of course, can stand on the table before the balloons start to explode.

Here is what you do: Inflate lots of balloons to the same size. Turn a table upside down and place it on top of the balloons. One by one, step carefully onto the table, make sure to keep the table in balance. How many can you cram onto the table before the first balloon pops? Let me know!

It is a nice demonstration of the strength of air and it can be compared to the tires of cars, filled with air and withstanding the weight of several tonns.