Straw and Loop Airplane

We were rained in last night - a good thing for the forest fire, but not so good for restless children. Luckily though, we had just checked out another stack of books, full of science experiments, from the library, so we were armed with plenty to do.

After, perusing a couple of the books for something simple, but fun, we settled on the straw, and loop airplane from the Ontario Science Centre's Scienceworks: 65 Experiments That Introduce the Fun and Wonder of Science.

To build one, all you need is a normal size drinking straw, clear tape, and two strips of paper - one 12 cm by 2 cm, and the other 9 cm by 1.5 cm. The book also gives the measurements in standard units, but I thought using metric would be a nice change for the children.



Take each strip of paper separately, and overlap the ends, to form a loop, taping one end inside the loop, and the other outside the loop. There should be enough overlap to stick the straw in the gap between the ends, where they come together.



Place a loop at both ends of the straw, as described above, and toss the "airplane" javelin style.



I was worried our loops were too small. They didn't seem to match Tina Holdcroft's illustrations. But, the straw flew a good 25 feet, hampered only by the size of the room. And, not only did it fly far, but it glided with surprising grace, as well.

It's great to be a homeschooler.