Today I made a boat made of only four things: Acetate, cardboard, leaves, and masking tape. What I did:
I first cut out the shape of the boat on acetate. Then I put on the cardboard sides and covered the whole thing in masking tape. Then, if you want, cover it (again) all over with silver foil. Note: if you cover it in foil, it will make it water-proof but you will not be able to have the sails.
To make the sails, find three dock leaves. Make sure one of them are smaller than the other two. Then tape them into the boat.
Fill 1/2 big bowl with water and put the boat in. Does it float? Yes? If it does, try to modify it so it can hold 25 pennies and still float for ten seconds.
FOR MORE COOL THINGS THAT YOU CAN BUILD, GO TO DESIGN SQUAD!
The plans (I didn't do the figurehead.)
Today I built a rubber band powered car. I followed the instructions and after a few tries it didn't work very well. THEN I had a GREAT idea. It was this: TIGHTEN the wheels to the axel with masking tape instead of blue tack or poster putty. Then we had a couple more tries and IT WORKED!
For more AWESOME things that you can build, go to DESIGN SQUAD!
Here's a picture:
How this car is powered:
When you turn the rubber band, you are creating potential energy, which is stored in the rubber band. When you let go of the rubber band, the potential energy turns into kinetic energy, which is movement. The more potential energy you have, the farther your car will go.
Try taping a tennis ball to it and try to make it carry it!
Here is a picture of the same car, but modified to have a tennis ball on it:
When we tried it with the ball on, it hardly went anywhere. See if you can make your's do better! (Personally I think a baloon would be better than a rubber band.)