LITTLE LEVITATING MONSTERS

Fwooooosh! Send your creativity soaring to the skies as you create your own fun, friendly monster toy that will let you levitate a cotton ball like magic!

Materials

• Paper
• Bendable Straw
• Tape
• Cotton Ball
• Scissors
• Markers

Directions

• Trace a circle on your piece of paper and use the scissors to cut it out. This will create the base for your toy, so you want it to be large enough to fit a cotton ball comfortably inside.
• Find the middle of your circle. Cut a straight line from the edge of your circle to the middle.
• Hold your circle on either side of the cut. Use the cut and the centre of the circle to imagine a line that would create a right angle. Pull one side of the circle up to this imaginary line, and use tape to hold it in place so that your circle becomes a cone.
• Use the scissors to cut a small bit off the bottom off your cone. You want to create a hole that is big enough to put your straw through.
• Bend your straw and place the shorter end through the hole in your cone. Use tape to hold it in place. If you accidentally cut too big a hole for your straw, use tape to cover the extra space so the bottom of your cone is sealed.
• Now it’s time to decorate your monster! Try cutting eyes, wings, teeth, horns, or anything else you think you might find on a monster out of your paper and use tape to attach it to your toy!
• Once you’re done decorating, take a cotton ball and place it inside your cone. Place the end of the straw in your mouth and blow to watch the cotton ball be lifted into the air!

Spark Creative Learning!

• How does your toy work? By blowing air through the straw, you’re applying force to the cotton ball, which helps it rise up into the air! Try blowing harder or softer to control the amount of force you’re applying. How does this affect the movement of the cotton ball?

• Do all objects take the same amount of force to move? Try placing different objects in your cone and see what happens when you blow into your straw.

• This toy helps demonstrate that air is something we’re capable of moving, even if we can’t see that movement with our eyes alone. What are some other objects that prove that air can move?

• The clock is ticking – how long can you make your cotton ball float in the air? Have each member of your family create their own monster and have a competition to see who can keep their ball afloat the longest!