This week’s theme:

Unsolved Mysteries – Climate Change

Fact of the day:

Renewable energy sources (such as wind, wave, tidal, solar, and hydro) create less greenhouse gas.

Resources list:

A4 paper; tin foil, paper, cocktail stick, blutack; sink, chopping board, ball; sheet, ball; Youtube; Paper and pens.

Activity 1:

Wind power – Make a paper wind turbine.

Activity 2:

Wind power – Make a wind-powered tinfoil boat (with a paper sail taped to a cocktail stick stuck into blutack inside your boat). Blow or use a fan on the sail to power your boat, bobbing in a sink or in a washing up bowl. Join in with some sea shanties as you go!

Activity 3:

Water power (hydroelectric). Water is collected behind dams on large rivers and when it’s released the enormous power of the falling water is capable of turning giant turbines which generate electricity. The degree of power is determined by the amount of water and the distance it falls.

Create different slopes into a sink/bath/washing up bowl (eg using a chopping board/plastic box lid/tray). Use a tinfoil ball or a pingpong ball and see how fast you can get it to roll/slide down your slope when you pour water behind it (from a watering can, for example). Does it move faster if the slope is shallow or steep, if you use a small trickle of water, or a gush of water, if you start the ball off near the top or the bottom of the slope? Experiment and see how much power you can generate with the ball falling.

Activity 4:

Wave power – make waves with a sheet/tablecloth. Can you use the power and energy of a wave to get a newspaper ball to the other side of the sheet?

Move your arms in a wave – stretch them out to each side of you, and starting with your right hand fingers send a wave up your right arm and down your left arm.

Activity 5:

Wave power – How high to waves have to be to provide the energy to upturn a tinfoil boat – try this experiment using a ball dropped into water to create waves.

Activity 6:

Tidal power – this relies on the natural pattern of the sea’s tides moving in and out which they do daily. Practice slow and steady breathing in and out like the gentle tides, watch here or here.

Activity 7:

Solar power – this uses energy from the sun’s light to generate electricity or heat. You might have got into a car that’s been heated up by the sun, or have seen solar-powered garden lights or calculators, or have seen solar panels on people’s roofs.

If it’s a sunny day, use the sun’s light rays to create shadow art, drawing the shadows of things that you can place in the sun (like this or this), create tinfoil sculptures to place in the sun like this, or draw around things you naturally see outdoors in the sun like this.

Activity 8:

Learn the BSL signs for wind, blow, wave, tide, and solar.