Energy through electronics

Mr. Crazy is an electrician.  His abilities, interests, and occupations have ranged pretty far from the norm in that particular field, but at his base, he's an electrician.  When I asked him to "substitute teach" during our energy unit, he was pretty excited.  We both knew going in that he wouldn't stick with my plans and framework, so I asked him to be sure he discussed potential and kinetic energy (the base topics for the week) and then let him do things his own way.  He knew exactly what he wanted to do, and he found some pretty neat stuff to use for his demonstrations.

On random shopping trips, we picked up both a Radio Shack snap kit and Snap Circuits Light.  These are some awesome little kits.  I heartily recommend them to anyone with a kiddo interested in electronics (or a parent who wants their kiddo to see how things work).  This is a perfectly safe way to explore electricity, even with kiddoes at a relatively young age.  All the components snap together (hence the name) making simple and complex circuits easy to explain and understand.

Mr. Crazy started his circuits (aka racetracks) very, very simple and explained each part as he put it together. ("The light can't turn on because it isn't connected to the battery yet; we have to add a line to connect them.")  By the end of the lesson, his racetracks had gotten quite complex.  The kiddoes took guesses about what would happen when circuits were connected different ways (with switches, alternate paths, etc).  They identified where the energy/ electricity was in motion and where it was "waiting."  They had SO much fun with the crazy flying saucer and lights.

Mr. Crazy turned the flying saucer into a fan and everyone wanted to feel the air.

The kiddoes learned a lot about electric circuits, learned a little about energy, and got to have a lot of fun with their substitute teacher. (As an added bonus, Hulk was able to retain this information really well; he was very excited about it and really enjoyed learning electronics.  Now Mr. Crazy has some more one on one electronics fun planned for the two of them.)

Our continued discussion of potential and kinetic energy led to another very fun afternoon.  I used a simple rubber band to show potential (pulled back and held still-- holding all the energy from being stretched) and kinetic (let 'er rip and they really fly).  For more rubber band fun, check out E is for Explore!; I love combining topics!  Going a little farther with this idea, we made slingshots from rubber bands and toilet paper tubes (instructions at PBSKids Design Squad).  We used ping pong balls for the projectiles and brought out little green army men to test them out.  Crazy projectile fun ensued:

I had planned on doing some additional demonstrations, but the kiddoes spent most of the rest of the day setting up and knocking over little green army men, so they'll be left for another time.  We never complain when science activities get extended. :)

--Little Miss Crazy