Fun Sparks – Hover crafts

Cars, trucks, helicopters and buses are all loved toys in this house, but we don’t have a Hovercraft!

So we decided to make one…or at least one that has the effect of the Hovercraft.

The only tricky part is that it does involve superglue, so supervision is required. (Saying that I was a complete dougnut and made a mistake myself and still got superglue on me…luckily nothing stuck together) but hopefully you are a sensible lot!) If you have a glue gun that would be better.

You will need:

An old CD or blank one

Superglue/gluegun

A pop up lid from a drinks bottle

Balloons

Fun Sparks - Hover Craft Science Sparks

 

Method

1. Take the lid off the drinks bottle. Discard the plastic cover cap and ensure the push down mechanism is down.

2. Put superglue around the bottom rim of the lid and stick to the centre of the CD over the hole. you need to make sure you have no air holes.

Fun Sparks - Hover Craft Science Sparks

 

3. Blow up a balloon and twist around you fingers so you don’t let out the air.

4. Put the end over the balloon

5. Lift the pop up part and let go off the balloon.

The balloon should shoot across the surface as the air is forced out the bottom!

Fun Sparks - Hover Craft Science Sparks

 

Ours was a little disappointing – I tried the kitchen floor and the table but the surfaces were not smooth enough so it was a bit slow. The kids still loved it, and wanted it to be done again and again, and for older children you can start to discuss Friction and the effect on speed. I think if I had a smoother surface it would have been much more effective. There is also a possibility of an air hole in the seal that I didn’t see.

 

If you have a go…which I hope you do, let me know if you get more speed on yours. I would love to see!

 

But for more of your wonderful posts please link up to Fun Sparks Below

Sciencesparks3

 

10 Comments

  1. That is awesome! How clever are you!

  2. karenda /

    Hi, just discovered your site – so much fun.

    I added by blog to the link party, but can’t get the badge to work – says there is an HTML problem. Any suggestions how to fix.

  3. This is something that was on my list to try with my girls for a blog post! Glad to see yours worked (even though it was a bit slow) and that your kids had fun with it!
    Thanks for linking up to Fun Stuff Fridays!

  4. Hi, I just found your blog and am your newest follower! This is such an awesome idea! I’d LOVE for you to share this at my Thrifty Thursday linky party, where we share free or nearly free learning activities. This is PERFECT for it! Feel free to share a couple a week! http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2012/01/thrifty-thursday-7/

  5. You always come up with the coolest stuff!! I LOVE reading your blog!! Just a reminder to not link up any posts with live linkies (linking up a linkie idea). Thanks =-) Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a GREAT week,
    Beth =-)

  6. My kids are going to love this one! Thanks for sharing!

    Stopping over from Show-and-Share Saturdays.

  7. This is a must do for us- you always have such cool ideas! Thank you for sharing them with us on The Sunday Showcase

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