One of the activities my children ask to do over and over again is our jumping frogs, which are a great way to learn about static electricity. Inspired by Inspiration Laboratories moving ghost, we made jumping ghosts instead of frogs. To make it more of an investigation rather than a demonstration, we tried to make tissue paper and normal paper jump.
You’ll need
Black Balloon
Paper cut into ghost shapes. We used tissue paper and normal paper.
Woolly jumper or hair
How to make jumping ghosts
Cut up the different types of paper into ghost shapes ( or anything else you want to make jump ).
Blow up a balloon and rub it on a jumper or your hair. Hold the balloon above one type of paper ghost and watch it jump up.
Repeat with the other paper ghosts. Do both types jump?
Can you design a simple table to show your results?
More science ideas
Try different types of paper, such as tissue paper and cardboard.
Design a science experiment to investigate how long each type of paper stays attached to the balloon.
If you rub the balloon on your hair for longer, do the ghosts stick for longer?
Find out if smaller ghosts stick for longer than bigger ones. How many can you stick at once?
More static electricity investigations for kids
Find out how to make your hair stand up on end and why this happens.
Pick up tissue paper on a ruler like Premeditated Leftovers.
Learn how to become a tissue paper snake charmer with Kids Activities Blog.
Last Updated on October 13, 2023 by Emma Vanstone
