Energy Technology

Here’s a science activity for kids that offers basic exposure to density and the law of gravity. It also gives your child an opportunity to engage in the trial and error method of problem solving. It’s very simple and lots of fun.

You’ll be making a miniature version of hot air balloons. Each balloon should take about one minute to make. Your child will love helping to put the hot air balloons together.

Here’s what to do:

Pick up helium balloons from your community party supply store. You’ll need one balloon for each participant.

For the basket part of the hot air balloon, use a paper cup or 12″ x 12″ felt square. If you use a paper cup, tape three pieces of string to the top of the cup, and then tie the string to the base of the balloon. If you use a felt square, tie each of the four corners and attach those to the base of the balloon. (If you want to go a step further, for a more realistic looking basket cut off the bottom four inches of an empty bag of specialty coffee and rinse it out-the material is perfectly suited for this activity.)

Your living room is the perfect location to get started.

The objective: fill the basket with just enough household items to cause the balloon to hover for ten seconds without touching the ceiling. The items might include marbles, buttons, bottle caps and Q-Tips. Put these items in a bowl for selection. Keep a pair of scissors handy–as your child fine tunes the density it may become necessary to cut a Q-Tip in half.

Consider the following variation: put all the items in a line for selection. Take turns selecting one item until each person has ten. Place items into balloon baskets and launch the balloons. The objective is to have your balloon float slowest to the ceiling. In order to improve results, each person may exchange one of their items for a new item. Re-launch the balloons. Continue the process of exchanging one item after each launch. Keep experimenting until one player causes a balloon to hover for ten seconds.

There are many other variations to this science activity that you can pursue on your own (–for example, log the difference in items used from one day to the next as the balloons lose helium). Regardless of how you go about it, this activity will give your child an opportunity to engage in trial and error problem solving while gaining basic exposure to density and the law of gravity. You may also find it surprisingly adept at bringing out the fidget and tinker nature of parents. Have fun!

Measuring stuff around the house is a fun and easy science activity for kids. It’s perfect for Saturday afternoons or whenever you want to spend some quality, stress free time with your child. These simple measurement games are flexible enough to grow with your child’s developing skills.

Here’s All You’ll Need to Get Started:

-Tape measure
-Ruler
-Paper and pencil

Activity 1

The Alphabet Game

Here’s how to play this measuring game…

Hunt for three things around the house that start with the letter A. Measure each item and log the measurement on a piece of paper. (Hint:round to the nearest inch.)

Now hunt for three things around the house that start with the letter B. Measure each item and log the measurement on a piece of paper.

Next hunt for three things around the house that start with the letter C. Measure each item and log the measurement on a piece of paper.

Now put a check mark next to the biggest item. Put a circle next to the smallest item.

(Advanced: how many of the smallest items would it take to equal the length of the longest item?)

Activity 2

1/2 a Sandwich and a Cup of Soup Please

Here’s how to play this measurement game…

Measure the length of your couch. Log the result on a piece of paper. Now find something around the house that is approximately 1/2 the length of the couch–for example: the width of your dining table. Measure it, then log the result on a piece of paper. Now find something that is approximately 1/2 the width of your dining table–for example: a picture on the wall. Measure it, then log the result on a piece of paper. Now find something 1/2 the width of the picture on the wall–for example: your toaster. Measure it, then log the result. Now find something 1/2 the width of your toaster–for example: 1/2 a sandwich. Measure it, then log the result. Keep playing until you find something that is approximately one inch long–a peanut for example. Log the result on a piece of paper.

(Advanced: keep track of how long it took to complete the activity. Compare the result each new time you complete this activity. What’s the trend?)

Activity 3

Double Double!

Here’s how to play this game…

In this game, start by measuring your child’s nose. If you measure the width, it should come out to approximately one inch. Log the results. (Your child will love seeing something like ‘Claire’s nose: 1 inch’ on your chart). Now find something approximately double the length–for example: a strawberry. Measure it and log the results. Now find something approximately double the length of the strawberry. Measure it and log the results. Keep going until you run out of things to measure.

(Advanced: measure the entire length of your house. Using that figure as a guide, estimate the distance to your mailbox, nearest park or grocery store).

Measuring things goes hand in hand with the fundamentals of science. These activities offer basic exposure to measuring procedures, and can be played again and again. As your child becomes more skillful at measuring stuff, work toward more precise measurements by rounding to the nearest 1/2 inch, and eventually to the nearest 1/4 or 1/8 inch. A good way to engage in even more precise measurements is to measure coins or book ends to the nearest 1/16 of an inch! Be sure to record the results. Have fun!

Graphology is a branch of a diverse group of sciences of character reading. Since ancient times, man has been intrigued by human variability and uniqueness of the individual. Graphology in particular focuses on interpreting individual’s character and personality traits by analyzing their handwriting.

Using graphology to analyze personality and character is one thing; changing ones behavior by changing handwriting is another – this is referred to as graphotherapy. Graphology is a now becoming a more widely accepted science. As most of you will agree that the human subconscious manifests itself one way or another, art, music etc. Graphology interprets this manifestation, using the most commonly used human subconscious-world interface, handwriting!

Here is my first example, where this can be used. Long final strokes say a lot about individuals. We can use graphology to understand what one is conveying through long strokes? The long final strokes show how cautious one is. Using graphology we know that the writer is inclined to be cautious and careful. This reduces the tendency to be impulsive and minimizes risk in decision making.

Another example where we can use graphology to tap into one’s subconscious. I am sure you have seen this somewhere, a consistent left ward slant. do you know this person? Is this you? Using graphology, we know that writing with a leftward slant is a sign of an introvert. The writer rarely expresses feeling and makes logical unemotionally decisions. Would you have known that if it were not for graphology?

Trusting or not-trusting? Graphology differentiates one from another. Long narrow loops in y’s and g’s. The size of the loop (not the down stroke) reveals the amount of trust and imagination as it relates to people. Graphology tells us that the narrow loop reveals some trust, but these people are selective in who they let in their inner circle.

Who does graphology tell us to be careful of? Using graphology I can tell you that the person with a hot temper is one where the t-bar crossed predominantly on the right of the stem. The more this is to the right the easier it will be to annoy this person. If this is combined with a rightward slant, they will lose temper even quicker.

Graphology and energy level – Finally graphology tells us that the energy level and sexual drive is in the Y’s. Are your Y’s huge? Do your lower loops come back up and touch the baseline? Graphology tells us that the depth of your y and g down stroke is an indicator of your sex drive and your energy level. According to graphology the bigger the “y” the more physically natured you are and the smaller the y, the less energetic you are.

So in summary graphology can be used to determine a complete personality and character profile of any individual. Besides the examples given above graphology can be also be used to determine aggressiveness, analytical thinking, attention to detail, curious, dual personality, emotionally responsive, extravagant, jealous, loyalty, perfectionist, controlling, stubborn nature among others. If the art of graphology is learned efficiently one can use it to their advantage and help them understand their friends, partners and family in-depth.