It is very cold these days. We have been using our radiators to keep warm.
Today we had a great discussion about how to stay warm while also saving energy. We read a great book to help us think about ways to save energy and electricity.
Today we also learned lots more about electricity.
We found out that there are three types of electricity: mains (plug in) electricity, batteries and static electricity.
We were able to classify which familiar items use mains electricity, or batteries, or both.
We talked again about how to stay safe around electricity.
We used balloons to generate static electricity (best done with our hair or on our woolly jumpers), and then used these balloons to get tissue snakes and shapes to float!
Next we learned a lot about circuits and circuit symbols. We made human circuits using Musical Touch games. When we make a circuit, the musical touch games make sounds – music, beats of the sounds of farm animals. We were amazed to see that electricity can move through each of us when we hold hands, or even when we touch our friends on their faces or on any part of their skin.
We really had fun using our Bright Sparks 4 Kids kits to try out our various questions about electricity:
Can we made a circuit and get a bulb to light, or a buzzer to sound, or a motor to twist?
Can we add a switch?
Does it matter which wires go in which direction?
What happens to the bulb/buzzer/motor if we add more than one battery or if we change the direction of the battery?
How many batteries will it take to light an LED lamp?
How many batteries will it take to light two LED lamps?
What will happen if a battery is upside down?
So many questions, so many chances to try and find out for ourselves! We were able to answer all these questions by trying them out for ourselves using the “Bright Sparks 4 Kids” kits. Making electric circuits is fun, but we know that we need to be very sensible and careful with electricity because it can be dangerous too!
