© 2012 The Mad Science Group

Dream Big – Read! Activity Book & Fun Facts 2012

From looking up to the night sky and dreaming of traveling in rocket ships to dreaming about the wonders of the world, books can take our imaginations on wondrous journeys. Take a look in this book and you’ll find a whole world of science to explore!

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Sleepy Science How long does it take you to fall asleep? Scientists measure this amount of time as your sleep latency. Measure yours with a bang! What you need: • Spoon • Unbreakable plate (or cookie sheet) • Clock (or timer) What you do: 1. Write down the time you get into bed. 2. Hold a metal spoon over a plate on the floor as you try to fall asleep. When you fall asleep,

your muscles will relax and the spoon will fall out of your hand. The noise of the spoon hitting the plate should wake you up.

3. Write down the time you woke up. The difference between the time you got into bed and time you woke up is your sleep latency.

What’s going on? The time it takes for you to fall asleep after getting into bed is your sleep latency. Normal sleep latency is around 15-25 minutes. Some scientists say it is more like 30 minutes. Falling asleep in less than 15 minutes means you really need to take some time and sleep! Fun Fact: Dreams were first considered to be caused by indigestion or evil spirits.

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Red Sky, Blue Sky What do different colors mean when we look up into the sky? As night falls, the sun goes down and the sky can change to vibrant colors. Try this experiment to discover what causes these color changes. What you need: • Clear, straight-side plastic drinking cup • Water • Milk • Teaspoon • Flashlight • Dark room • White piece of cardstock paper What you do: 1. Fill a glass about 2/3 full of water. 2. Darken the room. Place the glass on one end of the paper. Shine the flashlight through the

glass at the top of the water so its shadow falls on the paper. Look at the edge of the shadow on the paper. What colors do you see?

3. Add ½ teaspoon of milk and stir. 4. Hold the flashlight so the light shines through the side of the glass. Look at the water. What

color do you see? 5. Hold the flashlight so the light shines through the glass towards you. Look at the water. What

color do you see? What’s going on? You made colors from white light! Light travels in straight lines. Its direction changes when it bounces off something. Particles of smoke and dust in the air make light bounce. They refract light. White light is made up of seven colors. Each color of light refracts in its own way. For example, blue light refracts less than red light. The order of the colors and their refractions makes up the order of the colors in the rainbow! The order is violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. The rainbow colors combine to make white light. Your flashlight shines white light. The water refracts the flashlight’s white light into the rainbow colors. Adding milk to the water is like adding particles to the air. The flashlight is like light from the sun. The milk refracts the light. You see a blue color when the flashlight shines across the water. This is like seeing a blue sky during the day. You see an orange-red color when the flashlight shines through the water at you. This is like seeing a red sky at sunrise or sunset. Fun Fact: According to some experts, people dream for about 100 minutes every night. Did you know, people forget between 95 and 99 per cent of their dreams?

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Mosquito Saliva Mosquitoes are most active at dawn and at dusk, when the sun is not too hot. A mosquito that bites more than one person can transmit a disease from the first to the next person. See for yourself how this happens! What you need: • Two glasses of water • Glitter • Spoon • Straw • Small bowl of liquid dish soap • A flashlight What You Do: 1. Add a spoonful of glitter to a glass of water and stir. 2. Dip the tip of the straw into the bowl of soap and then dip it into the glass of water and glitter. 3. Draw liquid halfway up the straw, add it to the bowl of soap and stir. 4. Dip the tip of the straw into the second glass of water. 5. Draw liquid halfway up the straw, add it to the bowl of soap and stir. 6. Shine a light down through the top of the two glasses. Can you see the glitter? What’s Going On? Female mosquitoes draw blood from warm-blooded hosts to nurture their eggs. Mosquitoes use a feeding tube called a proboscis (pro-BOSS-kiss) to pierce the skin and enter a blood vessel. The mosquito injects its saliva into the wound. The saliva contains chemicals that keep the blood from clotting and clogging up its narrow feeding tube. The host’s blood may contain diseases. The mosquito can carry these blood-borne diseases without getting sick. The next hosts may receive the disease through the mosquito’s saliva. In your experiment, the clear liquid is like blood, the glitter is like a blood-borne disease, and the soap is like the mosquito’s saliva. The straw is like a mosquito’s proboscis. Your straw mosquito picked up a glitter disease from one host and transferred it to the other host. Fun Fact: Mosquitoes will take the blood from any warm-blooded host, from rabbits to goats to humans!

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Balloon Rocket Rockets used to light up the night sky as fireworks have been used for centuries. Rockets sent out into space with humans on board began in the 1900’s. Try this experiment to see how the dream of exploring beyond our Earth was boosted. What you need: • Meter stick (Yard stick) • Straw • Scissors • String 2 meters (6 ½ feet) long • Balloon • 2 chairs • Masking tape • Ruler What you do: 1. Cut the straw to a 10 cm (4") length. 2. Thread the string through the cut straw. 3. Tie the ends of the string to the backs of two chairs. Place the chairs apart so the string is as

stretched as possible. 4. Inflate the balloon. Twist, but do not tie, the end. 5. Tape the inflated balloon to the straw and move the straw to one end of the string. 6. Release the balloon. What happens? What’s going on? You’re using energy from the inflated balloon to boost it across the string! The balloon moves according to Newton’s third law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The deflating balloon pushes air out of its nozzle in one direction. The moving air pushes the balloon in the opposite direction. The balloon is attached to the straw so it moves along the string. Rocket engines use this same type of movement to launch rockets into space. Fun Fact: NASA received more than 6,000 astronaut applications in 2011. They usually get about 3,000 applications. The most applications they ever received happened in 1978, when over 8,000 people applied!

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Twinkle, Twinkle We use the word “star” to describe any light we see in the sky, but are you sure that’s really what they are? Take a closer look at the star-like lights and use the chart to identify the source. What you need: • Your eyes • The night sky on a clear night • Reclining chair or picnic blanket • Telescope (if you have one) • The night sky chart on this page What you do: 1. Find a spot away from street lights or other building lights where you can sit or lie down

comfortably to look up at the night sky. 2. Look straight up at the sky and try to find star-like lights you can locate easily. Look at the

same lights through your telescope. How does what you see change? 3. Match the lights you see with the clues on your night sky chart. Can you figure out what

object is making the star-like light? Night Sky Chart

What you see What’s making that light Moving point that flashes Airplane

Moving point of light Satellite Quick streak across the sky Meteor

Twinkling point of light Star Bright steady point of light Planet

Large bright object whose shape changes from week to week Moon

Small bright object (a tail is sometimes visible) Comet What’s going on? When you look up into the night sky at a tiny spot of light, what do you think you see? It might be a satellite flicking by on its orbit around the globe, a cluster of stars twinkling from billions of miles away, an airplane flying high up in the atmosphere, or the moon reflecting our sun’s light. If you are lucky, it might even be a nearby planet. A telescope magnifies images. This helps you look more closely at them. A tiny pinprick of light that you see with your eyes can become a known object through your telescope. If you know what to look for, you can identify that object. The night sky chart gives you the clues you need to figure out what they are. Fun Fact: The moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of 63 mm (2-1/2 inches) per year!

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Constellation Chart

Star Landmarks Do you like to play connect-the-dots? People have been doing it for centuries with the stars they see in the night sky. Look up on a clear night and see if you can find these constellations! What you need: • Your eyes • The night sky on a clear night • Reclining chair or picnic blanket • The constellation chart on this page What you do: 1. Find a spot away from street lights or other building lights

where you can sit or lie down comfortably to look up at the night sky.

2. Look straight up at the sky and try to find a cluster of bright stars. Do they look like any of the constellations on your chart? Once you locate one, follow the arrows to find the others.

3. The stars seem to move across the sky as the Earth turns. Can you locate the constellations on your chart at different times of the night and in different seasons?

What’s going on? The sky is filled with landmark lights. Sailors have used the stars to guide their way across the ocean. You can navigate your way around at night once you learn your star landmarks. Finding just one constellation will help you locate the rest! Spending time gazing upwards at night will help you locate and follow starry motions as the Earth turns and the seasons change. Fun Fact: Our sun is actually a star! Any being looking at our sun from another solar system would see a pinprick of light just like the other stars we see in the sky.

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Constellation Creation The Sun looks like it moves across the sky as our planet rotates about its axis. The imaginary path the Sun follows is littered with stars at night. These stars change every month. We’ve grouped these stars into constellations and call them the zodiac signs. You can make your sign appear every night with this experiment! What you need: • Paper cup • Push pin • Constellation diagram on this page • Scissors • White glue • Flashlight What you do: 1. Choose a constellation and either copy

it onto a piece of paper or cut it out. 2. Glue your constellation to the outside

bottom of your cup. 3. Use a push pin to carefully poke holes

at the dots in your constellation. 4. Shine a flashlight through the bottom of

the cup and aim its mouth at the wall. See your constellation appear!

What’s going on? Constellations are star patterns that we link to the shape of objects on Earth. Linking the stars to objects, people or animals helps us to find them in the night sky. The ancient Greeks named many constellations after their gods. The ancient Chinese named them after mythical creatures and based them on the compass points. Sailors and hunters used the stars to guide their travels. Today, we may still rely on the stars for navigation at night, especially when we are in the woods or on the ocean. Fun Fact: You can see the zodiac constellations in any part of the world (at the right month).

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Bat Behavior How do you tell if there’s an object in your path? Bats use their ears! See if your sense of hearing is as sensitive as a bat’s! What you need: • An empty paper towel roll • An aluminum pie plate • Masking tape • Ruler • A friend What you do: 1. Place the paper towel rolls on a table and tape them down so that they are angled towards each

other but not touching. 2. Place the aluminum pie plate on its edge, facing the tubes, but at least 12 inches away from

them. 3. Tape the aluminum pie plate down. 4. Whisper into one of the tubes and have a friend listen as the sound to bounces off the pie plate

and comes back through the other tube. 5. Try turning out the lights and having your friend move around when he/she is making sounds

to see if you can only use your sense of hearing. Does it make a difference in determining where the sounds are coming from?

What’s going on? You’re trying out echolocation! Insect-eating bats are creatures of the night. They are nocturnal hunters. Bats send out high-pitched sounds from their mouths or noses. When the sounds bounce off an object, the bat gets information about the texture, shape, size, and location of the object. This information gathering method is called echolocation. Fun Fact: Not all bats use echolocation to find their food. Fruit bats use their keen eyesight and strong sense of smell to find trees bearing the fruit they like to eat.

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Handy Bat Mobile A bat is a mammal with really long, webbed fingers. Follow this experiment to create a hand-made bat! What you need: • Two sheets of black construction paper • Scissors • Pencil • String or thread • Tape • Hole-puncher • Adult helper What you do: 1. Make a wing template with your hands. Spread your fingers on a

sheet of construction paper with your thumbs together. Ask your adult helper to draw a dot at the base (bottom joint) of your little fingers and thumbs, and then trace just your fingers and thumb between these points. Remove your hands and connect the dots to form your wings.

2. Add webbing to your wings by connecting the finger tips with a line. Cut out your wings. 3. Fold the wings along the thumbs. Punch two holes about 1cm (3/8 inch) down from the fold.

You will have four holes when you unfold the wings. 4. Make a body and head template with your hands. Trace your hand placed flat with the fingers

together on the second sheet of construction paper to make the body. Trace your fist on the paper and add ears to make the head. Cut out the body and head.

5. Tape the head to the body. Fold the wings and tape the folded edge to the body’s upper edge. Your wings should flap easily. Punch one hole at the bottom of the body, beneath the wings.

6. Cut three strings about an adult’s hand span long. Loop one piece through the four holes on the wings. Tie a second string to the top of the loop. The bat should hang freely when you pick it up by this string. Tie the other string to the hole at the bottom of the body.

7. Hold your mobile by the top string and pull the bottom string. Your bat is flying! What’s going on? You made a model of a flying bat! Bat wings are made up of skin stretched between their finger bones, wrist and arms. Hold your hands up beside your ears and then turn your fingers towards the floor. This is how a bat’s arms look, but with much longer fingers. Muscles attached to the bat’s chest and back power its wings. Your flying bat model wings flap down when you pull on the bottom string, and then the top strings pull them back. This is like the bat’s chest and back muscles pulling on its wings. Bat wing size depends on how they catch their prey. Fast insect eaters have short wings that change direction quickly. Fruit eaters have larger wings and fly slower. Some bats catch fish! Their wings are long and narrow to help them swim by rowing if they fall in the water. Fun Fact: Ancient Egyptians created dream dictionaries.

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Feline Feelers We humans use the tips of our toes and our fingertips to feel our way around in the dark. Cats have eyes that see much better than we do in the dark, and they also have feelers on their face to get around. Make yourself a set of whiskers and make your way through a maze! What you need:

• Two sheets of paper • Tape • Scissors • Chairs • An adult helper

What you do: 1. Cut one sheet in half lengthwise. Ask an adult to help you tape it in a loop to make a crown for

your head.

2. Cut the second sheet of paper lengthwise into four equal strips. 3. Fold each of the four strips lengthwise in half. They should look like long tents.

4. Tape the end of each tent to the side of the crown so that two tents stick out from opposite

sides of the crown. These are your whiskers.

5. Set up an obstacle course by placing chairs along a hallway. 6. Wear the crown so that the whiskers stretch out on either side of your shoulders. Close your

eyes and try to move through the obstacle course on your hands and knees. Use your whiskers to help you figure out where the chairs are!

What’s going on? You’re working with whiskers! The scientific name for these hairs is vibrissae (vie-BRIH-see). Cats’ whiskers are longer and stiffer than regular hair. There are 24 whiskers attached to a cat’s face. They grow on either side of the nose, just above the mouth. These hairs help cats feel their way around. Look at a cat before it walks into a narrow space. It uses its whiskers to figure out if it will fit inside. A cat’s whiskers reach about as far as its shoulders. If its whiskers don’t fit, then the cat probably won’t, either! You used your crown of whiskers to help you figure out the obstacles in the hallway. Could you feel your way around better if you added another pair of whiskers to your crown? Try it and see! Fun Fact: Dogs dream too! Big dogs dream longer and little dogs dream quickly and frequently.

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Night Blooming Paper Most plants cannot move around but they can open and close their flowers and leaves in the morning and in the evening. Create a paper flower and see how your petals open! What you need: • Wide bowl filled with water • Small plate (smaller than the bowl) • Construction paper (standard paper will not work) • Scissors • Ruler • Pencil What you do: 1. Draw a circle outline of the small plate onto the construction paper. 2. Use the ruler to draw three lines to divide the circle into six equal pie parts. 3. Use the lines as a guide to draw a flower with petals inside the circle. Make the petals as long

as possible. Cut out the paper flower. 4. Use the pencil to roll up each petal so it looks like the flower is closed. The petals will

overlap. 5. Place the closed paper flower, petal side up, on top of the water in the bowl. 6. What happens to the flower after a few minutes? What’s going on? You made a flower bloom! Plants are made up of plant cells. These cells need to be full of water to stay stiff. This is called turgor pressure. The stem droops when there isn’t enough water. Water moves through very thin tubes in the plant. Paper is made of plant cell fibers. The fibers soak up water and straighten out by turgor pressure. In your paper flower, this straightens the petals and your flower blooms. Morning glories are a type of flower that open and close their petals with turgor pressure. Fun Fact: Some plants follow a sleep cycle! These plants will open and close their petals and leaves on a 24 hour schedule. This is called a circadian rhythm.

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Pocket Dreams Do you have a big dream you hope will one day come true? Try this one-day test to see what you need to make it happen! What you need: Raw egg Markers What you do: 1. Use the markers to decorate the egg with pictures of your big dream. 2. Carry the egg with you all day and make sure it doesn’t break. 3. You can’t put the egg in any sort of protective packaging. Do all the things you would

normally do. Take the egg everywhere you go. You only get one egg. If the egg cracks, there are no second chances.

4. How do you feel at the end of the day? Did the egg survive? How did you change your activities to protect the egg? Is it a big responsibility to care of an egg? How difficult is it?

What’s going on? You’re nurturing your dreams! No one except you can do what it takes to make your dreams come true. Your dream is like an egg. You put this dream in your pocket. You need to think about it and do things to make sure it lasts through the whole day. That big dream of yours depends on how you do things, from studying at school to activities at home. There are so many things you can do – it’s up to you to choose what you would like to do, so dream big! Fun Fact: Working in science can mean you will scale mountains, touch insects, handle lions, walk on glaciers, pick up lava, create explosions, read DNA, gaze at the universe, work with numbers, travel around the world, travel out of this world, grow plants, create medication, make ice cream, grow bacteria, climb trees, fly an airplane, swim with dolphins, clean oil spills, analyze crime scenes, take pictures, create new atoms, or do 100 000 other neat tasks for your job!