For a fun activity to go along with our "space" theme this week we made a water rocket. It was a super fun family activity and everyone got a kick out of it. It was a blast. The best part - it was so easy to make. All you need is:
-A tall water bottle
-paint (spray paint)
-a cork
-a nail
-a needle and pump
-water
-something to prop your bottle up with
1. Spray paint your water bottle. This step is only so you can see your bottle better when it goes up in the air.
2. Make sure your cork fits snugly into the top of the water bottle.
3. Take a nail and push it (lengthwise) all the way through the middle of the cork. This is to make a place for the pump needle to fit through.
4. Fill the water bottle 1/4 full of water.
5. Push the pump needle through the cork and insert cork snugly into the top of the bottle.
6. Attach the pump needle to the air pump securely.
7. Turn upside down and prop against something to help hold it up. (we used the thing that wraps our garden hose up)
8. Start pumping and pumping. The pressure from the air building up inside the bottle will make the rocket fly high up into the air.
We went down to the soccer fields by the TRAC to ensure we'd have enough area to launch them off. We made sure to bring lots of extra water so everyone could have a turn. (Younger children will need help as it gets really hard to pump.) It was really hard to get a picture of one up in the air because it happened so fast, but here are some pictures of the kids launching them.
Riley filling up the bottle.
Kendle just launched it. You can see the water droplets flying.
Morgan got a chance to help too.
He loved chasing and retrieving the rocket.
Make sure you prop it up as straight as you can. This one was leaning and went diagonally through the air. I give this project/experiment/family activity an A+!
