This activity was lots of fun for my girls and easy enough to set-up. We had so much fun that we plan to have turkey races again on Thanksgiving day. Are you ready to see how?
Turkey Balloon Rockets Experiment
Materials
You will also need a place to secure the string and make the "race track". We used chairs.
Method
- Begin by securing a piece of string roughly 5 feet long to a chair.
- We wanted to race two turkeys at once, so we secured two lines of string side-by-side.
- Next, you will want to place a large piece of drinking straw onto each strand of string.
- Then, attach a foam turkey to the drinking straws using tape, being sure to place one piece of tape sticky-side-out right in the middle like so.
- The tape facing out will be used to attach the turkey to the balloon just before launching.
- Once the turkey straws are threaded onto the string you will want to tightly attach the other end of the string to another chair.
- If making two tracks like we did you will want the chairs on both ends parallel and side by side, like this.
- Make sure the string is pulled tightly between the chairs so that the rockets can move quickly.
Launching Turkey Balloon Rockets
- Do not tie the balloon or let it go!
- Rosie and Jewel had no problem holding their balloons tightly until it was time to launch.
- Have kids pull the balloons all the way to one end of the "string track"ensuring that the balloon openings are facing out towards the chairs.
- Then, have them let go!
- Once the balloons are released the turkeys will go flying down the track!
- Rosie and Jewel thought this was so cool and wanted to race their turkeys over and over again!
The Science Behind the Fun
To make an object propel forward there has to be force coming from behind it. This is a simple lesson in action/reaction. For even more on the science behind this simple experiment go here.
To make an object propel forward there has to be force coming from behind it. This is a simple lesson in action/reaction. For even more on the science behind this simple experiment go here.
To Make our Turkeys
We used turkey cut-outs and simply added googly eyes and feathers. You could just as easily make the turkeys from construction paper or craft foam.
We used turkey cut-outs and simply added googly eyes and feathers. You could just as easily make the turkeys from construction paper or craft foam.
Extend the Fun
- Make flying ghost rockets.
- Make chalk rockets.
- Try some of these super fun turkey crafts.
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