Sci Fri: What is Gravity?

 

"In the blink of an eye, you will see the stick balance!"

~Olivia, aged five

In line with our 'Balance' theme, I found an awesome gravity activity on 'Rookie Parenting' http://www.rookieparenting.com/can-you-balance-a-craft-stick-on-a-chopstick-science-experiment/ 

Rather than present the experiment, I opted to hand out popsicle and chopsticks and stump the little ones. 

"And for todays challenge, you must find a way to balance this popsicle stick on this chopstick!"

~Mommy, much older but not wiser

Not only did they find one way, between them they found five! 

Ms. O announced the 'blink of an eye' bit, made me actually blink and then demonstrated how much wiser she and her sister truly are, than yours truly!

Count them...

 One!

 Two!

 Three!

 Four!

 Five!

And there you have it, Folks. 

Outsmarted and proud.

"So Mom, what's your trick?"

~Olivia, aged five 

At which point I pulled out my prepared popsicle stick, complete with pipe cleaner and clothespegs to intro Center of Gravity.

EXPAND ON BEING OUTSMARTED

Bill Nye & The Chair Trick. We watched a  very informative Balance episode of Bill Nye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSomOvTx_BA

Afterwards, I thought we should try out the Chair Trick (pressing on someone's forehead with your finger, to see if they can get out of the chair, demonstrating the need for our center of gravity to shift forward to stand up.) Ms. O was very amused that my fingertip could prevent her from standing up!
Then she changed her foot position from front to side...and up she stood!
Outsmarted again!