Explore Flight! with 25 Great Projects
By Anita Yasuda; illustrated by Bryan Stone
96 pages, ages 6-9
Nomad Press, 2013
When I was a kid I was positive that all I had to do to fly was run down a steep hill, flap my arms, and lift my feet. Soon I’d be soaring.
It didn’t work. Something about lift, thrust, and drag – not to mention gravity.
Still, I’m not the only one who tried flying. Throughout the ages people have tried to soar, glide, float, and flap through the air. In the 1300 the Chinese built kites that could carry people and by the 1400’s Leonardo da Vinci was designing all kinds of flying machines. By 1910 or thereabouts the US Postal Service had airmail routes, and fifty years later we landed men on the moon.
Now more than 4 million people hop on planes every day, flying all over the world. Which makes one wonder: why do airplanes have wings? And what if you changed the shape of the wings or ….? Inquiring kids want to know – and Explore Flight! is loaded with hands-on projects to help them discover some of the answers. From parachutes to power rockets, this book helps kids explore the history and science of aviation, and has a handy timeline to help frame the history of flight science.
If you want to build a flying machine, head over to Archimedes Notebook today and explore helicopters. And make sure to check out what other people are posting for STEM Friday. (I’ll add links in the morning and catch up with the rest in the evening.)
Over at Sally’s Bookshelf you can head out on a nature hike with Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods.
Join STEM Friday! We invite you to join us!
- Write about STEM each Friday on your blog.
- Copy the STEM Friday button to use in your blog post.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
- Link your post to the comments of our weekly STEM Friday Round-up. (Please use the link to your STEM Friday post, not the address of your blog. Thanks!)
STEM Friday 