Ideas to Try

Before you start, think about how to use the different equipment safely. Will you need to wear safety gear? Check with your teacher if you are not sure.

Make a Parachute
Even if you don't have a rocket, you can experiment with parachutes.

You will need: small plastic toy figure about 5cm tall; strong cotton thread, sheets of polythene (you could use old plastic carrier bags that have been cut up), scissors, ruler, timer.

1. Cut 4 equal lengths of thread, (about 30cm long).

2. Cut a square of polythene (about 30cm by 30cm).

3. Roll up a corner of the polythene into a tube. Wind a length of thread to it tightly around the outside of the tube and tie it tightly. Repeat with the other three corners.

4. Tie the other ends of the thread to your toy figure.

5. Fold the parachute up and throw the toy straight up in the air.

6. Time how long it takes for the toy to reach the ground.

7. Experiment with different parachute shapes (would a round, semicircular or triangular parachute work better?). Try to keep the area of each new parachute similar by always cutting the shape from a starting square 30cm by 30cm.

8. Which parachute stays in the air the longest?

Make a Balloon-powered Jet
Rockets use jet power – a spurt of high-pressure gas – to carry them along. You can use a balloon to experiment with jet power.

You will need: balloons of different shapes, packet of thin drinking straws, reel of cotton thread, tape measure, needle, scissors, strong sticky tape, clothes peg.

1. Thread the needle and drop it down through a drinking straw, so that the thread passes all the way through. Make sure that the straw can run easily up and down the thread. This will be the steering device for your jet.

2. Blow up a balloon and clip the end of it with a clothes peg so that the air does not leak out. If this is difficult, try folding a thin piece of card around the neck of the balloon before clipping it.

3. Tape the straw to the side of the balloon, in line with the neck.

4. Tie one end of the thread to a post or fence. Unwind the thread and tie the other end to a post or fence about 5m away. Your balloon and straw should hang from the thread. Make sure there is nothing in the balloon's flight path.

5. Unclip the clothes peg to set off the jet.

6. Measure the distance your balloon jet covers.

7. Make more jets using different balloon shapes and test them. Which shape travels the furthest?

Make a Bottle Rocket Launcher
You will need: squashy plastic bottle (like the ones used for washing-up liquid), about 1m of rubber tubing almost as wide as the mouth of the bottle (from a pet shop or aquarium shop), flowerpot with a hole in the bottom, two bricks, strong sticky tape (waterproof duct tape is the best), thin card, PVA glue, pencil, compass, scissors, paints.

1. To make the launcher: push the rubber tubing a little way into the bottle. Fix the tubing to the bottle with strong tape. Paint over the tape with PVA glue to make a good seal between the bottle and the tubing.

2. Stand the flowerpot upside down and support it on bricks. Pass the free end of the rubber tubing up inside the flowerpot and pull it out of the hole in the base of the pot. Tape the tube to hold it firmly in place.

3. To make the rocket: Roll up a small cardboard tube about 10cm long and just wide enough to fit over the free end of the rubber tubing. Glue the cardboard tube together.

4. Cut a circle of card about 3cm in diameter. Make a cut from the outside edge to the centre of the circle and overlap the two sides of the circle to make a cone.

5. Glue and tape the cone in place on your rocket.

6. Paint the rocket and give it a name.

7. Put the cardboard rocket over the open end of the tube. Make sure everyone is standing well back.

8. Stamp hard on the plastic bottle to launch your rocket.

9. Make some more rockets, experimenting with different designs: try adding cardboard fins to the sides, or altering the shape of the nose cone. Which rocket design flies the highest?