This year’s theme for Summer Reading is Fizz, Boom, Read, making our goal of implementing more STEAM programming into our agenda simple. We had over 65 kids and their parents join us outside the library to make chalk rockets. Chalk Rockets are quite simple to make. You will need:
- Film Canisters
- Corn Starch
- Water
- Alka-seltzer
- Food coloring
I went to a local photo store and asked for empty film canisters and received about 50 at no cost, otherwise you can purchase film canisters on eBay or Amazon.
- Mix about 1/4 of the canister with corn starch
- Fill about 1/2 of the canister with water so the canister is 3/4 of the way full,
- Add a dash of food coloring
- Mix until a liquid is formed (not thick like oobleck).
- Break up one alka-seltzer into about 4 pieces and drop it into canister
- Quickly put the lid on the canister tightly
- Flip the canister over so the lid is on the ground
- Run
This experiment was a HIT with everyone in attendance and we were able to have everyone engaged even with such a large crowd. Parents were also ecstatic that this was something they could also do at home for a very low cost. Since we didn’t do this on pavement we put down large pieces of white butcher paper and had the rockets launch from there, leaving behind a Jackson Pollack inspired painting behind. Kids learned the science behind alka-seltzer, gravity and chemical reactions. Check out the video from our program:
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