When you hear the words "School Science Fair" you probably think about baking soda volcanoes, right? Not anymore. Kids are getting more creative with science fair projects and a 13-year-old student in California recently made headlines when she launched her Hello Kitty doll into space. Yes, space.
This is the kind of homework kids can really get excited about.
Using a weather balloon, homemade rocket, GPS system, and several cameras, Grade 7 student Lauren Rojas accomplished something very cool indeed. She launched one of her toys into space. Well if we’re being honest here, technically it wasn’t really close to launching into space. Lauren’s rocket achieved an altitude of 28.5 kilometers, whereas the “official boundary” of space is 100 kilometers, but still… if I were Lauren’s Mom, I’d say it did indeed, launch into space.
Take a look at the video Lauren made of how she made her Hello Kitty rocket, and check out the AMAZING footage of the rocket’s journey. (Spoiler alert: the weather balloon exploding is most awesome indeed)
Reading about Lauren’s project and seeing what she accomplished strengthened my feeling that, given the opportunity and encouragement, kids can do anything they set their minds to.
Science fairs and school science projects are great opportunities for kids to explore new ideas and get their naturally creative curiosity fed. These fairs introduce technology and processes that are well within a child’s understanding and above all else, science fairs are SUPER COOL.
If your child has a science fair coming up and they need some ideas & inspiration, check out ScienceBuddies.org or ScienceBob.com for some very cool projects that will make their science fair rock.
And if you have a budding aerospace engineer in your house that might want to start their own space program like Lauren, check out HighAltitudeScience.com
I think when it comes to kids & science, Carl Sagan said it best:
Image credit: YouTube
Printer-friendly version