Explore a bit of science this autumn and have turkey races with these turkey balloon rockets!
Turkey Balloon Rockets Experiment Materials
You will also need a place to secure the string and make the “race track”. You can use chairs!
Method
- Begin by securing a piece of string roughly 5 feet long to a chair.
- We wanted to race two turkeys at once, so we secured two lines of string side-by-side.
- Next, you will want to place a large piece of drinking straw onto each strand of string.
- Then, attach a foam turkey to the drinking straws using tape, being sure to place one piece of tape sticky-side-out right in the middle like so.
- The tape facing out will be used to attach the turkey to the balloon just before launching.
- Once the turkey straws are threaded onto the string you will want to tightly attach the other end of the string to another chair.
- If making two tracks like we did you will want the chairs on both ends parallel and side by side, like this.
- Make sure the string is pulled tightly between the chairs so that the rockets can move quickly.
Launching Turkey Balloon Rockets
- Do not tie the balloon or let it go!
- Have students pull the balloons all the way to one end of the “string track”ensuring that the balloon openings are facing out towards the chairs.
- Then, have them let go!
- Once the balloons are released the turkeys will go flying down the track!
The Science Behind the Fun
To make an object propel forward there has to be force coming from behind it. This is a simple lesson in action/reaction.
Making the Turkeys
We used turkey cut-outs and simply added googly eyes and feathers. You could just as easily make the turkeys from construction paper or craft foam.
Share your Turkey Rockets!
Share your projects with us at scsa@edupix.org so we can share it with everyone!