Homeschool.com has named Howtosmile.org a Top Educational Website for the third year in a row. Many Howtosmile.org activities, for all ages, require only supplies that most people already have at home. In springtime, lots of homes have plentiful supplies of eggs. Here are some egg-citing hands-on explorations. DO try this at home!
—In the Eggs-citing Physics activity, tell a hard boiled egg from a raw egg without cracking them open. Learners discover that hard boiled eggs are much easier to stop spinning because they are solid. (The liquid inside raw eggs prevents them from stopping.)
—In the Egg-stra Strength activity, investigate the strength of egg shells. Learners will attempt to stack books on top of inverted half egg shells, to see how many books the shells can hold. The results may be surprising!
—In the Protect THAT BRAIN!: Mr. Egghead activity, construct safety helmets for eggs, to discover the importance of wearing a helmet to protect the brain. Learners use an egg to symbolize a head, with the shell as the skull and the inside of the egg as the brain.
—In the A Standup Egg activity, make "magic" by getting an egg to stand up on its long axis, vertical to a table top. Learners use salt grains, which are virtually unnoticeable to viewers, to give an egg's center of gravity a larger base of support.
—In the Make an Egg Bungee activity, attach an egg to a bungee cord made of multiple rubber bands, then drop the egg. By performing a few test drops with an egg and short bungee cord, learners are able to predict how long a bungee cord they should build for a longer drop.