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aerospace/airplane curr. for 5.5yo?


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My DS 5.5 is asking for more airplane/aerospace education. I can find lots of resources for studying the solar system, but he's esp. interested in airplanes and I'm having trouble finding interesting resources at the right level for him. His favorite airplane book is an encyclopedia of flight that his father found, which gives images and stats for all planes produced after ca 1940; the DK-type books have too many different pictures and text boxes on each page.

 

What he'd really love is to learn more about how & why planes work. His father and I have a relatively good understanding of airplane physics but aren't so hot at explaining them ... maybe we should hit Real Science 4 Kids physics first, so there's some hope of communicating how wing cross section + proper velocity = lift :001_smile: I also prefer to have his lessons offline, though I'm happy to research and design them with online sources ... any ideas?

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Do you have an aerospace museum anywhere near you? Often they are good sources for classes and other events for kids centered around flight and planes.

 

There are lots of "beginner" science kits dealing with flight that he might be able to get something out of with your help. My dd loved "helicopter balloons" -- balloons hooked to a little two-ended propeller. When you released the balloons, they would go up really fast and quite high; they regularly hit the 20-foot ceiling in our stairwell. There are also rocket balloons -- long narrow ones -- and most collections of elementary level science experiments include racing rocket balloons along a string (you thread a straw onto the string, tape the balloon to the straw, and let go). You can run a hair dryer (set on cool) up into the air with a ping pong ball in the air stream and play with that: angle of air flow, taking ball in and out. For a really spectacular show, take a look at the toilet paper demonstration on this web site: http://www.physics.umn.edu/outreach/pforce/circus

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You could also go on a slight tangent and experiment with paper planes. There are quite a few books around on that topic.

 

When I was teaching, I did a flight unit with slightly older students, (7 year olds) but I linked in Greek myths (starting with Icarus and making small wings of wax) Da Vinci (via his flighing machines), early aviators,experimenting with making and using parachutes for toys or eggs, and a bird study, looking at how birds fly, as well as paper planes and gliders. We also visited a parachute drop site, as there was no airport in the area.

 

I hope there are some ideas there for you.

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...an encyclopedia of flight that his father found, which gives images and stats for all planes produced after ca 1940...

 

Is it Jane's? When my brother was about 4-6, my grandfather (a recently retired Leer pilot and WWII Army pilot) would take him to the airport every week to hang out with the other retired pilots... Caleb was *obsessed*. And from about 5 or 6 on, he had all of Jane's memorized... :)

 

... Unfortunately, I don't have specific titles to suggest for your goals.

 

There are some cool resources at the Air and Space Museum website...

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You could also go on a slight tangent and experiment with paper planes. There are quite a few books around on that topic.

 

When I was teaching, I did a flight unit with slightly older students, (7 year olds) but I linked in Greek myths (starting with Icarus and making small wings of wax) Da Vinci (via his flighing machines), early aviators,experimenting with making and using parachutes for toys or eggs, and a bird study, looking at how birds fly, as well as paper planes and gliders. We also visited a parachute drop site, as there was no airport in the area.

 

I hope there are some ideas there for you.

 

That sounds like such great fun! And you've just given me an idea for my older dd -- to go watch the hang-gliders by the ocean near us. We've never done that and it never crossed my mind despite lots of visits to the aerospace museum (where her grandfather works). You've further reminded me that we never got around to the parachuted-egg thing. When dd was younger her Asperger's meant that she couldn't bear to see an egg crack if abused in that manner... Now I think she can handle it!

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NASA has a ton of education material. Much if it is for lower elementary. At the least it might help you put words and pictures to what you know to explain it better.

 

Try this, http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Aeronautics.html

 

and also look around here...http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/

 

Its great stuff!

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My experience is that vintage children's books (1960's era) often went into quite a bit of detail as to how mechanical things actually worked, wheras the more modern ones just don't have as much detail. The old ones often have quite good diagrams showing such things. So perhaps an outing to a used book store is in order?

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Thank you for the excellent resources: I hadn't thought of CAP for one so young, but they _do_ have lots of K-8 things; I'm following up on the other URLs, and am glad to have the ideas for Jane's and for hunting down vintage books.

 

I hadn't thought to list the resources I do have, but here they are in case they are of help to somebody else. The reference we have, which is actually post WW2, is The Complete encyclopedia of Flight: 1945-2006.

 

Integrating Aerospace Science Into the Curriculum: K-12 by Ray and Ray is from the Teacher Ideas Press Gifted Treasury series and "accentuates interdisciplinary, integrated and holistic learning", from mythology to lighter-than-air craft, heavier-than-air craft, WW2 & the beginning of commercial aviation, rockets/early space and on through the space shuttle program. The ideas are rich & practical, and the resource list astonishing but I've had a hard time turning it into a usable kindergarten resource because I'm distracted with baby right now.

 

Making Magnificent Machines: Fun with Math, Science, and Engineering by Carol McBride is for K-8 and has several flight-related projects.

 

NASA's Elementary School Aerospace Activities provides a systematic elementary curriculum for aerospace (atmosphere through shuttle).

 

Backyard ballistics, for older kids with sufficient outdoor space and a handy grown-up, introduces potato canons, fire kites, tennis ball mortars, etc.: basically, old-fashioned ballistic fun with a modern emphasis on safety. Hope these are useful for other folks too ...

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Ds spent over 5 years on airplanes and flight. Some of the best things we found were online, but the links are with my old computer.

 

I found it was a waste of time to look for things geared for 5 yo's, and didn't find curriula. Ds has taken out every library book on airplanes many times (he's who they think of when a new flight book comes in and they put it on hold so that ds can get it first.)

 

Also, there are some books on how to draw airplanes that you might be able to find at your library or through your library network. They come in different degrees of diffciulty. Folding paper airplanes is a great way to study about lift, etc. Start with simple ones, but then you can do things such as add wing tips or other parts to show how they affect lift (your 5 yo might not be able to fly them himself at that level of skill yet.) In addition, there are books that show how to make catapults to fly your paper airplanes with. Ds, who is 10.5, is now very good with making complex paper airplanes (knows some tough origami folds even) that once when we were in the library he was asked to help a teacher with a project for a summer course she was taking.

 

One of the easiest experiments to show how lift works (the faster air on top helps to lift the plane because it has lower air pressure) is to take a piece of regular paper, but it to your mouth and blow over it hard. It ought to lift if done correctly.

 

We used elementary and middle school level books with pictures for ds, depending on how much depth he needed (even at 5). He has amassed quite a collection of books on airplanes, and for years airplanes and airports were all he could draw with any skill.

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