Face Painting

Early in July we went to kmart to buy some club penguin cards. When we got there they were have a promotion for safety checks on cars. We had a free sausage sizzle and got balloons and a show bag. Ruby and Charlotte both decided to have their face painted. Charlotte is very shy and usually would not have anything to do with public events, but today she decided, on her own to get her face painted. She waited patiently until it was her turn then went up to the lady, told her her name and what she wanted. She talked about her favourite colours and had the most beautiful butterfly painted on her face. She was very proud and so were we.

SLIME

What you need:

• Plastic cup and spoon
• PVA glue
• Water
• Borax
• Food colouring

What to do:

• Put 14g of borax in a jar, add 250ml of warm water. Put on lid and shake until dissolved.
• Measure 2 tablespoons of PVA glue into plastic cup.
• Add 2 tablespoons of water, a drop of colouring and mix.
• (you can use other quanities just make sure it is 50/50 PVA to water)
• Now the tricky part. Add the borax drop by drop until the mixture starts to become sticky. Don’t put too much in as it will become too stiff.
• Seal in a zip lock bag when finished.

What We Saw:

The first time we did it, we made it too stiff and it just broke into crumbly bit. The next time we did it we added the borax slowly and watched it as it slowly started to become sticky. It was amazing to watch as the mixture became more and more gooey. We got it out and squished it between our fingers. I was loads of fun.

What happened:

The polymers in the PVA reacted / bonded with the Borax (sodium bonate).

Written by Mummy and the Kids

The Strange Little Creature

I was walking in the deep dark forest I could see a huge scraggily tree and a parrot coloured nearly every colour. It early in the morning and was misty. It was kind of warm and kind of cold.

Suddenly I heard a huge scream. I froze and looked around and there it was a small creature with head like a mouse, budgie wings, legs of rabbit, tail of a possum and body of a dog. I slowly walked closer and then I noticed its tail was stuck under a rock. When I came close enough I said “hello, do you want that rock off your tail?” I slowly took the rock off, as I took it off, spikes came up and it squealed.

I reached out to touch it, it liked me patting it. It felt soft like a pillow. It told me where it hurt. Its tail was bleeding. I picked it up and unzipped my jacket and put him inside. He wriggled a bit.

I took him home and wrapped his tail in cloth. I made him a home and a bed he said he loved it. I asked him what he ate. He said “Bugs.” I went to Pets Domain and got 10kg of slaters, beetles, spiders and other sorts of bugs. When I got back he was asleep. When he woke I filled a bowl of maggots and he ate them all.

The next morning I checked on him and it was alive I asked him if he would like to stay for ever and he said yes. I named him Squeak.
The End

By Oliver Dean

Going Green

On May the 31st Dad and I went to the Tasmanian round of the v8 super cars at Symmons Plains. This was my second trip to see them. It was cold when we got there. We found some space along the main straight to watch the action. Firstly the utes were racing, and then came the special invitation cars. It was then time for the first race for the v8 cars. The one thing that surprised me was how fast they go and how quickly they can slow down.
The other main difference between the two visits was that the cars did not smell the same or put as much fire out of their exhausts this time.
Dad had a special pass for us to go and have a look around the pits where the cars are prepared for racing. I was lucky enough to have my photo taken with Steven Richards who is one of the top Ford racing drivers.
Behind the pits we found the long trucks that carry all of the team’s cars and equipment. On the side of one truck there were a lot of details about something called Ethanol E85. I found out that Ethanol E85 is a special blend of fuel which is cleaner burning and better for the environment and is being used in all v8 super car races this season. The Ethanol is made from the leftovers from sugar production so that even the waste is useful. The cars still use some petrol but only 15% the other 85% is the new Ethanol fuel. It is hoped that by using Ethanol as a fuel in racing that people will realise that they can use it in their own cars and reduce the nasty gasses that their cars produce.


Oliver Dean

Rocket Science

We had an idea from the Extrementals show to make a rocket.

You Need:

• 1 Cup of Bicarbonate soda
• 1 cup of Vinegar
• Camera role cut in half
• Paper towel
• Empty soda bottle
• Cork

What to do:

• Wash soda bottle out.
• Then shake it dry.
• Sticky tape camera roles on sides
• Add one cup vinegar
• Roll bicarb soda in paper towel and lower it carefully in to bottle.
• Put cork in and turn upside down and thread on to wicket quickly.

What we Saw:

The bottle sort of exploded – the cork came off and the bottle flew up in the air like a rocket. It was very exciting.

Conclusion:

There was a chemical reaction between the vinegar and bicarb soda. There was so much pressure in the bottle that the cork blew off and the bottle flew up in the air.

Written by Oliver

St John's First Aid Certificate

Mum, Oliver and I went to St John's Ambulance to learn how to look after people in an emergency. We learnt how to bandage people up, what to do if they are having an asthma attack and how to do CPR. It was very hard and lots to learn. It was also a very long day. We got a certificate at the end.

By Ruby

Sunflowers

We planted our sunflowers last year around show day in October. First we planted them in egg cartons until they had germinated. Then we transplanted them into the garden. They grew very tall. By January they were as tall as me and by March they had flowered. They were taller than me then. The tallest one was 1m 22cm tall. Oliver, Ruby and I tried to guess how many seeds were in the sunflower. I thought there were 100. Ruby thought there were 270; Oliver thought there might be 350. We started to pick them out. We got to 100 really quickly and still had lots to go. Ruby changed her estimate to 380 and Oliver changed his to 510. We kept picking the seeds out. Soon we had over 300. We eventually finished and we had 464 seeds in the sunflower. Oliver was the closest. We were amazed that there were so many. We have kept the seeds to plant later this year.

By Charlotte