Easy Way (A Blog For Children)

Five Easy and simple Science Experiments For Kids

Science Activities are not only fun to do but they also help children to learn different concepts of science in an easy way.Children explore and understand new aspects of science through science experiments. Here are five easy and simple science activities for kids of all ages. Kids can perform these activities at their home or at school.
Note- Adult supervision is must for all these experiments

'Pencil is in the plastic bag with water'

Pencil in the Plastic Bag with Water-This is a very simple and easy science activity that can be done with a plastic bag and and a pencil

Things you need- 1. A well sharpened pencil
2. A plastic bag
3. Water

What to do ? - Fill the bag with water about three quarters and seal it well. Ask someone to hold the bag. Now very carefully and gently stick the pointed end of pencil through one side of the bag and push the pencil in until it starts coming out of the other side of the bag as well.

What do you see? You will see that no water leaks out from the bag.

How does it happen? The plastic bags is made up of polymer and polymers have long chains of flexible molecules.When you stick a pencil in the bag these flexible molecule chains create a seal around the pencil and that's why the water doesn't leak out.

Roll a Can with Balloon- Yes! You can make a balloon roll with the help of a balloon by creating static electricity.

Things you need- 1. An empty and dry cola can
2. One inflated balloon
3. A head full with hair

What to do? - Place the can on a flat and smooth surface like a table or floor.Hold the inflated balloon in your hand and rub it back and forth on your hair really fast for sometime to charge the balloon.If the balloon is charged enough your hair will stick to it as you move it away from your head. Now keep the balloon close to the can without touching it. Now slowly move the balloon away from the can.

What do you see? -You will see that the can starts rolling and follows the balloon.

How does it happen- This happens because of Static Electricity. When you rub the balloon on your hair, the negative charges from the hair are transferred to the balloon and the balloon becomes negatively charged. The can contains both positive and negative charges, so when you bring the balloon close to the can the positive charges of the can attract to the negative charges of the balloon and that is why the can starts rolling toward the balloon.

Make A String Phone With Plastic Cups- A string phone may be old fashioned but it's great fun to talk and hear with it.You will surely enjoy this simple experiment.

A string phone made from two plastic cups ,string and toothpicks

  Things you need- 1. Two plastic cups
2. 10 feet cotton thread or kite string
3. Two  toothpicks
4. A sharpened pencil to poke the holes

What to do- Make a hole at the bottom of each cup with the pencil. You can ask your parents or teacher to help you with this. Now tie one toothpick to one end of the string and thread the loose end of the string through the hole of one of the cups from inside of it. Now take the other cup and thread the string through it's hole from the outside of the cup. Tie the second toothpick to the end of the string inside of the cup. Now both the toothpicks are inside both of the cups. Now your phone is ready to use. Hold one cup yourself and give the other cup to your friend. Slowly and carefully walk apart until the string becomes tight and straight.Now one person has to place the one cup over his/her ear and the second person has to talk into the other cup.

What do you find? - You can talk to and hear each other with the help of your string phone.

How does it happen? - When a person speaks into one cup, the bottom of the cup vibrates and the sound waves occur and these sound waves or vibrations travel through the string and reach into the bottom of other person's cup,which makes the air inside of that cup vibrate and a detectable sound is produced.

Blow up a Balloon With Hot Water- Blowing up a balloon with hot water is a fun experiment, so let's see that how does it happen.

The image describing the activity of blowing up a balloon with hot water

Things you need- 1. A plastic bottle
2.A Balloon
3. A pot filled with hot water

Note-This activity should be done by an adult to show the kids because water used for this activity is pretty hot so do it
carefully.

What to do? - Put the balloon on the top of the bottle. Now put the bottle in the pot of hot water and hold it there.

What do you see? -You will see that almost instantly the balloon blows up.The balloon does not blow up very big but it expands.

How does it happen? - When you stick the bottle in the hot water the hot water heats up the air in the bottle and the warm air rises up. The air rises up because the molecules in the air are heated up and spread up becoming less dense and lighter. So the air in the bottle expands and takes up the space in the balloon and the balloon inflates.

Make a Hovercraft With a Balloon-Making a hovercraft with balloon is a very easy and enjoyable activity for kids.So let's make our own hovercraft.

A balloon hovercraft made with the help of a CD, bottle cap and balloon

Things you need- 1. A balloon
2. A CD
3. A valve type cap of sports bottle
4. glue

What to do- Close the cap and stick it firmly on the hole in the centre of the CD with the help of glue. Let the cap set. Keep in mind that the edges should be sealed completely. Blow up a balloon and stretch the neck of the balloon over the pop-top cap. The balloon should stand up straight. Place the hover craft on a smooth surface like a table and pop the top open. Push the hover draft and see it moving.
How does it happen- The  air flow produced by the balloon creates a cushion of flowing air between the CD and the surface.This helps the Cd to lift up and reduces the friction, and because of that the CD starts hovering easily.

So these are some easy science activities that kids can do easily at home or school with the help of their parents or teacher.
     -Aunt Mary

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Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves ( Folktale from Arabian Nights)

This is the story of a poor woodcutter named Alibaba.He lived in the land of Arabia.Alibaba was simple and hard working man.
One day when Ali Baba was cutting the wood in the forest he heard the sound of running horses. The sound came near and near. Ali Baba thought that there must be a group of robbers, he climbed up a tree and hid himself behind the leaves.
His suspicion was right, it was a group of thieves who were forty in number and each of them had bags with them which were supposedly filled with stolen goods . They stopped near a cave.The captain of the thieves stood in front of the door of the cave.

Captain of the thieves standing in front of the cave

''Open Sim Sim'' , he said in a loud voice.The door opened and the thieves went into the cave with their bags.
Ali Baba was astonished to see all of this, he couldn't believe his eyes. He stayed there to see what would happen next.
At Last the thieves came out, this time the captain of the thieves said, ''Close Sim Sim'' and the door got shut.
When the thieves got away from there , Ali Baba came down and said ''Open Sim Sim'' standing in front of the cave. The door opened and Ali Baba entered the cave.
There in the cave was a big treasure of gold,silver, pearls and diamonds.Which the thieves had stolen and collected there.
Ali Baba took a bag full of gold coins and came out from the cave. He made the cave's door shut by saying 'Close Sim Sim' and left the place.
Ali Baba's wife became so happy to see the bag full of gold coins when he reached home. Ali Baba asked his wife to go to his brother's home and borrow scales from his sister in law to weigh the coins.

Ali Baba's brother Qasim was a wealthy but cunning and greedy man. His wife was just like her husband. She put a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali Baba and his wife were going to weigh with the scales.
When Ali Baba's wife returned the scales, Qasim's wife found a gold coin sticking to the scales and she told her husband about that.
Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba was forced to reveal the secret of the cave.
Next day Qasim himself went into the cave to take as much wealth as possible. In the excitement of getting the treasure he forgot the magic words and failed to open the door of the cave.The thieves found him in the cave and they killed him.
When Qasim did not return home his wife asked Ali Baba to get him back.Ali Baba found his brother's dead body cut into many pieces at the door of the cave.He brought his body home. Everybody got struck with grief.
There was an intelligent slave girl Morgiana from Qasim's household. Alibaba entrusted Morgiana with the task of making others believe that Qasim died a natural death.

Morgiana knew an old tailor who was expert in stitching, his name was Baba Mustafa.She offered him a good number of gold coins for stitching a dead body. Baba Mustafa agreed, Morgiana led him to Qasim's house with a blindfold over his eyes.There he stitched the pieces of Qasim's body back together.
Ali Baba and his family gave Qasim a proper burial without anyone knowing that what had happened with Qasim. Ali Baba did not want to leave his brother's family alone in this difficult time so he and his family moved into Qasim's house to look after his late brother's family and his business.

On the other hand, the captain of thieves realized that there must be another person who knows the secret of cave when he found the dead body gone.
He sent one of the thieves to the town to track that person down.

There in the town that thief came across the tailor Baba Mustafa. He became friendly with the tailor. While talking with him Baba Mustafa mentioned that he has just stiched a man's dead body back together.
The thief offered him some gold coins if Baba Mustafa would lead him to that house where he stitched the body.
The tailor was blindfolded again and managed to retrace his steps and found the house.The thief marked the door with a symbol so that when he come back with other thieves at night he would be able to recognize the house and kill everyone in the house.

The clever girl Morgiana noticed that symbol and made the similar marks on the door of other houses too.In the night the thieves came and could not identify the correct house. Now the captain of thieves himself went into the town and and memorized every single detail of the house.

The captain went to that house pretending to be an oil merchant who wanted to make a business deal with Ali Baba. He brought mules with him loaded with oil containers, one filled with oil and in the others, thieves were hiding with weapons.Their aim was to kill each person in the house.The captain of thieves requested Ali Baba to let him stay in his house for one night as he was very tired from his long journey.Kind hearted Ali Baba allowed him to stay there.

Captain talking to the thieves who are hiding in the oil containers

At night the captain was discussing the plan of killing the family with other thieves, Morgiana heard them talking.Later in the night, Morgiana killed all the thieves in their jars by pouring hot,boiling oil on them.

The captain managed to escape from there.Ali Baba was so impressed with the loyalty and bravery of Morgiana, he set her free and let her stay in the house as a family member.
After a few months in order to take his revenge, the leader of thieves established himself as a diamond merchant.He befriended Ali Baba's son who was now taking care of Qasim's buisness. Ali Baba's son invited him home for the dinner.However the thief was recognized by Morgiana. She performed a sword dance and killed the thief with her sword. At first Ali Baba got angry with Morgiana for what she had done, but when he came to know the truth he was extremely grateful and rewarded Morigana by marrying her to his son.
Now only Ali Baba knew the secret of the treasure in the cave and he decided that he would use the treasure for the welfare of poor and needy people of his town.
Arabian Folktale
Re-told by-Aunt Mary

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Much wants more loses all ( Moral Story)

Once there was a dog who found a good big piece of cheese. The dog was so happy to get such nice food for his lunch. '' I should go to a nice and calm place and enjoy the cheese'', he thought.

He carried the piece of cheese in his mouth and went on. While he was going beside a stream the dog saw his reflection in the stream's water.

Oh! There is another dog like me, he is also carrying a piece of cheese. I will have two pieces of cheese if I get that piece too.''
Thinking that he opened his mouth to catch the piece in the water, and as soon as the dog opened his mouth ,the piece of cheese that he held fell into the water.

Ah! Due to his greed and the urge to get another piece the greedy dog lost his piece of cheese too.
As they say '' Much wants more loses all.''

An Aesop's fable re-told by-Aunt Mary

Help Stop Pollution (Poem)

       Pollution on streets
and in the air..
So sad.. we see,
pollution everywhere.
we can prevent it...
  by doing our bit..
to stop the pollution,
that is the solution.
   By less use of cars..
they pollute air
for reducing pollution
carpools are better.
Riding the cycle
is good option..
it does not
create the pollution.
   By putting off the lights
when we don't need..
it saves electricity
that's good indeed.
   By reusing goods..
and recycling waste.
planting more trees
is always the best.
  These are the ways,
we should follow always
to stop the pollution
to help our nation.
   -Aunt Mary

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William Tell (A Swedish Folktale)

William Tell shooting the apple off son's head

Many years ago there lived a man beside the lake Lucerne in Switzerland. His name was William Tell. William was a brave and strong man, he was a crossbow expert too.
Gessler the mayor of the town near William's house was a cruel and arrogant man.People were afraid of him and did not like him.Gessler hung his hat on a pole under the linden tree of town and ordered that all the townsfolk must bow before his hat.
One day William and his young son, Walter visited the town and passed by the linden tree. There,William refused to bow before Gessler's hat. As a result ,William and his son got arrested by Gessler's men.
''Bow to my hat , otherwise I will kill you.'',angry Gessler shouted.
''I won't. Do whatever you want to .'',William said fearlessly.
''Alright, I give you a chance to save your life..... if you shoot an apple off the head of your son in a single attempt, I will set you free.'',said the cruel man. Gessler's men made little Walter stand under the tree and put an apple on his head.
William split the apple with an arrow from his crossbow.
Gessler noticed that William took out two arrows from his quiver,not just one.
''Why did you take out another arrow?'',He asked William.
''I would have used it to shoot you if my son had got killed.'' ,William replied.
''Guards,take him to my castle he will spend his whole life in the prison.'' Gessler said angrily. His men brought William to the boat.
When the boat was moving on it's way to the castle, there arose a big storm on lake Lucerne.
''Please, allow us to remove William's shackles, he can save us, he can steer the boat.'' The frightened soldiers begged Gessler.
Gesslers allow them to do so.
While William was steering the boat, he saw that there was a rock in front of the boat,he soon jumped from the boat to that rock. Boat hit the rock and Gessler and his men fell into the water.
''What have you done !? I will not leave you and the people of town alive.'' Crazy Gessler screamed in anger.
William Tell shot Gessler with one of his arrows. It was the end of the life of cruel Gessler.
A Swedish folktale retold by-Aunt Mary

Folktale

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