Materials:

For each student you will need:

• a pencil
• air dry clay, about a small fist-sized amount
• a toothpick
• acrylic paint
• a paintbrush

Use air-dry clay (regular clay works better if you have access to a kiln) to make musical ocarinas. Form the clay into a basic bowl shape, about 5-6 cm long, and about 1 cm thick. Leave a small hole in the top. Blow across the top(a light breath is sufficient) and adjust the hole until a breth across the top produces sound. Form a mouthpiece by wrapping clay around a pencil. Pull off this tube. It will sit along the top of the hole where you blew to make your sound. Score the tube and the top of the bowl and attach using some slip (watered down clay). Use a toothpick to scratch on a pattern or a design. If you wish, you may experiment with additional pitches by adding a few finger holes. Let dry completely for a few days and paint with acrylic paints.

Materials:

For each student you will need:

• Three glass microscope slides
• about 30 cm of black electrical tape
• a corner cut from a small lunch or freezer bag
• a few tiny coloured glass beads
• clear sticky tape, about 3 cm

Use the electrical tape to attach the long sides of the slides to each other forming a triangular prism with open ends. Fill the corner of the bag with a few glass beads, tape shut and tape to one end of the prism. Look through the open end towards a light as you rotate the prism.

Colour is an important clue when we form expectations of our food. Try colouring foods in unusual ways to see how it affects the students' expectations. Try collecting some unusual flavours of gourmet jelly beans and give each student a few to try. Have them first record the colour and what flavour they expect each one to be, then record what they believe it really was. Try serving colourless flavoured drinks as well.

Rice Crispies are one food that is famous for the sound it makes. What other "noisy" foods can the students think of? Have them bring in a few to share.

• Shadow plays: students use shadow puppets to tell a story

• radio play (good for shy students): students use a cassette recorder to put together a radio play complete with sound effects

• light and sound magic show: using the physics of light and sound, students put together a magic show based on these principles



• Students use sound effects only (no words) to act out a popular or traditional story

Gym Game 2: Parachute play: be sure to include favourites such as "cat and mouse" and "in the tent".

Gym Game 3: Flashlight tag: be sure to remind the students to keep their lights aimed low and away from each other's eyes.

Gym Game 4: Wave skipping: divide students into groups of four, with each group given a long skipping rope. "Enders" make waves with the rope by bending and wiggling in a steady pattern it close to the floor. The other students must try and predict the wave pattern as they jump over the rope. Students take turns as enders and jumpers. For a greater challenge, give the enders two ropes to use at different frequencies or modulations.

Outdoor Game: Shadow tag

Classroom Game: Colour bingo: Have students research unusual colour names and use these to make bingo cards. The caller then uses the basic colours and students can colour in each word in that colour family. For example, if red is called, chartreuse may be coloured in.

Chromatography: art using water-based markers, natural food colours and coffee filters. Wet the filters first, then add dots and lines of the different media to the wet filter. You can also start by using markers and food colours on a dry filter and drip water onto the colour. What colours are used to make black? Brown? What happens when you use a different brand of marker? Try this with coloured candy (M7M's and/or Smarties). put a candy in a small bowl, add a few spoonfuls of water and stir. Dip one end of a coffee filter strip into the bowl and watch the colours travel up the strip and separate.

Cabbage water indicator: with red cabbage water you can create different colours by adding different strengths of acids and bases. This would be a good outdoor activity due to mess potential.

To make the cabbage water indicator: chop up a red (purple) cabbage. Cover with water and boil until the cabbage itself loses its colour and becomes greyish. Pour off coloured water and refrigerate or freeze for up to one month. Set cabbage aside for use in your favourite soup or casserole.When it is time to experiment, use clean clear plastic egg trays or ice cube trays, small spoons and eye droppers to add test ingredients to the cabbage water indicator.

Some favourite acids and bases to use for testing: lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda, laundry detergent (liquid and/or powdered), dish soap, milk, borax, ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Also see the concoctions page for more presentation ideas.

Perfect Pitch: Have students experiment with using a tuning fork to match different pitches. Use a steel guitar string and clamps to experiment with changing pitch along a string.

Additional Activities:

• Use waxed paper with a comb to make a harmonica and experiment with vibrations.


• How does a triangle sound when allowed to vibrate? When held tightly?


• Try watching sound waves by filling a shallow container with water, then, without blowing on it, hum nearby. What happens? Try adding a sound of a different pitch. How does the surface of the water change with the new sound?