Wouldn’t it be amazing to fly like a bird? Or how do you fancy fluttering like a butterfly, or even soaring like a snake?! There are all sorts of flying phenomena to discover this issue. Have a go at making your own stunt plane, investigating different designs of straw planes and testing aerofoils. We interview Palaeontologist Liz Martin-Silverstone to ask her how on earth the giant pterosaurs were able to fly, plus we find out how drones work, and answer the question on lots of people’s minds… just how do planes fly???
Buy this issue here and fill your summer holidays with awesome science fun!! ? ✈ ?
Mini scientist Poppy explains how to play the virtual breeding game in the Purr-fect pets issue of Whizz Pop Bang science magazine.
Experiment with breeding different dogs together and see what colour the puppies are! Each dog has two copies of the coat colour gene. The black coat gene (B) is dominant and the brown coat gene (b) is recessive. This means that only puppies with bb genes will be brown, and all those with one or two B genes will be black.
What you do:
Cut out the cards on page 19
Choose a male dog and a female dog for breeding and lay their cards out on a table with the names facing up (you should have four cards)
Randomly choose one card for each dog and record the puppy’s genes and coat colour in the table below
Each litter produces four puppies so return the cards to the table, mix them up and repeat step 3 until you have recorded the genes and coat colours of four puppies
Keep choosing different dogs to breed to see what colour their puppies will be
You should find: Even though Daisy and Max are black, they can still produce brown puppies together, but Buddy and Bella will never produce brown puppies, even if they’re bred with a brown dog. Only Molly with Rocky will produce all brown puppies. Brown puppies are rarer than black so they cost more. This is why pet breeders often breed closely related animals with rare features together.
To play this game, buy the Purr-fect Pets issue of Whizz Pop Bang magazine from our online shop for just £3.75 with free UK delivery.
We’ve been inundated with your photos of edible poo!!!! The PLOP-TASTIC poo issue has been the most popular issue of Whizz Pop Bang, proving (as if any parent or teacher needed proof) that kids really do love talking about poo!
WARNING! DO NOT look at these photos whilst eating, or if you’re easily offended by the sight of very realistic poo on a plate…
Intrigued about the ingredients for edible poo? Buy the PLOP-TASTIC poo issue of Whizz Pop Bang science magazine from our back issues shop and let the poo-themed fun begin!
Eeek! Much excitement here in the office today, as we’ve just been told about this awesome competition for our younger fans…
A competition is being held to celebrate the launch of Little Miss Inventor and it’s offering children the chance to have their invention immortalised in the Mr. Men and Little Miss series! How cool would that be?!? ?
The newest addition to the classic series, Little Miss Inventor uses her brainpower and creativity to think up inventions to help her friends. The competition’s winning invention will be drawn into an upcoming Mr. Men Little Miss Book. A shortlist of five inventions will also be displayed at the launch of Little Miss Inventor at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester on March 24th.
To enter, fans aged 3-7 just need to visit the website mentioned in the picture, download the drawing sheet and come up with an invention to help Mr. Bump avoid accidents. Once they have drawn and labelled their invention it just needs to be scanned or photographed and uploaded to the dedicated website.
The competition is open between 29th January and 25th February 2018, and entries will be evaluated based on imagination, usefulness and creativity.
The competition is run in partnership with Little Inventors, an organisation dedicated to helping bring the ideas of children to life.
So, come on! Get your thinking caps on and get inventing!!
The brilliant science of bones. Did you know that, weight for weight, bone is stronger than steel? Yes, your skeleton is made up of some spookily awesome stuff! Get stuck straight into the bare bones of this issue by crafting a scary skull mask, experimenting with some brilliant bendy bones and building your own model skeleton.
Buy this issue here and get crafting some seriously spooky stuff ready for Halloween ?
Activities included in this issue: make a ball and socket joint, bend a real bone, make a bendy back bone, make a moveable skeleton, craft an x-ray machine and make a Halloween skull mask. Loads of awesome science fun for kids!
School’s officially out for the summer!!! WHOOOPEEEEE! Get ready for summer science fun with Whizz Pop Bang and our awesome experiments to do in the garden, at the beach, in the park or at the kitchen table when the skies are black…
Science outside: ☀️ Make a solar oven and bake cookies in the garden ☀️ Forensic science blood spatter test ☀️ Minibeast habitats ☀️ Butterfly banquet ☀️ Lay a pitfall trap ☀️ Make your own pooter (a special pot for collecting insects)
In the dark: ⭐️ Hold your own stargazing party ? Night time safari
At the beach: ? Take the super strong sand challenge ? Sandcastle secrets for Whizz Pop Bang scientists! ? Sand ripples in a bowl ? Panning for gold ? Shake it up!
Wet weather science: ☔️ Make a snoop-o-scope ☔️ Take your own finger prints ☔️ Make your own pond skater ☔️ Fireworks on a plate ☔️ Take the paper clip challenge ☔️ Penny drop ☔️ Whooshing pepper ☔️ Make an ocean in a bottle ☔️ Make a water-powered boat ☔️ Make an octopus
In our FLOWER POWER issue Whizz Pop Bang readers learnt how to use the power of science to make these gorgeously frilly flowers. Paper chromatography is a neat little science trick that you can use to easily separate the different coloured inks out of felt tip pens.
Readers sent in their photos to enter the flower power competition to win a nature keeper tree diary set. As you’ll appreciate it was a tough job choosing just three winners – you should all be winners for producing these colourful creations! However, there could only be three winners and here they are:
Lula Brown, Aged 9
Isabel Soden, Aged 8
Jasper Warner, Aged 5
Congratulations, you have all won a Learning Resources Nature Keeper and Tree Diary Set perfect for summer science in the garden! Have a browse through all the entries for the competition, so many beautiful flowers and budding young scientists… ? ? ?
As part of the Great Science Share, we put together this interactive activity pack for teachers to use in class to show kids what we can all do to reduce the amount of plastic we use. Whether you’re a teacher, a Brownie or Scout leader, grandparent or parent, the Kids Against Plastic campaign is for everyone to learn how to help in the fight against our reliance on plastic.
Click on the image below, download the pack and watch Ella and Amy tell you more… and don’t forget to join in with their mission to collect 100,000 pieces of plastic!
The Great Science Share is a national campaign to engage young people in sharing science with new audiences.
PIONEERED IN MANCHESTER – MAKING A DIFFERENCE UK-WIDE
You can get involved as a School, STEM Educator, STEM Organisation and Business.
Free family fun at the Museum of Science and Industry, May 26th – June 4th 2017
Manchester Museum of Science and Industry Making Pop Bottle MicroscopesSteam train at the Museum of Science and Industry Picture: Jason Lock
What’s the difference between an inventor and a superhero? And can you ever be both? This May half term at the Museum of Science and Industry meet the innovators behind some of the most amazing inventions of all time and ask what powers they used that made their breakthroughs possible. Experience explosions, electricity and steam then play our special trading card game to find out which inventor was the most super of them all!
Set on the site of the world’s first passenger railway station, all of Manchester’s magnificent firsts are celebrated here at the museum – and why not top it off with a ride on our powerful steam train, the 1830 Express?
There are a huge range of activities to choose from, including:
The Super Power Show: POW! KABLAM! Join us for exploding experiments and electrifying demonstrations as we find out all about power. Discover some super inventors and the powers they used to move their machines and contraptions. Plus start your collection of Superhero trading cards.
Pop Bottle Microscopes: What’s stronger than the Hulk and nearly as see through as the invisible man? Graphene! So grab some tape and investigate graphite by building your own pop-bottle microscope in this hands on workshop.
Creative Coding: What do you get if you add 1 + 0? You get computers, laptops, smart phones and even robots. Discover how to code and spell your own name in binary and turn it into a necklace or wristband in this hands on workshop. Its sure to be 01100110 01110101 01101110.
Engine Demonstration: How can the stuff that comes out of your kettle power a whole factory or even a city? This interactive engine demonstration will show you how steam can power an engine the size of an elephant and how it still powers our homes today.
Manchester Mills: Why did Manchester get the nickname “Cottonopolis”? Join us for a live demonstration of our textiles machinery as we turn plants into clothes. Plus discover the difficult jobs which went along with working with such powerful machines.
The 1830 Express: Hop on the 1830 Express and step back to a time to when cotton was king and railways were about to change the world forever.
All happening during May half term, May 26th – June 4th 2017! For more details visit msimanchester.org.uk
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We’ve put together a list of the UK’s top science museums and found out what’s going on in February half term for kids and their families. Do you love hands-on science? Are your children always asking WHY? Go and see what’s on for science-lovers around the country! Just click on the image for each place and it’ll take you directly to the right page on the website to find out what’s going on. And don’t forget to tweet or post your #scienceiscool pics!
