Super Spinners

Super Spinners Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get the children thinking about helicopter blades, and how different blade sizes change the way a paper spinner falls. Mr Sycamore arrived for work in a helicopter, amazing the students. He’s testing which helicopter is best. Can the students help to find out if a longer blade design will make a difference? Through this activity you will support SUPER your SPINNERS group to: • Think about what makes paper fall in different ways • Test whether a paper spinner falls in different ways with different blade sizes • Share their ideas with the group Kit list To make the spinners they will need: NERS • A4 Paper • 30 cm ruler • Metre ruler • Paperclips or Blu–Tack • Scissors • 1 ready–made spinner to show the children how they work • Large and small templates for spinners (if you think children will need them) – see following page • Stopwatches • Other types of paper and card

What to do 1. Read the ACTIVITY CARD to familiarise yourself with the activity. 2. Check the Kit list, including preparing a spinner and templates if you think that they might be needed. 3. Set the scene by discussing the news story and show the children a spinner falling. 4. Give children time to explore flat and screwed up paper and to think about what might be making a difference to the way that they fall. 5. Encourage the children to make their own large and small spinners. It is important to let them explore their ideas on their own. Have templates available if children need them. Some may need help to work out how to cut and fold the spinners. 6. Now let children try the spinners to see what happens. 7. Remind them about safety, particularly about not climbing to drop the spinners 8. Give children some time to talk about their observations and ideas. You could show children other spinners with different blade lengths and ask them to predict how they will fall. 9. Children can share their ‘best’ spinner or they can create a display by sticking their spinners onto paper with advice for Mr Sycamore. Avoid too much writing by composing text message replies. 10. There are extra challenges on the ACTIVITY CARD. These can be used if there is any spare time or if the children want to try out more ideas at home and earn a bonus sticker. Things to think about Encourage children to drop their spinners from the same height. This should be as high as possible so that the spinners can twirl before they hit the ground. Very large spinners require a long drop to see any effect. You may need to drop them. If they are too flimsy they will not spin. R SPINNERS Very tiny spinners can spin extremely quickly. It is difficult timing the spinners if they fall quickly. However, if children want to try timing, you should let them have a go to see if works. Adding paperclips or Blu-Tack can increase spin speed.