The Lawrence Hall of Science
The public science center of the University of California, Berkeley.
Open Daily 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Bring your students to The Lawrence, or bring our inquiry-based science programs to you.
We partner with school districts to support science learning. We offer district-wide elementary, middle, and high school programs, either virtually or in-person.
We collaborate with a range of partners to innovate in science education. Together, we go further.
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The Lawrence Hall of Science delivered a science-focused activity at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on April 6, 2015. This was the Hall’s fifth time attending the event on the South Lawn of the White House, and it was an incredible honor to be asked to return to represent science learning.
Responding to the Obama administration’s focus on science and First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, the Hall teamed up with kids and families to design paper bag kites and then run like the wind to see how high they fly.
Scientists are always trying out their own ideas and making up new designs. Once you have the basics, you can experiment and design your own paper bag kites! How big can the bag be? How important are the streamer tails? How high will it fly? What kind of string works best?
There are lots of opportunities to design, build, and discover your world through science at the digital library howtosmile
Here are four flight-related activities from howtosmile, a great web site for locating science & math hands-on activities.
Helicopter Twirl
Turn a piece of paper into a helicopter, throw it up, and watch it twirl. Can you adjust it so it twirls in the opposite direction?
Wingin’ It
How high can you fly? Build and test an airplane wing with some paper, cardboard, skewers, and a fan.
Straws and Airplanes
Create airplanes from straws and geometric shapes. Test them out to see how far they can fly, or how accurately they can be aimed.
Bottle Blast Off
With little more than a plastic bottle, some vinyl tubing, and a length of PVC pipe, make a rocket and a rocket launcher and investigate how rockets fly.