Activities To Go
Science Station will bring a variety of hands-on activities and interactive demonstrations to your school or group event. You choose the activities from our list of options given below. You provide the area, tables, and one volunteer per activity; we provide all of the materials and a staff person to train your volunteers to run an evening of fun science. Activities to Go are ideal for school fun nights, family nights, or special events. We suggest 10 activities for groups of 100 – 175, and 15 for groups of 175 – 200+.

Cost: $200 for 10 activities, $250 for 15 activities
Mileage: $.40/mile round trip outside the Cedar Rapids area.

If you have questions about the activities, call (319) 363-4629 x22. To make a reservation call (319) 363-4629 x30.

Activities Listed by Topic

Aerodynamics:

  1. Paper Helicopters (M&T) - Simple paper copters provide a powerful learning tool for exploring flight.
  2. Paper Airplanes (M&T) - Design several different paper airplanes and discover their unique flight characteristics.
  3. Bernoulli's Principle 1 - Show the force of moving air in an unexpected way with two "kissing" pop cans.
  4. Bernoulli's Principle 2 - Demonstrate the force of lift with a spool and paper.
  5. Air Pressure - Air pushes from all sides, top and bottom. Hold a ruler down and keep water in a cup using air pressure. Crush a can with air pressure.
  6. Loop Planes (M&T) - Make a glider using a straw and two loops of paper
  7. Boomerangs (M&T) - Try one of these designs or make your own "Returning Flying Object"
  8. Magnus Flyer (M&T) - Two paper cups make a whirling, spinning glider

Brain Teasers:

  1. Last One - Test your powers of logic and solve the golf tee triangle.
  2. Mazes (M&T) - Escape from the tangled web of mazes (four on a page).
  3. Tangrams - Arrange the seven pieces to match the pictures.
  4. Code Breaker (M&T) - Decipher the messages on this page of codes.

Building Structures:

  1. Roger's Connections - Discover the strength of the triangle with this unique building set of magnetic rods and steel balls.
  2. K'NEX - Free build or follow a pattern for a challenge with our large collection of rods and connectors.
  3. Bridges - Test the strength of different paper bridges and find out what is the best design.
  4. Build a Bridge (M&T) - Use toothpicks and build a bridge to take home.

Dinosaurs:

  1. Dino or Not - Separate the plastic models into dinosaurs and not-dinosaurs by following the paleontologists' rules.
  2. What's For Dinner - Discover the difference between carnivores and herbivores and put the dino pictures into the right categories.
  3. Skeleton Puzzle - Put the pieces together and make a 3D dino skeleton.
  4. Design a Dino (M&T) - Draw your own dinosaur and give it a name using scientific names for its characteristics.
  5. Fossil Find - Take a look at some real fossils and some fossil replicas.

Electricity:

  1. Charge It - Test materials and determine the electron donor and receiver.
  2. Static Dance -Discover which materials will make the Styrofoam inside the tube dance the most.
  3. Simple Circuits - Create a simple circuit with batteries and bulbs.
  4. Electromagnets - Experiment to see which electromagnet will pick up the most paper clips. Graph your findings with the rest of your group.
  5. Sparky - Make your hair stand on end with the Van de Graaff generator. (Must be run by Science Station staff only.)

Genetics:

  1. Trait Tracker - What characteristics do you have in common? Take this simple quiz and help graph the results for your group.
  2. Make-A-Face (M&T) - Roll the dice and see what chromosomes come up. Will the hair be straight or curly? Find out the chances for different characteristics.
  3. DNA - Put together a model of DNA. Try to replicate your model.
  4. Create-A-Creature - Create a space alien by chance. A roll of the die will determine what your alien will look like and do.
  5. Genetic Code - Match the letters to the amino acids to create proteins. Decipher the code to find the protein.

Geology:

  1. Crystals - Look at rocks and crystals with magnifiers and see their structures.
  2. Crystal Painting (M&T) - Create an invisible picture that will appear when the solution dries and crystals form.
  3. Rock Types - Use our student kits to identify igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
  4. Limestone - Learn a simple test for lime and test a variety of rocks.

Human Body:

  1. Heartbeat - Listen to your heart with a real stethoscope and learn to take your pulse. Find out how exercise affects your heart.
  2. Quick Reaction - Catch the ruler as your partner drops it. Test your eye/hand coordination and speed.
  3. Feelings - Identify hidden objects by feel alone.
  4. Sensitivity Touch - Find out whether your fingers or your arms are more sensitive with this pin prickly activity.
  5. Nose Knows - Sniff the mystery scent and see how well you can identify these odors.
  6. Brain Game (M&T) - Make a model of the brain

Magnets:

  1. Magnet Play - Free play with a variety of magnets. Identify the poles and which repel or attract. See if a magnet can defy gravity.
  2. Stick To It - Test different items to see which will be attracted to the magnet. Make a prediction.
  3. Strong Magnets - Measure the strength of several magnets. Determine a good test of a magnet.
  4. Roger's Connections - Build interesting structures held together only with magnets.

Newton's Laws (Inertia & Momentum):

  1. Penny Drop - Put the pennies in the cup without touching them.
  2. Marble Roll - Roll a marble into a row of marbles and see what happens.

Optics:

  1. What Color? - Identify the colors and not the words on this tricky poster. It's more difficult than you think.
  2. 3D - Find out how eyes work together to make 3D pictures.
  3. Color Spinners - Try the different tops to combine colors.
  4. Find the Blind Spot - Use this activity to find where the optic nerve connects to the retina.
  5. Color Reversals - Stare at these pictures and then at a blank page and see how your eye has been fooled.
  6. Color Reversals 2 (M&T) - Color your own page to fool your eyes. What colors should you use?
  7. Flicker Sticks (M&T) - Spin these two pictures to make one image.
  8. Tesselations (M&T) - Color these pattern pages and see if you can make the images seem to move in and out.

Simple Machines:

  1. Gear Up - Put together a group of plastic gears and discover motion and ratios.
  2. Pulleys - Follow a diagram to construct a block and tackle. Find out how an arrangement of pulleys can make lifting easier.
  3. Balance It - A balance is really a kind of lever. Load up the lever and then figure out a way to balance it.
  4. Flip-O-Matic- Make a catapult to launch cotton balls.
  5. Tool ID - Take a look at the different tools and see if you can find all the simple machines that help tools make work easier.

Sound:

  1. Pitch It - Experiment with mini- tuning forks and xylophones to learn about frequency.
  2. What Is It - Determine the contents of a canister just by the sound it makes.
  3. Sound Travels - Bang and beat on everyday items hanging on strings to explore how sound travels through a solid.
  4. Straw Oboes (M&T) - Learn to play a double reed instrument. Put several lengths together to get a range of notes.
  5. Squawker (M&T) - Use string and a cup to create a vibration machine that makes quite a noise.

Space:

  1. Crater Makers - Explore the formation of craters using marbles and boxes of flour.
  2. Constellation Viewers - Paper tubes hold constellation patterns for indoor viewing of many well known star patterns.
  3. Space Arm - Apply the principle used by the International Space Station Canadarm to hold and move objects.
  4. Create-A-Constellation (M&T) - Using dark construction paper and shiny stars, make up your own figure and the story to go with your constellation.
  5. Spinner (M&T) - Make a simple gyroscope out of tagboard and string.
  6. Star Maps (M&T) - Get a lesson on how to navigate the night sky.
  7. Solar System - Put space into perspective with this activity on the relative size and distance of the planets.
  8. Paper Rockets (M&T) - Design and launch a paper rocket using air for thrust.
  9. Your Weight in Space - Use calculators and scales to find how much you would weigh on the other planets of the solar system.

Copyright © 2005-2007 by Science Station–McLeod / Busse IMAX® Dome Theatre. All rights reserved. This site is developed by Blue Fox (Patrick Lindsey).  For comments, concerns or constructive criticism email: [email protected] or call 319-573-5101.