When I was in 7th Grade, I had a pretty awesome science teacher. I don't remember exactly what made him awesome, but I distinctly remember him being awesome.
Three things I do remember:
1. His name was Mr. Condon....yup that was his name.
2. He was rather fond of Mariah Carey.
3. He had the most awesome Tornado in a Tube.
I loved that thing. He would swirl, twist, tip and produce a water tornado every time.
Obviously I have remembered that little bit of science fun over the years. I have been wanting to recreate our own Tornado in a Tube for a while. Finally the other day I just happened to remember the Tornado in a Tube right at the same time I was passing the soda aisle at the grocery store.
In the time it took for us to drink two 2-liters of soda, we had our very own Tornado in a Tube...BAM!
Easiest thing to make ever.
The part that takes the longest is drinking the soda. So if you already have two empty bottles, the hard part is done.
You will need some duct tape.
Of course you will need water.
Then to make things fun you can add some Monopoly houses or maybe even some food coloring.
You simply fill one of the plastic bottles 3/4 full of water. Then you add in the food coloring and/or teeny tiny houses.
Take the empty bottle and turn it upside down placing the mouths of the bottles together. Wrap strips of duct tape to secure the bottles together.
Keep wrapping, around and around. You really want to just keep wrapping until you have the necks of the bottle completely wrapped up too.
When in doubt, keep wrapping. You want it wrapped up enough that it doesn't leak.
Now, it still might leak a little OR will start to leak after a lot of playing.
Because it will get played with for sure.
With everything all taped up, the fun can begin.
Just grab the Tornado Tube by the taped part.
Turn it over and shake and twirl the whole thing.
Then just wait and watch as the water tornado forms.
The whole thing is very cool and my boys loved it. They used it so much and created so many tornadoes that it I had to re-tape it!
After making these, I did find that there is an online store that sells Tornado Tubes, that are made to attach the two bottles together. Hence no more duct tape. So if you think ahead enough you could always order some of those.
My boys really, really loved this. When they happened to walk by the Tornado in a Tube sitting on the counter they couldn't help but reach out and grab, flip, and twirl. Then, mesmerized they would watch another water tornado make its way through the bottom of the tube into the next tape.
Thanks for joining me for another installment of Fun with the Kids Friday .
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