An activity that I would love to facilitate to engage with science week is to show the children how to make their very own rockets and learn about how rockets take off.
In the the intorduction we would discuss what rockets are. I would ask the children if they know what a rocket is. I would then show pictures of rockets and explain that rockets are vehicles that travel into space and that rockets move by pushing gas out of their engines, which makes them go up into the sky.
Experiment: I would give each child a small plastic bottle or film canister.
Let them decorate their bottles with paper and crayons/markers to make them look like rockets. This helps personalize the activity and make it more engaging.
Fill the bottles with about 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Add about a teaspoon of baking soda to a small piece of tissue paper or similar (this will act as a delayed-release mechanism).
Quickly put the tissue-wrapped baking soda into the bottle, secure the lid or cork tightly, and then place the bottle upside down on the ground.
Stand back and watch the reaction! The baking soda and vinegar react to create carbon dioxide gas, which builds up pressure and launches the bottle into the air.
To wrap up the activity I would gather the children and discuss what happened. Ask them to describe what they saw and felt. Reinforce the idea that the gas created by the vinegar and baking soda reaction is what made the rocket go up.I would then ask the children to draw what they think a real rocket looks like when it goes into space, or what they might see if they were on a rocket