My class for next year have a big interest in rockets so I would definitely use the “Rocket Mice” experiment for an Aistear station.
I would begin this experiment during Aistear by leaving the equipment (empty bottle, sticky tape and rocket mouse template) to provoke the children and let them question what we could do with these resources. After we have made the rocket mouse, I would ask the children to predict what will happen when the bottle is squeezed. We would then conduct the experiment, letting each child test what happens and question how the mouse is moving up and down again? We would experiment with different sizes and shapes of bottles and record any differences. The children could experiment with how high they can make the rocket mouse fly – keeping record of which rocket mouse flew the highest.
I really like this activity because it is also a simple experiment for children to recreate at home and share with their families.