Backyard Science

Blast a Stunt Man across your backyard, turn flour into sugar with a wave of your wand, poke a flimsy straw into a tough old potato, make some snowshoes out of Dad’s new tennis racquets and turn your friends into a slithering snake. Learn how to make a bubble in a bubble, create a revolting-looking fake wound, whip up a whirlpool in a bottle, whip off a tablecloth without breaking a dish and meet the fastest ice cube melter in the West.

Concoct your own ice cream in a plastic bag, make a paperclip look like it’s floating in mid air, teach your brain to perform amazing new tricks, find out why bubbles always form spheres and make a megaphone that’ll have your friends jumping to your every command. Build a super two-level camping shelter, concoct a face full of pus-filled boils, make your morning breakfast cereal jump up and dance, put together a plastic replacement lung and make a silver spoon stick on your nose.

Build a simple spy telephone, blow a coin into a cup, construct a chemical powered racing craft, whip up a widget to find wax in your friend’s ears and discover why salt stops sidewalks from becoming so slippery! Construct a clever water-powered clock, make a balloon spin like a top, find out how a spoon and string can sound like a chiming bell, keep your buddies glued to a chair with the power of one finger and make an applause machine from an old box and waxed thread.

Construct a super clubhouse for your caterpillars, find out why two eyes are always better than one, grate up potatoes and discover why they’re chock full of energy-giving starch, make a boomerang that always comes back and design your own groovy T-shirt. Make your own detergent powered racing boat, discover why dog sleds travel faster over freezing ice, find out why your pupils open and close when it’s dark or light and make a tissue suck water up a flower stem.