Seeking Imperfection

Earlier this week, in the teacher's resource room, I saw a photocopy sitting on the table that caught my eye. It was a copy of a science experiment called, "Leap Frog? No...Leap Ball." I scanned it and it looked interesting, so I made a copy for myself, and we gave it a shot today. It wasn't something my kids could do themselves, but we adults had a fun time doing it and showing the kids.

The experiment is from the book Super Science Fun but tonight I also found it on the Family Fun website.

You need:

* two 8 oz wide-mouthed plastic cups
* a ping pong ball
* a smooth surface

What to do:

Place the ping-pong ball in one of the cups, and then place both cups next to each other. You need to brainstorm a way to move the ball from one cup to the next without using your hands or any other props. Any ideas?

Basically you need to blow into the cup containing the ball with short, hard puffs. After a few puffs, the ball will jump out of one cup and into the other.

As a disclaimer, I will say that I had a hard time getting the ball to go directly into the other cup. It did in fact jump right out of my cup, but did not always go where I wanted it to. However, I had so much fun with this trick that I did it several times today, (occasionally making myself a little lightheaded, LOL)for anyone who wandered into my classroom. I also brought the ball and the cups home to try it out with Michelle, Roland, and Paige. Paige got a big kick out of the jumping ball. We then played with bouncing the ball on the table and trying to get it in the cup, or having someone hold a cup and someone else bounce it and have the person holding the cup try and catch the ball. It was fun.