NORWICH — Gus Lowell, age 2, made a run for it when science educator Rebecca Haynes first turned on the heat gun to fill tissue paper hot air balloons at the Montshire Museum of Science’s Day of Flight. With some encouragement from his parents, he made a second approach.
Soon, the Topsham, Vt., toddler was clapping as Haynes counted down — “THREE, TWO, ONE” — to the balloon’s release. It ascended to the ceiling, and as it floated back to the floor Gus gave it a big hug.
The Day of Flight is the first of this season’s special event days at the Montshire Museum of Science. Each month, the museum hosts a day packed with crafts and hands-on activities to further explore the science behind the exhibition’s theme. Saturday’s event complemented the Air Works exhibition, an interactive experience centered around the properties of air.
The most popular parts of the Air Works exhibition have an “element of creating something and then using air to make it move,” said Trish Palao, Montshire’s marketing and communications manager. For example, at the air tube, parents and children take shapes made of pool-noodle-like foam, fit them together, and then watch as they float and tumble in a tube full of rushing air.
The arts and crafts at the Day of Flight went beyond hot air balloons. Families could also make parachutes, gliders and wind-powered toy cars.
“It’s most exciting to take some concepts at the exhibition and apply it — to see in practice what they just learned,” Palao said.
In the community room, Haynes orchestrated the special Day of Flight activities. As it turns out, homemade hot air balloons require nothing you can’t find in a lightly stocked craft cupboard: five pieces of brightly colored tissue paper, glue sticks and safety scissors. The materials come together to form a bright, rectangular balloon that glides to the ceiling after a minute or so over a hot air gun safely secured in a wooden box.
“It’s a fun project because it requires so much teamwork,” Haynes said in a lilting Mary Poppins-like tone. “It requires such fine motor skills that I’d normally do it with older elementary school kids, but today there are adults helping kids.”
More than anything, she said, “it’s just fun.”
Nolan Chia, 5, of Hanover, and Ryker Stevens, 7, of Danville, Vt., concurred that crafts are the best part of a visit to the Montshire Museum of Science. They’re both regulars.
While parents and grandparents guided the toddlers, older kids took the lead on making their own balloons. Seamus, 7, needed only periodic input from his mother, Cherry Sullivan, of Thetford Center.
“I like science and math. It’s fun that you can do it not in school,” Seamus said as he smoothed out his tissue paper. He did “rocket ship camp” over the summer and is a paper airplane aficionado, so Cherry knew he would enjoy the Day of Flight.
His balloon proved to have an idiosyncratic flight pattern: Just before reaching the ceiling, it somersaulted and the hot air rushed out, forcing the tissue lining to collapse inward. Seamus took the chance to experiment — perhaps the added weight of a folded piece of tissue paper, or a few paper clips, would force it to alter course? The balloon proved stubborn. Seamus and Cherry may continue the experiment with a hair dryer back at home, Cherry said.
The next special event on the docket is “Astronomy Day” on Dec. 11. Kids will be able to launch paper rockets and make their own models of the solar system. After sunset, they will learn the constellations as they stargaze.
Access to special events at the Montshire Museum of Science is included with the price of admission. Anyone age 3 and up is required to wear a mask.
Claire Potter is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at cpotter@vnews.com or 603-727- 3242.