DO IT NOW!

WILD EXPERIMENTS & OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

contents
how to use this book

investigate

1 erupt a soda geyser 2 squeeze an egg into a bottle 3 bend water with static 4 ring a bell with a tv 5 light a room with a ponytail 6 make tissue defy gravity 7 tell time with a potato 8 mold a bouncy ball 9 grow a crystal initial 10 lift a friends fingerprint 11 isolate dna 12 encode notes with a scytale 13 send secrets by morse code 14 spy with a periscope 15 write in invisible ink 16 turn the world upside down 17 spin a mini kaleidoscope 18 view an eclipse 19 make a sun print

20 get cooking in a solar oven 21 rig a lightbulb 22 trap shadows 23 light up a lava lamp 24 flash a matchbook light 25 build a tiny robot 26 set off an exploding volcano 27 launch a rocket 28 play the electric spatula 29 create speaker monsters 30 power a spinning machine 31 craft a metal detector

explore
tell me more index about the authors credits
32 set up a solar compass 33 make a magnetic compass 34 estimate remaining daylight 35 locate the north star 36 spot pictures in the moon 37 identify moon phases 38 find the south pole 39 pitch a tent on the beach 40 set up a snow camp 41 sleep in the rainforest 42 camp in the desert 43 construct a lean-to shelter 44 get water from dewy grass 45 collect water in damp sand 46 drink from a tree branch 47 identify clouds 48 predict a rainstorm 49 blaze a trail 50 identify scat and tracks 51 learn dog body language 52 greet a new dog 53 read kittys body language 54 make friends with a cat 55 build a bat house 56 set up a lizard lounge 57 welcome butterflies 58 make a hive for mason bees 59 raise a butterfly 60 start an ant farm 61 predict bunny friendships 62 introduce two rabbits 63 spot animal warning signs 64 spy on sea life 65 construct a dam 66 nurture tadpoles 67 cultivate carnivorous plants 68 hollow out a birdhouse 69 personalize a melon 70 dry and press flowers 71 stain clothes on purpose 72 save poppy seeds 73 sprout an avocado pit 74 dry tomato seeds 75 pluck marigold seeds 76 mix up seed paper 77 sow a seed bomb 78 paint moss graffiti 79 compost in your backyard 80 plant a veggie patch 81 dig up a lost civilization 82 fossilize footprints

rotary tool

file

in (2 cm) pvc pipe

in (2 cm) pvc endcap

mentos

erupt a soda geyser

diet

4
Drill a hole in the endcap. Drill a hole through the pipe near the tape.

Tape the pipe to the cap.

Bend the paper clip into a hook. Tie on a long string.

Widen the hole so that the candy will fit.

Insert the paper clip into the pipe.

Drill a hole in the cap.

Put the cap on the bottle. Fill with Mentos.

11 Stand back and 1

yank the string.

10

diet
Warm the diet cola in the sun. Keep the cap on. Add the endcap.

write in invisible ink

15

1
Juice half a lemon.

2
Paint a message with the juice. Let it dry.

3
Hand the blank paper to a friend.

4
Heat reveals your juicy secret!

If you want to get extra stealthy, wait for the lemon juice to dry, then write a decoy message in regular ink on top. When you heat the paper, the secret message will rise to the top!

salsa cup

superglue

double-stick foam tape

vibrating cell-phone motor

watch battery

build a tiny robot

25

Apply double-stick foam tape to the cups top.

3
Glue fringe to a clean salsa cup. Take the vibrating motor from an old cell phone.

Give your bot plenty of room to zip around.

4 6
Slip the battery between the wires. Its alive!

5
Attach the motor. Bend one wire up.

Decorate your bot.

32

set up a solar compass

15

Place a tall, straight stick in the ground.

Mark the end of the shadow. Wait.

Mark the new end of the shadow.

min

Connect the marks, then make a cross.

This compass is more accurate the closer you are to the equator and the equinoxes. Once youve set it up, you can mark the end of the sticks shadow every hour to make a sundial.

33

make a magnetic compass

The needle will align along the north-south axis. Youll have to use other clues, like the suns position in the sky, to tell which end of the needle points north.

0 5
Make a windproof puddle. Rub a needle against a magnet. Set the needle on a leaf in the puddle. The needle aligns with the poles.
tell me more

wiremesh

staplegun

caulkgun

pole

55

build a bat house

Staplemeshtooneside ofeachboard.

3
Caulkand thenscrew thewood together.

2
Paintitblacktotrapand holdthesunswarmth.

tell me more

pondform

pondpump

56

set up a lizard lounge

Leafyplantsprovideshade andgoodhidingspots.

Lineyourpondformwithrocks.

Connectthe pumptoahose.

Lizardsaredrawntorunning water.Useapondformanda pondpump,andbesuretobuild closetoanelectricalsource.

enamelpot

vinegar

stain clothes on purpose

71

15
4c(1kg) choppedcabbage

min

1q(1l)water 2tbspvinegar

2c(500g) groundcoffeebeans

Coarsely chop red cabbage.

Simmer.

Strain out the cabbage.

15

min

18
hr

3c(750g)blueberries

Add the garment. Simmer longer for darker coloring.

Refrigerate overnight.

Hang outside to dry.

Your kitchen is full of natural fabric dyes. Substitute these ingredients for the cabbage in this recipe to get a rainbow of tasty earth tones!

4c(1kg)spinach

4c(1kg)beetsorcranberries

3c(750g)loosetea

A patch of dirt and a plan is all you need to grow your very own bounty of vegetables!

power garden

plant a veggie patch

80

Divide plot into 12-in-by-12-in (30-cm-by-30-cm) squares.

Choose vegetables that grow tall to increase how many plants you harvest.

Plant tall plants at plot's edge to keep their shadows off nearby plants.

Variety is the spice of life! Plant and enjoy a wide range of nutritious crops year-round.

Put shallow-rooted plants next to deep-rooted ones so they don't compete for water.

Replant as soon as you harvest.

Fertilize soil year-round.

WELDON OWEN INC. CEO, President Terry Newell VP, Sales and New Business Development Amy Kaneko VP, Publisher Roger Shaw Creative Director Kelly Booth Executive Editor Mariah Bear Senior Editor Lucie Parker Project Editor Frances Reade Assistant Editors Emelie Griffin, Katharine Moore Senior Designers Stephanie Tang, Meghan Hildebrand Designer Delbarr Moradi Illustration Coordinators Sheila Masson, Conor Buckley Production Director Chris Hemesath Production Manager Michelle Duggan
415 Jackson Street, Suite 200 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: 415 291 0100 Fax: 415 291 8841 www.weldonowen.com A division of Special thanks to: Storyboarders Esy Casey, Julumarie Joy Cornista, Sarah Lynn Duncan, Chris Hall, Paula Rogers, Jamie Spinello, Brandi Valenza Copyright 2012 by Weldon Owen Inc. Illustration specialists Hayden Foell, Raymond Larrett, Ross Sublett Editorial and research support team Ian Cannon, Marc Caswell, Mollie Church, Elizabeth Dougherty, Kat Engh, Alex Eros, Justin Goers, Sarah Gurman, Susan Jonaitis, Peter Masiak, Grace Newell, Jennifer Newens, Paul Ozzello, Ben Rosenberg, Hiya Swanhuyser Kid-reviewer panel Emma Arlen, Leah Cohen, Sally Elton, Whitman Hall, Tesserae Honor, Nami Kaneko, Emily Newell, Eloise Shaw, Georgia Shaw

A Show Me Now Book. Show Me Now is a trademark of Weldon Owen Inc.

Do It Now! Science: Wild Experiments & Outdoor Adventures

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher. Excerpted from Show Off, first published by Candlewick Press in 2009. Library of Congress Control Number: 2012932624 ISBN 13: 978-1-61628-392-6 ISBN 10: 1-61628-392-0 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012

Printed in China by SNP Leefung Typeset in Vectora LH

Illustration credits Front cover Britt Hanson: avocado pit Liberum Donum (Juan Calle, Santiago Calle, Andres Penagos): potato clock Vincent Perea: carnivorous plants Gabhor Utomo: volcano Back cover Britt Hanson: butterfly jar, lava lamp Joshua Kemble: dye pot, robot Raymond Larrett: initial crystal Liberum Donum (Juan Calle, Santiago Calle, Andres Penagos): digging, fossilized footprints, glowing shadow Vincent Perea: cat Gabhor Utomo: bag on tree branch, fake fingerprint, invisible ink, magnet, orange-carton periscope, tadpoles Tina Cash Walsh: dried flowers, seed paper Interiors Key: bg = background; bd = border; fr = frames; ex = extra art Esy Casey: 19 bg Liberum Donum (Juan Calle, Santiago Calle, Andres Penagos): 1, 7, 22, 30, 42 fr, 4950, 66 fr, 81, 82 fr Hayden Foell: 31, 60, 80 Britt Hanson: 36, 13, 16, 23, 42 bg, 59, 7275 Gary Henricks: 27 Joshua Kemble: 25, 71 Vic Kulihin: 24, 28 Raymond Larrett: 89, 21, 63 Vincent Perea: 17, 51, 5354, 67 Paula Rogers: 6162 Ross Sublett: 57 fr Bryon Thompson: 2, 34, 43, 5558 Wil Tirion: 35, 38 Taylor Tucek: 1920 Gabhor Utomo: 1012, 1415, 18, 26, 33, 3637, 4448, 6465, 66 bg Tina Cash Walsh: 52, 6870, 7678, 82 bg Mary Zins: 32