fireworks Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Your students in class or children at home with love exploring these magnetic games for kids. They all feature a magnet wand and a jar filled with pipe cleaner fireworks. Some of them are really easy and would be great for young children. Some of the magnetic games will tricky and may take some concentration. They would be better suited for older children.

Putting the Magnetic Games for Kids Jar Together

Find the Right Jar

The first thing you will need to do is locate a jar with a large opening. While you can use a jar or bottle with a small opening, it is easier to place the fireworks in a wide mouthed jar. We used a plastic peanut jar.

Making Pipe Cleaner Fireworks

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Next, you will need to make the fireworks together. You will need a variety of blue, red and white pipe cleaners. (glitter pipe cleaners are fun to add to the jar.)

You can make large fireworks by cutting a pipe cleaner into thirds. Then you can twist the three pieces together to make a star.

Small fireworks can be made by cutting a pipe cleaner in half. Then you can cut the halves into three pieces. The three small pieces can be twisted together to create stars.

Magnetic Wands

We used amagnetic wand to play the magnetic games for kids. If you have a bar magnet or even a refrigerator magnet, you can use one of them instead.

Magnetic Games for Kids

Up, Down, and All Around

Children can use the magnet to move one of the fireworks up, down and all around the jar without attracting any other firework stars.

Grab A Lot

Children can try to gather as many pipe cleaner stars as they can without dropping any.

Rising and Falling Fireworks

Children can try to attract several stars with the magnet. Then they will try to bring them to the drop of the jar. Next, they will find a fun way to drop them back into the pile of fireworks.

Dancing Fireworks

Children can create a dance for the fireworks pipe cleaners. They can move the wand in circles, waves or angles to make the fireworks dance.

Tying the Activity into a Book

You may want to read a fireworks-themed book to your children before or having them explore the magnetic games. Here are some wonderful fireworks-themed books.

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Red, White, and Boom!
The Night Before the Fourth of July
Fourth of July Mice!

Creating a 4th of July Straw Rockets

You will need to print out the Fireworks Straw Rocket Printables. There are a number of pictures of fireworks on this page. You will need to cut each of the fireworks from the page for your children to use. You can cut smoothly around the fireworks or cut in curves. We cut ours out in curves.

Your children will not need a lot of supplies to put the straw rockets together. Here is what you will need:

Supplies

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Putting Together the Straw Rockets

First, we cut a piece off a drinking straw that was about 2 1/2 inches long.

Then we taped one of the straws shut.

Next, we taped the fireworks to the straw section. You can totally have your kids tape the fireworks to the straw if you like.

Finally, we placed the straw section on the end of a full-size straw. The extra large straw will be the launcher.

Launching the Straw Rockets

There are several ways to launch the straw rocket. If you want your children to launch them vertically, they can lie on the ground. They could also place the bendy end of the straw in their mouths and tip the long end up into the air. Both ways will cause the rock to soar upwards.

The second way is the diagonal approach. Children can place the straw in their mouths and aim it slightly up. This will cause the rocket to travel horizontally.

I bet your children will want to try both approaches to see which way works better for them. Some children might find one way is easier for them than the other. My son really likes shooting the straw rockets diagonally.