Waingels Challenges- Week 2

Bounce back ability is what resilience is all about. It’s a really important skill for managing the different challenges that life throws at us! Professor Helen McGrath made an acronym to help us all be a bit more resilient.

So for this week’s challenge…

I would like you to do something that needs a bit of practice or that you have had difficulty with previously.

Perhaps you could…

• Create a human ‘Don’t buzz the wire’ game using a hula hoop (or something similar) with your family.
• Find something that you have put off previously for whatever reason and have another go! You’re older and wiser now and you have a bit more time to crack it!
• Learn how to count to 10 in Japanese.
• Do something that you loved when you were younger – colouring in, playing an instrument, skipping!

Whatever you do – make sure you share your stories (good or bad) with us!

Word of the Week: Eggs

• Find out why eggs are such a strong shape.
• How many words can you find with the word “egg” in (i.e. beggar, leggings)?
• Write a short story (100 words) based on eggs.
• Make an egg parachute to protect an egg on a drop from a first floor window, then test it!

Pick One

Some puzzles, like this one, require several goes to get right. Will you be able to show resilience and find a solution?

Many STEM careers will require a great deal of resilience. Whether it be trying to discover a new drug or engineering a new solution to a problem (this work around ventilators springs to mind - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52087212) the professionals involved need a great deal of resilience to cope with the multiple attempts it might take to get it right. Did you know for example that the average time it takes from discovery of a new medicinal drug until it hits the shelves is roughly 20 years?

This week try out this experiment and test your resilience until you get the “perfect” rainbow.

Grow your own rainbow

You will need:

· Kitchen roll

· Felt tip pens

· Two small bowls of water

· Paper clips

· Thread

1. Cut your kitchen roll into the shape of a rainbow

2. At each “end” of the rainbow colour a rainbow like in the picture below (credit: @mrsBpriSTEM) about 2cm high. Any colours will do if you don’t have the correct ones.

3. Tie the thread to the paperclip and then attach the clip to the top of the rainbow. Then you can tie the thread to something to prevent the rainbow falling in to the water (maybe a kitchen cupboard handle?)

4. Hang the two ends of the rainbow in the two small bowls of water (picture below – credit: Facebook) so that just the ends are submerged. The water will start to move up the paper taking the ink with it. If your kitchen roll is particularly thin you might want to take the water away once the ink has started moving or it will disintegrate.

Every week there are productions being streamed for all ages across the Internet for free!

Follow @PerfArtWaingels on twitter to keep up to date with the latest performances and plays.

5 Second Rule

This week is a family based game called 5 Second Rule! You will need to stay calm under pressure, think fast and keep up the resilience when it goes wrong!

Use the above Power Point for the rules and 100 different categories to play.