One boy, one beast, many adventures – Netflix Dream Works Dragons

One boy, one beast, many adventures – Netflix Dream Works Dragons

There is lots of excitement in the house today; and we are not talking about the start of the Summer holidays, we are talking about the arrival of the all new action packed series … Dream Works Dragons: Race to the Edge! … released on Netlfix, today, Friday 26th June.

The popcorn is bought, the couch is booked and the whole family plan to start the holidays off in style tonight. And there will be the newest member of the family squeezing in too… this little guy.

toothless
My youngest is a huge fan of toothless so imagine his excitement when a package arrived from Netlfix this week containing his all-time favourite dragon, along with his trusted side kick – Hiccup! My only worry is that dragon and small boy will be asleep before they even get to watch their favourite series – such is the level of action that the two adventurers have already clocked up.

First off, toothless is a flying dragon, as we all know, so small boy enlisted a little help from science to get his friend airborne… Newton stated that every action has an equal and opposite reaction and that is what both boy and dragon counted on with this little stunt!

catapult

Did it work? Well, it certainly got toothless flying right across the room but eventually the pair decided that they needed more height and distance and turned their attention to rocket power. They constructed a stomp rocket and the fearless dragon was taped to the rocket, secure and ready for launch. Test flights gave good results in the corridor until Mum decided that it was an experiment best brought outdoors. Boy and dragon were very happy with the flight distances that this little adventure achieved.

toothless catapult

Happy, but not completely sated, they decided that distance was good but they wanted a little more height… time to bring in the big guns and launch a bigger rocket. At this stage they were wisely persuaded that the fearless dragon should, at least, be wearing better safety gear… so they built him a helmet!

helmet

Onwards and upwards, toothless was strapped in place and all set for launch.

rocket2

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

launch

What goes up, must come down!

flight

A successful flight, awesome heights, and a relatively soft landing (if you are made of hard plastic and wearing that, oh so important tinfoil helmet). Maybe they didn’t make it into the stratosphere but the dragon certainly earned his wings… and a good night’s sleep!

Check out the action packed new series on Netflix for more great adventures…

And if you have any little adventurers in your home that are rocket crazy here is how to make these rockets…

STOMP ROCKET

You will need:

an empty 2L plastic bottle, paper, insulation tape, a 1/2 inch PVC pipe, a length of rubber tubing;

What to do… tape one end of the rubber tubing to the neck of the bottle and tape the other end to one end of the PVC pipe. Next make the body of the rocket by wrapping a piece of paper around the PVC pipe and secure it with tape at the overlap. Remove the rocket from the pipe. Cut four triangles of paper and attach to the body of  the rocket near one end; these are the rocket fins. Make a nose (cone shape) for the other end of the rocket and attach it with tape.  You are now ready to launch your rocket. (Best to do this outside!).
Sit your paper rocket over the PVC pipe and place the 2L bottle on the ground on its side. Stomp on the bottle and watch your rocket shoot off!
VERTICAL ROCKET
You will need:
An empty 2 L plastic bottle, paper, a ball pump needle, a bottle cork, a foot pump
What to do… using the paper make three fins and a nose cone for the bottle rocket, the base of the bottle is where you fit the cone, attach the fins around the side of the rocket. Push the ball pump needle through the cork until it comes out the other side; Fill the bottle rocket one third full with water and plug the neck of the bottle with the cork. Attach the food pump to the ball pump needle and, either hold the bottle rocket or secure it vertically on the ground (we used an adapted funnel). Start pumping until…. your rocket launches with a big whoosh of water and flies into the air!
Enjoy!
Disclosure: I received the toy as part of the Netflix Stream Team; All opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Aurora borealis and Aurora australis – how are they formed?

Aurora borealis and Aurora australis – how are they formed?

Aurora borealis and Aurora australis, also known as the Northern and Southern lights, are amazing displays of light in the sky, most often seen towards the polar regions. The colour displays range from green, to reds to purples and vary from small wisps to large dramatic streaks through the sky.

Aurora2

To understand how these light displays happen we need to understand a little about solar winds. The surface of the sun is constantly bubbling and boiling. Sometimes particles of plasma are released from the sun’s surface at areas called sun spots. This plasma escapes the pull of the sun’s magnetic field and is released into space as solar winds.

These solar winds can travel to Earth where they are attracted to the Earth’s magnetic fields, particularly at the north and south poles. When particles from the solar winds enter the Earth’s atmosphere they collide with particles of oxygen and nitrogen giving off these wonderful displays of colour.

The colour of the Auroras depends on the particles that interact with the solar wind and their altitude. Green and yellow colours are typically associated with collisions with oxygen, while red, violet or blue colours result from interactions with nitrogen. While these displays are best seen in regions closer to the poles we are sometimes lucky enough to catch site of them right here in the skies over Ireland.

Have you ever seen them? Next time you hear of a lot of solar flares it might be worth remembering to look to the skies in the hope of catching these spectacular light shows.