A 4-H exploration activity series for Cloverbud members

August 2020

Mechanical Sciences

August 2020 Page 2

Safety is one of the most important things to know about

bicycling. How much do you already know about it? Read the

bicycling basic safety tip below and draw a line to the correct

term to the tip it’s referring to!

Bicycle Basics 1. These should be checked for air.

8. Check to make sure these are working correctly.

3. This should be moved to the correct height.

1. Wear this to protect your head.

5. Use this arm to make biking signals.

6. Wear this type of clothing so you are easily seen.

7. Do this to show drivers what you plan to do.

8. Avoid crashing your bike or you will get this.

9. Bikers should ride on this side of the road.

10. You should look this way before entering the street.

Bright

Injury

Seat

Left

Right

Both

Signal

Brakes

Helmet

Tires

August 2020 Page 3

Porcupine Woodworking

Woodworking is a super fun 4-H project within the Mechanical Sciences. There is something so satisfying about making something with your own two hands. Have you ever used woodworking tools before to create a craft all of your own? Grab a parent and do the activity below to create a porcupine through woodworking!

• 2x4 piece of wood (Cut corner to corner so it is in two triangle shapes)

• Sand Paper • Nails

• Hammer • Markers/Paint • Clothespins/Pliers (to hold

nails in place instead of fingers!)

Directions: 1. If your wood isn’t already cut, then cut it from one corner to the other so you have two

triangle shaped pieces of wood. 2. Sand down your triangles down so that all sides, faces and corners are smooth to the

touch. 3. On the pointed side of your wood draw or paint on a face for your porcupine. If you want

you can also mark spots where you want to hammer your nails into the wood! 4. Get hammering! (make sure you do this on a surface that won’t be destroyed if the nails go

through the wood). To avoid hammering any little fingers use a pliers or clothespin to hold the nail in place.

5. If you want to pain the whole project once your nails are in you can do that, otherwise leave it as is and you’re all done!

Materials:

August 2020 Page 4

Finish That Machine

The Small Engines 4-H project can be a lot of fun. If you enjoy

getting your hands dirty or figuring out how things work, this is the

project for you! Look at the machines and tools below that have small

engines in them. These engines are what make machines run. Can you

finish the other half of the picture for each of them? Do you know

what each one is used for? Give your best guess!

Chain Saw Drill

Lawn Mower Snow Blower

August 2020 Page 5

Electricity is a mechanical science that has endless

possibilities. Think about all the things we use electricity

for on a daily basis. You and a parent can create your own

electric circuit by doing the activity below!

Glowing Salt Circuits

Materials: • 1 large sheet of paper, tray or plastic (this

gets a little messy!) • 1 sheet colored construction paper • Salt (regular table salt) • 2 paper clips • Alligator clips • Double A batter pack (or two singles if you

don’t have a double) • Small LED bulbs (make sure you test if they

work) • Glow In The Dark Glue

Directions:

1. Lay down your large sheet of paper/plastic or tray.

2. Cut your sheet of construction paper in half, and place it town with about 1/2 in between them.

3. Design your trail that you want to glow with your glue—make sure your design starts at the bottom middle and ends at the top middle. Make your glue extra thick where your design starts and ends.

4. Place your two paperclips in the middle of your bottom end points of your design. Make sure it’s really in the glue.

5. Now attach your battery pack to the paperclips using the alligator clips. (Make sure you’re linking positive to negative!)

6. Stretch the wire legs of your LED bulb out and stick each leg into one side of your design at the top. Make sure it’s pressed into the glue.

7. Sprinkle your glue design with salt (you may need a lot). If your design doesn’t light up right away, you can pour more glue over your salt layer on your design and add another layer of salt. (You might have to turn the lights off to see the bulb glow!)

Here is a video example of how to do this experiment: Link to video.

August 2020 Page 6

Match That

Machine!

Machines are super important in helping farmers with so many

jobs around the farm! Does your family own any of these machines?

Cut out the images and their names below, shuffle and lay out face up

and see if you can match the machine name to the correct pictures!

You can also flip all of the images over and try to match pairs with your

memory.

August 2020 Page 7

Summer Bike Rides Bicycling is an exciting 4-H project in Mechanical Sciences that you can learn more about after being a Cloverbud!

Color the picture below with some things you may need in order to go on some summer bike rides.

July Answer Keys Answers to all Cloverbuddies activities will appear on the back cover of the following month’s

issue. For answers to this issue, watch for September’s installment of Cloverbuddies!

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