Back in the 1950s, Homer Hickam (author of Rocket Boys) and his band of rocketeers experimented with making rockets out of metal pipes, machine tooled nozzles, aerodymanic fins and, of course, a little gun powder. As parents and teachers, we love this kind of passion for learning, but we also need a safer alternative... like this air-powered launcher made out of PVC. The paper rocket is super easy to make and flies well over 300 feet (if you're a good designer).

Learn how to make the PVC Rocket Launcher

Read this... Kids are blogging about paper rockets

Learning about Newton's Laws of Motion is anything but boring. Grab a clear balloon and a penny and learn about interia and centripetal force (that's right... it's centripetal - not centrifugal). Once you've mastered the Spinning Penny demo, you'll need to move Netwon's Waiter Tray - a spinning tray of glasses. As you'll see in this video, everything went just fine until the spinning waiter's tray accidentally hit the lady's leg... and then the demo turned into flying glasses of water!