Tornado in a Bottle!

Lots of weather action going on in our neck of the woods lately. This week we've had some pretty severe weather, including a couple tornadoes. Perfect timing since it's Tornado & Severe Weather Awareness Month! The girls managed to sleep through it all but we thought it was still important to talk to them about the situation. My husband is off a few days this week to allow me to spend some time with one of my bf's visiting from Australia, so I thought I'd find an activity for them to do together while I'm out shopping & enjoying some adult time. Here is what I suggested... Tornado in a bottle! (I'll keep you posted as to how it goes... )

It's a classic & a staple in most elementary classrooms.

Supplies- 2- two Liter Bottles, Duct Tape, 1 inch Metal Washer, Water, Glitter, Food Coloring, Scissors, Hot Glue Gun (optional)

(*Images below are all from the web, not my personal pictures)

1. Fill one of the bottles about 2/3 way full of water. Optional- add food coloring to give your tornado color or glitter to mimic debris that the tornado picks up along the way.

2. Place the metal washer over the opening of the bottle

3. Use duct tape to fasten the two containers and the metal washer together. Make sure to make the tape tight so no water leaks out. Optional- I've used a bit of hot glue during this step while making this in my classrooms as well. It helps create more of a waterproof barrier underneath the duct tape.

4. Turn the bottle with water over so that it is on top. Swirl the bottle in a circular motion. A tornado will form as the water rushes from the top bottle to the bottom bottle.  

The finished product should look like this...

If you want to be really fancy & save the time/mess of duct taping the bottles together, you can usually find one of these fun tornado in a bottle "tools" to create the same effect at a local school/teacher supply store.

They are fairly cheap & can be used over & over.

I'd also like to try to create a tornado in a bottle using two smaller water bottles to see if they would work just as well. The bonus is they wouldn't be as heavy as the filled 2 liter bottles... much easier for M1 & M2. Has anyone tried this?

Enjoy! s.b.