Activity Time: 25 minutes
Recommended Grades: 1 - 8
Objective: Investigate static electricity from the comfort of your home!

• Balloon
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Thick paper (like cardstock)
• Gift wrapping tissue paper
• Glue stick
• Cardboard

1. To begin, cut out a square (any size) from the cardboard.
2. Next, use your pencil to draw butterfly wings on your tissue paper. The butterfly wings must be smaller than your square.
3. Cut out the wings and set them on your cardboard.
4. Next, draw and cut a butterfly body out of your thick paper and glue it down the middle of your butterfly wings. Make sure the body is overlapping onto your cardboard and that you do NOT glue the wings down.
5. Decorate your butterfly with designs, eyes, antenna—whatever you like. Be careful not to rip the tissue paper.
6. Now, blow up the balloon.
7. Take your blown-up balloon and rub your balloon through your hair to give it an electric charge.
8. Once you think the balloon is nice and charged, hold it on top of your butterfly—close, but not so close that they touch.
9. Watch as the wings raise and lower as you move the balloon closer and farther away.
10. If you notice that the charge starts to fade, simply take the balloon and rub it in your hair again. It should be recharged and ready to make your wings flutter all over again!

Everything around you is made up of small particles known as atoms. Your table, your pencil, andeven your cereal box are all made up of atoms.

An atom usually has an equal number of protons and electrons. The protons in an atom have a positive (+) charge of electricity while the electrons in the atom have a negative (-) charge of electricity. When it comes to electricity, opposites like to attract!

Static electricity results when materials are rubbed together in a manner that one material becomes negatively charged and the other is positively charged. When we rub the balloon on our hair, electrons leave our hair and latch onto the balloon, giving it a negative charge. Now when the balloon gets close to the positively charged tissue paper, the two are attracted to each other. The attraction between the balloon and tissue paper is so great that the tissue paper moves toward the balloon. The static electricity will make it look almost as if the butterfly is flying!