Lesson video

Hi team and welcome to your lesson this week with me, Mrs Garrard.

Now, in this lesson, we are going to think about fireworks and we're going to learn about how fireworks work.

Let me share my screen with you and we'll move on to the next part of our lesson.

There we go.

So the first thing we'll need to do today is gather some resources.

Then, we'll think about what fireworks look like.

Next, we'll think about how fireworks work.

And finally, we'll create our very own firework module.

For this lesson, you will need your listening ears and your looking eyes.

You'll need cardboard tunes, some paper, and some scissors, a pencil, some paint, a paintbrush, and some glue.

Pause the video now and go and find all of the things that you'll need to create your module.

Come back and press play once you're ready.

Great, now that you're back we're ready to think about what fireworks look like.

Have you ever seen fireworks before? I've seen fireworks before and I know that fireworks are lots of beautiful colours and they make lots of different patterns in the sky.

But I wonder, how do they work? And what makes them make different patterns? Let's think about that.

How do fireworks work? Now before we talk about how fireworks work, it's really important for me to tell you that children should never touch fireworks even if they're not lit.

Adults can light fireworks, but the safest way to enjoy fireworks is to go to an organised display.

That way you'll stay far away from the fireworks.

You'll be able to enjoy them, but they won't be able to, you won't be too close to them.

That's the safest way to enjoy fireworks.

Let's think about how they work.

So fireworks work by being lit.

So first we have to ignite the fuse.

When we ignite the fuse, the gunpowder is in the shell of the firework.

The shell is the, can you see the brightly coloured part that looks like a tube? That's the shell.

So the gunpowder that is in the shell of the firework explodes and propels the firework high into the sky.

Once it's in the air, more gunpowder makes it explode and that's when you get the really big bang.

The gun powder also causes stars that contain metal and salts and iron filings to explode, and they make the different patterns and the different colours in the sky.

So first you have to ignite the fuse on the firework, which propels the firework into the air when the gunpowder inside it explodes.

When the gunpowder explodes again, and you hear that really big bang, iron filings and metal and salts make the different coloured sparks and colours that we see.

Now it's time for us to make our own firework.

Watch the video and listen carefully to the instructions.

I've got a black piece of paper so that it looks like the dark night sky because when we go and see fireworks displays, we go in the nighttime.

That's the best way to see those fireworks, when the night is dark and the sky is black.

So I've got some black paper to replicate the dark sky.

I'm using my scissors to snip at a cardboard tube and then I'm opening out the pieces that I've snipped to make a pattern, a shape.

That's going to be my exploding fireworks in the sky.

I'm going to put some paint on it and then print it onto my dark black paper, my night sky.

These will be the firework patterns as they explode.

Do you see? Looks like the bright sparks as they exploded in the sky.

I'm going to do this with different colours to replicate the different coloured fireworks.

See how I'm using my scissors to snip? I'm being really careful to make sure that my fingers are far away from the blades of the scissors.

There we go, now going to open them up again.

It makes kind of a star shape.

Putting a different colour paint on now.

Printing again to make lots of explosions in the sky.

I think that's enough.

There we go.

Now the next thing I'm going to need to do is make the shell of my firework.

So I'm going to need another tube.

There's my tube.

I'm going to paint the shell of my firework red.

Remember the shell is the part that contains the gunpowder.

I'm going to paint the shell of my firework red.

Then I'm going to be super patient and wait for my cardboard tube to dry.

Once it's dry, I was super patient, I waited, I'm going to put some stars on the outside to decorate the shell of my firework.

Some blue stars.

I think one more should do it.

And some silver stars, let's put some silver stars on.

And then, can you see, I've got some strips of yellow and orange paper beside me and I have a circle.

Now this circle is going to make the cone at the top of my firework.

See how I made a snip in it? And I folded it over to make a cone shape.

That makes the top part of the firework.

And to stick it together with some tape, but you can use glue if you'd like to.

I'm using tape because it's a little bit quicker.

Now I'm going to stick the cone to the top of my firework.

This is a little bit tricky, so you might need some help from an adult.

See how you have to hold onto it and then stick it in place? A little bit tricky.

Holding it in place and sticking at the same time.

Now I'm going to come to my strips of paper.

That's to replicate the fire, the explosion.

I'm going to stick it inside.

I'm going to tape them together first to make it a little bit easier, and then I'm going to stick it inside with some more tape.

But you could use glue if you wanted to.

There we go.

And then finally, I'm going to stick my firework onto my black paper with the patterns that we've made to recreate the explosions and the beautiful colours in the sky that you see.

Let me show you a picture.

There we go.

There's a picture of my finished firework.

Have you ever been to a firework display? How did it make you feel? Were you happy to go and see fireworks? Did they make you feel excited? Or were you a little bit worried, a little bit scared by the noise? I wonder.

I like fireworks now, but when I was younger, I wasn't so keen on them and didn't like the noise.

And I used to put my hands over my ears because the bangs were super loud.

Maybe if you go to a firework display and you're not sure about the bangs, you could wear some air defenders and then you won't hear them so much.

Team, that's the end of our lesson this week.

Remember, if you would like to share your work with Oak National, you can ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

That way, I will get to see your amazing creations Team, I've really enjoyed making a firework with you this week, but it's time for me to go now.

See you again soon.