|
|
 |
      |
 |
 |
 |
|
Art sprouts from the ground and runs in the water of this outdoor garden, where you can splash in a fountain made out of stone artifacts, play in basins of gurgling mud and climb into an interactive clubhouse. Learn more about these art works.
|
| |
| |
What’s the Real Stuff?
|
| |
 | | The Lookout Climb up into this interactive “clubhouse” where you can raise a flag, open and close louvers and peek down (or up) a periscope to see what’s happening down below (or up above.) Then activate some “solar music,” chimes powered by solar panels.
Then get digging with shovels, rakes, buckets and trucks in the new Sand Box! |  | | | | | Allegheny Waterworks Fountains need a pump to start the water flow, a reservoir to hold the water and discharge points to let the water out. A squirt gun is a mini fountain: the trigger acts as a pump, the handle or the body is the reservoir and the discharge point is the hole where the water comes out. If you’ve ever used a squirt gun, you’ve held the components of a fountain in your hand. The trigger acts as a pump, drawing water from the reservoir, which is the handle or the entire body of the toy. The discharge point is the hole that the water comes out, forced into a stream by the pump. (Referenced from: How Stuff Works.) | |  | | | | | |  | | Animated Earth The fluid in Animated Earth is made of clay particles, water and an emulsifier. The emulsifier is what suspends the clay particles in water and makes it feel so slippery. This mixture is called "clay slip" and is non-toxic and safe to handle.
This type of clay slip is used in the manufacturing of coffee mugs and other ceramic dinnerware. It is poured into plaster molds, dried, cleaned and fired in a kiln. This method is also used to make bathroom fixtures like sinks and tubs.
Emulsifiers are used in foods, lotions and conditioners to prevent separation of ingredients. You may have noticed the following emulsifiers as ingredients in common household products: cetyl alcohol, polysorbate 20 and stearic acid. | | | | | |
|
| |
Explore more
Learn more about these topics with the following books and websites. Many of the books can be reserved online from the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh.
Fountains- How Stuff Works - How Water Blasters Work
- How Stuff Works - How Water Towers Work
Nature and Gardening- Backyard Safaris
by Phyllis S. Busch
- Backyard Birds
by Jonathan Latimer, Karen Stray Nolting and Roger Tory Peterson
- Keeping a Nature Journal
by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth
- Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together with Children
by Sharon Lovejoy
- Great Gardens for Kids
by Clare Matthews and Clive Nichols
- The Kids’ Nature Book: 365 Indoor/Outdoor Activities and Experiments
by Susan Milord
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
