Aerospace education staff from Civil Air Patrol’s Marco Island Senior Squadron hosted a hands-on rocketry workshop at Camp Mackle, introducing 31 children ages 5 to 10 to the fundamentals of rocket science.
The afternoon program was supported by 13 staff members and counselors, including local high school volunteers. Through a mix of short presentations, videos, and demonstrations, the children learned the differences between solid- and liquid-propelled rockets. Mock-ups of each type were displayed, and the basic principles of propulsion were explained using Newton’s third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. A simple balloon demonstration illustrated how air released in one direction creates thrust in the opposite direction.
Most of the session focused on building paper rockets using plastic tubes, colored paper, scissors and tape. Step-by-step video instructions guided the young participants through assembling the fuselage, nose cone and fins. The rockets were then propelled using compressed air from a bicycle pump…