The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [61]
The Sit-Upon Traveler’s Edition
You might be taking your Sit-Upon with you on a hike, or someplace where it would be handy not to have to hold it while you walk.
To make the fanny-pack carrier, procure a belt or rope that is long enough to tie around your waist. Before you sew the edges of the Sit-Upon, lay the rope or belt along one side. Stitch the rope or belt to the Sit-Upon as you sew that side of the cover. When you tie on the belt, the Sit-Upon will lay behind you as you walk.
For the messenger-bag alternative, attach an even longer piece of rope that will go over your head and over one shoulder, messenger-bag style, with the Sit-Upon resting across your back.
Lamp, Lantern, Flashlight
TAKE APART a flashlight and you’ll see it’s simply a battery-holding tube with an on-off switch at the side. You can build one with a quick trip to the hardware store.
WHAT YOU NEED:
Some D-cell batteries
Copper wire (long strands of aluminum foil may be substituted)
Electrical tape
Flashlight bulb
An empty mason jar or any glass jar
Possibly tape, aluminum foil, paper, empty toilet paper tube, scissors, or wire cutters
Start with a D-cell battery and a piece of copper wire about 10 inches long or so. With electrical tape, connect one end of the wire firmly to the bottom terminal of the battery. Wrap the other end of the wire tightly around the metal casing of a small flashlight light bulb. Position the light bulb so it touches the top of the battery. It should light up.
You’ve created a simple circuit that works when energy flows from the battery to the wire to the light bulb and back to the battery. If the bulb doesn’t light, fiddle with the wires and connections until it does.
Once it lights, wrap the wire around the battery so the bulb stays put on top. That’s the lamp. If the bottom wobbles, look for a holder. The electrical tape roll usually does a good job. If you spy an empty mason jar on the shelf, turn it upside down and place over the lamp and you have yourself a lantern, for indoors or out.
You’ll notice that the light bulb isn’t that bright, and that regular flashlights use two D-cell batteries. Stack a second battery on top of the first. Use as much electrical tape as necessary to bind the two batteries together. Place the bulb on the top battery and you’ll see the difference. The bulb will become slightly hot; don’t touch it and burn yourself.
To adapt into a flashlight, fashion a holder, whether it be poster board cut and taped to fit, a toilet-paper tube (lead the wire outside the tube), or lots more electrical wire wrapped around the two batteries (its bright colors provide decorative possibility).
Now for the on-off switch. For simplicity’s sake, this can be accomplished by pulling the wire, forcing the bulb to move away from the battery and turn off. You can also cut the wire in half. To make the light go on, connect the wires and attach a sprig of electrical tape to hold them together. Remove the tape to detach the wires, break the circuit, and turn the flashlight off.
Explorers
AMELIA EARHART
Amelia Mary Earhart, born in 1897, was a pilot who received the Distinguished Flying Cross—and worldwide fame—for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. During World War I, she trained as a nurse’s aide through the Red Cross and worked in a hospital in Ontario, Canada, until after the war ended in 1918. Around that time she saw her first flying exhibition, and she was captivated. She stood her ground when one of
TWO OTHER NOTABLE WOMEN AVIATORS
In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first woman to earn an international pilot’s license, and the first black woman to earn an aviator’s license. One of thirteen children, Coleman discovered airplanes after graduating from high school, but she couldn’t find an aviation school that would teach a black woman to fly. She went to Paris, where she was able to train and earn her