The Reflectionary

Add some fun science to your Pentecost celebrations with these awesome gyrocopters!

Great for all-age and Messy church, collective worship and youth groups, these paper spinners are simple to make and serve as a take-home reminder of the birthday of the church.

You Will Need

• Paper – you can make three gyrocopters from a sheet of A4
• Scissors
• Paper clips
• Pens in flame colours for decoration – I used colour-change pens like these – [Click]
• Languages crib sheet [Click here for downloadable PDF]

What To Do

1. Cut out a rectangle about 20cm x 10cm, one-third of an A4 sheet.
2. Snip the sides halfway down, about one-third of the way in.
3. Snip the upper edge down the middle, to level with the first snips.
4. Fold the lower section into thirds to make a thick body and clip the layers together.
5. Decorate the wings of the gyrocopter with flames on both sides.
6. Decorate the body with words praising God in whatever different language you might know (There’s cheat-sheet for if you don’t know a different language!)
7. Bend the two wings out at right angles, one to each side.
8. Drop your gyrocopter from a high place or throw it in the air and watch it spiral down.
9. When everyone has finished making gyrocopters, throw them all into the air together and catch whichever one lands near you. Then everyone can shout aloud the praises of God in all the languages together – your own mini-Pentecost!

What’s Going On – The Science Bit

The gyrocopter has rotational symmetry, like a windmill. This means that as it falls, the air flowing past the wings spins the gyrocopter. This spinning makes more air flow over the wings and they act like mini-aerofoils providing lift, so the gyrocopter falls more slowly than you might expect.

 

You’ll find this experiment and many others in the new Science-and-Faith book from The Reflectionary coming soon – watch this space!

 

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Languages Crib Sheet

[Click here for downloadable PDF]

Praise The Lord from A to Z

Arabic
!فَلِيُسَبِّحِ اللهَ كُلُّ ما يَتَنَفَّسُ
(faliusabbih allh kull ma yatanaffasu!)

Bulgarian
Всичко що диша нека хвали Господа
(Vsichko shto disha neka khvali Gospoda)

Czech
Všechno, co dýchá, ať chválí Hospodina!

Danish
alt hvad der ånder, pris Herren!

English
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

French
Que tout ce qui respire loue l’Eternel!

Greek
Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν κύριον
(megalynei hey psychi mou ton kyrion)

Hebrew
כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ
(kol haneshama tehalel adonai)

Irish
Moladh a nuile anál an Tighearna.

Japanese
生きているものはみな、主に賛美の声を上げなさい。
(Ikite iru mono wa mina, omo ni sanbi no koe o age nasai)

Korean
살아 있는 모든 피조물들아, 여호와를 찬양하라!
(sal-a issneun modeun pijomuldeul-a, yeohowaleul chan-yanghala!)

Latin
Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum!

Maori
E nga mea katoa e whai manawa ana, whakamoemititia a Ihowa.

Norwegian
Alt som har ånde, love Herren!

Oriya
ନିଶ୍ୱାସପ୍ରଶ୍ୱାସଧାରୀ ପ୍ରତ୍ୟେକ ପ୍ରାଣୀ ସଦାପ୍ରଭୁଙ୍କର ପ୍ରଶଂସା କର!
(niśẇāsapraśẇāsadhārī pratẏēka prāṇī sadāprabhuṅkara praśansā kara!)

Polish
Niech wszystko, co oddycha, chwali Pana.

Quechua
Mandaj Diostaca, ñuca almahuanmi alli nicuni.

Russian
Все дышащее да славит Господа!
(Vse dyshashcheye da slavit Gospoda!)

Spanish
¡Que todo lo que respira alabe al Señor!

Turkish
Nefes alan her canlı Yah’ı yüceltsin

Urdu
!ہر ایک جاندار خداوند کی حمد کرے
(har aik jandaar khudawand ki hamd kere)

Vietnamese
Hỡi mọi loài sinh vật hãy ca ngợi Chúa.

Welsh
Pob perchen anadl, molianned yr Arglwydd.

Xhosa
Vumela konke okuphefumulayo ukuba kudumise iNkosi!

Yiddish
לאָזן אַלץ וואָס האָט אָטעם לויבן די האר
(lozn alts vos hot otem loybn di har)

Zhongwen (Chinese)
凡 有 气 息 的 都 要 赞 美 耶 和 华!
(Fán yǒu qì xī de dōu yào zànměi yēhéhuá)

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