Flip Fast! High-Speed Trains
Just how fast is a high-speed train? Design your own train, then move it at amazing speed through your own flip book.
1. Read about high-speed trains. Learn why so many countries use them. High-speed trains have a futuristic, aerodynamic styling. The cars are semi-permanently attached with two ends of adjacent cars resting on a shared two-axle truck. Shinkansen, Japanese bullet train lines, opened in 1964, were the first high-speed railways. Acela (acceleration excellence) trains whiz between Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York City. Europe’s Eurostar connects London and Paris. What else can you discover about these ingenious inventions?
2. Find out about flip books. Study the secret to making drawings seem to move. When making your flip book, work from the page next to the cardboard back to the front of the pad. You will flip from back to front.
3. Make a high-speed train flip book! Use Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils to draw a simple high-speed train on cardboard. With Crayola Scissors cut around the train. This will be your stencil. Place the very front of the train stencil on the last page of a small note pad. Trace it. Lift the stencil, open the next page, and place the stencil down about the width of a toothpick in front of where it was before. Repeat tracing until the entire train can be seen on the page. Flip the pages on your pad and watch your train in motion.
4. Fill the background. Use Crayola Watercolor Paints to create background scenery on each page. How does the scene change? Cover your art area with newspaper. Use a damp Crayola Watercolor Brush to paint horizontally over the scenery. The blurred result will help to achieve a high-speed effect. Air-dry the scenery.
5. Color your trains. Outline each train with a black Crayola Fine Line Marker. Liveries are trademark designs that identify different trains. Europe’s Eurostar has a blue roof and bright yellow front. America’s Amtrak has horizontal red, white, and blue stripes. Design a bright, colorful livery for your train. Color it with colored pencils. Try plaids, polka dots, or checks! Have fun flipping!
Adult supervision is required for any arts & crafts project. Observe children closely and intervene as necessary to prevent potential safety problems and ensure appropriate use of arts and crafts materials. Some craft items, particularly beads and buttons, are potential choking hazards for young children. Avoid use of such small parts with children younger than 3 years. Craft items such as scissors, push pins and chenille sticks may have sharp points or edges. Avoid use of materials with sharp points by children younger than 4 years. Read all manufacturers' safety warnings before using arts and craft supplies.
Crayola Washable Paints—Not for use as body/face paint.
Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.
- Assessment: Children demonstrate their flip books and explain their choice of livery.
- Use maps to trace high-speed train routes. Choose a train, then research the culture and history of cities and regions on its route. Imagine that you are riding the train. Write and sketch journal entries describing what sights you see as you travel.
- Maglev (magnetic levitation) test trains are being developed all over the world. Their top speeds are more than 500 kph (300 mph). Discover how they work and what advantages they have over conventional trains. Design a poster, plan a commercial, or devise an advertising campaign to convince an audience of the environmental, safety, and economic benefits of this new technology.
- Use train speeds, distances between cities, and arrival and departure times to create math problems. Write and illustrate a problem on index cards. Exchange, solve, and discuss the problems, and then store them in a recipe box.
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