Create A Tornado Game

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Upcycle items from around the house for this easy tornado in a bottle science experiment!

Tornado Games: Tornado simulator Game. Tornado Game- Play as a paper airplane. Make your own Hurricane Game. Hurricanes (Weather Wiz Kids) Disaster Master games - Hurricane. Hurricane Simulator Scratch Game. Do Not Flood the Fidgets Game. The Air We Breathe Picture Book. Create your own tornado and destroy (or save) the town! See how the tornado's size and core pressure difference affects its destructiveness. Be sure to choose the correct strength on From: hyfiles.org; Added: January 25, 2012. The power to create tornadoes and whirlwinds. Sub-power of Air Manipulation, Weather Manipulation and Tornado Manipulation. 1 Also Called 2 Capabilities 3 Applications 4 Associations 5 Known Users 5.1 Anime/Manga/Manhwa 5.2 Cartoons 5.3 Comics 5.4 Movies 5.5 Literature 5.6 Live Television 5.7 Video Games 6 Known Objects 7 Gallery Tornado Generation/Blast Twister Generation/Creation/Blast.

Sometimes an activity can introduce us to something that we aren't able to experience in real life and today's science project does just that!

Spring brings all kinds of weather across the country and one of the worst types of storms are tornadoes.

Living in Kansas, we've had to duck-and-cover quite a few times, huddling in the basement until the storm sirens sound the all clear but thankfully, we have never been caught in a tornado!

But kids will be kids and ask all those great questions -- 'how do tornadoes start?' and 'what makes them so dangerous?' so we thought we'd take a closer look at these storms by creating our own tornado in a bottle!

Kansas is one of a handful of states that is located in 'Tornado Alley', a section in the middle of the U.S. that got it's nickname because these areas are most likely to experience tornadoes. But with the right weather conditions, tornadoes can happen almost anywhere in the country.

A tornado is a storm that is created when a cold front and warm front meet - when my kids were young, I would tell them that the hot air and cold air get into a scuffle about who's the strongest. There also needs to be moisture for a tornado to occur.

Many tornadoes in our area occur in the Spring since the conditions are right so we're always sure to check the weather forecast before heading out on one of our famous road trips!

As with all projects we do -- but especially with projects that are hard to experience -- we're including a list of some great books along with their affiliate links so you can safely introduce tornadoes to your kids :)

Tornadoes! by Gail Gibbons gives you all the facts about how tornadoes form, how they are classified and what to do if you're ever near one. The book uses illustrations instead of photos so younger children can grasp the ideas.

Tornado Alert (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) from our favorite early science series is great for kids ages 6 - 9 years. The reader will learn about funnel clouds, how tornadoes form and more details about the storms with great details about what to do if you ever experience one.

Twisters and Other Terrible Storms: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House 23: Twister on Tuesday is excellent for older kids and gives in-depth details about the history of real tornadoes along with some wonderful insight into the weather behind these storms. If your kids are fans of Jack and Annie, the non-fiction books are a great way to extend their learning.

And if you're looking for a good picture book, tryThe Bravest of Us All by Marsha Diane Arnold. Ruby Jane knows that her oldest sister, Velma Jean, is the bravest of all the 7 kids in her family. She sees Velma Jean do all kinds of brave things on the farm. But when a tornado heads toward their farmhouse, Ruby Jane learns that her courage is help her sister is even stronger than the tornado's winds!

Tornadoes have a very well-known shape -- they look like a long, thin triangle balancing on it's tip.

If you were able to view them from the sky, you would see that the center of the tornado appears hollow - this center area is called the tornado's eye and it forms a vortex which is a mass of circulating air.

The vortex occurs when the winds are spinning very fast - so fast that nothing can stay in the middle, the force pulls everything to the outer sides of the storm. These fast spinning winds are also what give the tornado it's nickname of 'twister'.

Materials to Make a Tornado in a Bottle

We're big on doing simple science at our house (have you seen the 'How does a Leaf Breathe?' experiement yet? Awesome activity!)

To make your own tornado, here's what you'll need along with affiliate links for items we used during our project:

  • (2) 1 liter water or soda bottles (you can also use 2 liter bottles but I like the smaller ones because they are easier for the kids to hold)
  • a metal washer
  • blue food coloring

We found these directions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pop over and print off the details so you'll have them BUT read on first for a simplified version.

Now the directions are going to say you need to use a 'plastic connector' which I call a 'tornado tube' -- BUT, we didn't use one ;)

Create a tornado game

If you're planning to do this in a classroom, than I would recommend a tornado tube as it will help reinforce the structure -- but if you're doing it at home, you probably won't need one (just be sure the first time you flip your bottles, you do it outside or over the sink ;)

Instead, we just made sure to tape those bottles together really well!

Tornado in a Bottle Directions:

  • Fill the bottom bottle 3/4 full of water and add 5 or 6 drops of blue food coloring to your water.
  • Then place the washer on the top of the bottle neck.
  • Put your second empty bottle upside down on the washer and tape the two bottle necks together.

The washer should fit on the bottle's top without being larger than the bottle opening and not so small that it will fall in. Be sure to wrap the duct tape around the bottle necks quite a few times to seal them together.

We further modified the activity a little by substituting blue food coloring for the dishwashing detergent and it worked great!

Once you have the bottles taped together, be sure all the water is in the bottom bottle.

Then just take hold of the bottles and quickly flip them over so the water is in the top bottle.

As you can see, we put a towel under our tornado bottle just in case there was any leaking (but there wasn't!)

As the water drains from the top bottle to the bottom, you will see a funnel begin to form inside your bottle.

You can see in this photo that our funnel begins as a thin spiral movement of the water.

But as the water continues to drain ....

... the funnel becomes wider and you can really see a vortex forming in this close-up look.

And there you go -- tornado in a bottle :)

Pretty cool, huh!

Your kids will enjoy turning the bottles around a few times - it's easy to get mesmerized by the swirling water.

And if they're interested in just how fast the winds can get inside the eye of a tornado, you can learn more about how winds are measured with the Fujita Scale (or f-scale) and the types of damage that can be caused by storms of different sizes.

If you have a mini-meteorologist in your home, you'll also enjoy these activities:

More Weather Activities:

For this activity, we are one of 50+ blogs hosting a fantastic 'Booking Across the USA' blog project!

Together, we each feature a kids' book and activity for all of the 50 States -- visit Growing Book by Book, for all the book titles & activities.

We had really been punishing our old, rickety Sportcraft table for a while at work when we realized we needed a new table. A real foosball table. We wanted the Cyclone II from Tornado, but when we saw the $1000 price tag, we were all a bit despondent. We played on a Cyclone II at a local venue and just had to have one, though. What to do?

The parts can be ordered. The cabinet is just solid, simple wood construction. Hmmm.. So we started the research and realized we could have our own Tornado-like table for around $300. If you have a woodshop, the know-how and the desire to play foosball (combined with a little hint of perfectionism), keep reading.

STEP 1: Recon

Create A Tornado Game

I played on a Tornado table and was amazed. I noticed some specifics that make it a great table, such as:

  • Off-center serving holes
  • Thick side walls
  • Center ball return
  • Textured surface
  • Light, fast balls
  • Specially-shaped foosball men

It is also very sturdy. In fact, some Tornado tables weighs in at around 350 pounds. So, for maximum sturdiness, I need to make a table that is hefty and well-constructed. 3/4' plywood doubled-up in parts should do the trick, along with liberal use of wood glue and wood screws. We don't want this thing to be able to move during the course of a fast-paced game, nor do we want warping or creaking over time.
STEP 2: Research

I started gathering pictures and really studied the table. I measured all the dimensions. This page came in handy for that, too. For a real Tornado table, the following list will help:

Basic Dimensions:

  • Table length: 55.5'
  • Table width: 30'
  • Table height: 36'
  • Playfield size: 48' x 27'
  • Playfield depth: 4.25'
  • Side walls: 1.5' thick
  • Back walls: 3.75' thick
  • Goals: 8.375' x 3' (0.5' radius rounded top corners)
  • Rods: 6' apart from center, 3.125' up from surface
  • Goalie rod: 3' from back wall

Here are some useful pictures of Tornado tables: [one] [two] [three]

STEP 3: Design

So then comes the actual design of the table. Given the dimensions above, it was straight forward enough. Notice the thick side walls and the center ball return. I wanted our table to return the ball to either side (whoever got scored on gets the ball) and not just one side as in the Tornado.

Design sketch [12K PNG format]
Exterior view [4K PNG format]

Also, I needed to figure out the playfield surface. In order to closely reproduce the surface of a Tornado (which is non-smooth), our playfield is made of a base 3/4' inch particle board, a paper playfield, and then 1/8' Plexiglas roughed with 60-grit sandpaper, all sandwiched with a clear artists' spray mount adhesive. This gives it a nice, translucent look while giving the right texture for ball pinning. I drew our playfield using the Gimp. You can download the file here [780K XCF]. So, our playfield cost $29 instead of the $250 for a real Tornado top. It's all about the budget.

STEP 4: Gather Materials

Here is the material list. The total cost for the following parts was around $300. Notice there are two major items missing: the rods and handles. These cost an additional $288 (8 rods and 8 wood handles), but we salvaged old rods from our existing table, so that cost wasn't factored into our table.

The Home Depot or Lowe's:

Create A Tornado Game

  • 1 x 4' x 8' x 0.75' birch plywood (main cabinet)
  • 1 x 4' x 4' x 0.75' birch plywood (legs)
  • 1 x 4' x 8' x 0.75' particle board (playfield)
  • 1 x 4' x 8' x 0.25' laun plywood (ball return system)
  • 1 x box of 2' wood screws
  • 16 x 5.5' x 3/8' bolts and nuts (attach the legs)
  • 4 x 1' adjustable table feet (bottom of legs)
  • 1 x 60' x 30' x 0.125' Plexiglas (playfield surface)

TheFoosBallStore.com:

  • 13 x black Tornado foosball men ($39)
  • 13 x yellow Tornado foosball men ($39)
  • 16 x 1.5' snap one-piece bearing ($48)
  • 1 x genuine Tornado ball ($3)
  • 3 x playfield trim strips ($27)

STEP 5: Construction

A. First I cut out all the pieces. All the external cabinet pieces came from the 3/4' birch plywood. We chose to alter the design to allow for the cabinet to split in half and open, attached with hinges. Therefore, the large 16' side walls were split into a 6' top piece and a 10' bottom piece. The parts for the bottom 3/4' pieces were therefore:

  • 2 x 10' x 55.5' (sides)
  • 2 x 10' x 28.5' (ends)
  • 16 x 3.25' x 29' (legs)
  • 8 x 2.5' x 2.5' (leg end insert caps)

And the 3/4' parts for the top half:

  • 2 x 6' x 55.5' (sides)
  • 2 x 6' x 28.5' (ends)
  • 2 x 4.25' x 48' (inside sides)
  • 2 x 4.25' x 28.5' (inside ends)
  • 2 x 2.25' x 28.5' (end top caps)
  • 8 x 2.25' x 3.5' (end top cap supports)
  • 1 x 54' x 28.5' (playfield surface)

B. Next I cut out the six 'notches' from the two inside backs, two bottom sides, and the playfield. This was done by first drilling the rounded corners, then cutting the straight connecting cuts with a band saw or scroll saw. See the first picture here for the first of my cuts (this piece is an inside back goal end).

This image shows the cutouts required in six places on various parts of the table. They are all similar; 8.375' across, 3' high, with rounded corners. The one pictured here is the back goal. The cuts were done using a drill press with 1' Forsner bits (for the rounded corners), then a scroll saw with spiral blade for the sides and tops. A bench spindle sander was then used to clean up the edges.

C. Next I assembled and painted the legs. The legs were assembled as four strips of the 3/4' birch plywood 29' high and 3.25' wide. I used offset butt-joints all around so when you look top-down you have a 4' x 4' square with a spiral pattern. I also cut 8 small 2.5' square blocks for the two end caps. They were assembled with heavy use of wood glue and clamps, working one joint at a time. I sanded, applied two coats of primer, sanded lightly, and applied a flat black enamel. I then had four black 4' x 4' x 29' rectangular prisms.

Here are the four legs; they are now ready for priming and painting (flat black). The will be attached to the lower half of the cabinet (previous picture) with four 5.5' long 3/8' bolts to allow for removal for transport. Note the holes in the bottoms of two so far for the adjustable feet attachment.

D. Ahh, the playfield. The most delicate part of the entire operation. Now that I had the notches cut out of the two ends (inside the goal area to allow the ball to drop down into the ball-return system), I was ready to apply the playfield image. I printed the image using 18 sheets of paper, and cut each very carefully so they would tile perfectly. I started by marking the middle line in both directions on the playfield particle board, and used an artists' spray mount to spray on the back of the paper and then adhere it to the surface. I started in the center and worked out to the end pieces. I let it dry overnight.

I placed the plexiglas sheet over the playfield to trace out the end notches. I cut the notches out of the Plexiglas so it perfectly covered the playfield surface. I then took 60-grit sandpaper on a random orbital sander and sanded one side of the Plexiglas until I could see absolutely no glare (using a point light in the room to look for specular reflections). The sanding process took about ten minutes of constantly moving the sander around randomly (did not want an uneven surface if I were to use a regular pattern and 'dig in' some parts more than others). Then I placed it on the playfield and taped around the edges to keep it secure temporarily. I drilled 1/8' holes about 4' apart all around the outer edge (3/8' from the edge) that were to be used to secure the playfield to the sides from the bottom later on.

E. The cabinet lower half. This next image features the assembled lower half of the cabinet. Since the cabinet is split in two halves (upper and lower) to allow for it to open, I started on the bottom half first. The bottom half contains the legs and the ball-return system. Note the cutouts on the sides for the ball return. In the photo it is upside down. Below are some pictures of the legs attached to the base. I had to work on some smaller details to finish the lower half; such as the ball-return system and covering the bottom. I put 3/4' x 3/4' strips along the bottom sides 3/4' from the bottom edge on the inside, then set in particle board to cover the entire bottom; attaching it to the aforementioned strips for support.

F. The cabinet upper half. In order to create the side rails (which should end up 1.5' thick), I used wood glue to adhere a 48'x4.25' piece to a 55.5'x6' piece, with the smaller piece centered left-right and flush with the top (click here for a detail image). I drilled all the holes in the side rails for the rods (1' diameter), and the ball serving hole (1.5'). After the playfield had the image applied, and the Plexiglas cut and roughed, I fit all the upper half parts together and used woodscrews to attach the sides (54'x6') to the ends (30'x6'). I then attached the playfield surface to the sides using the holes I drilled earlier all around the 3/4' edge and wood screws up from the bottom of the surface. I placed the inside backs (with the goal cutout) using wood glue attached to the side rails. Click here for a close-up top-view schematic of the end joints.

I finished it by attaching a thin veneer to the top surface of the back and side rails. Note: this was the most work-intensive part because of the precision required when working with veneers. See the finished photos to see the black veneer I used and how it looks in the finished form.

G. Final assembly and finishing touches. This picture shows the upper half placed on the lower half with all the legs attached to give a rough feel for the finished product. When it is lined up like the picture, I attached the two hinges to one side. I chose to attach them to a smaller side (30') instead of the longer (55.5') so it opens more like a car hood. I added veneer trim to the corners for effect. I used a rub-in wood finish for a nice, protective covering. I then placed the plastic bushings in the 1' diameter holes for the rods. I adhered the side trim strips to the inside edges of the playfield (they come with a double-sided tape). I inserted rods and guys, and was done. See the following pictures of the completed project.

STEP 6: Play

Well, here it is $261.08 and 50 man-hours later. The finished table installed in the company game room. We're really enjoying the new table and find it forcing us to improve basic foosball skills, which is why we wanted it in the first place. On our old table we couldn't even pin the ball, so you can imagine the night-and-day difference we're experiencing.