I love Facebook. I know people love to hate it — and I have my share of that, for sure – but I particularly loved it last night, when I posed the following:

Sophie insists she wants to do her science fair project about carousels. Any suggestions? I’m not sure I’m up to building one.

The suggestions poured in. I still have no idea how Sophie and I are going to pull this one off (while Ray and Annabelle attempt to build a zoetrope — also not an easy task!) but we’ve got a headstart. Here are a few of the responses, along with a description of the person who offered the particular idea. I’ll let you know how it turns out. I know for sure that this will involve a lot of carousel-riding research!

Jeff (lawyer/artist): A plastic lazy Susan and plastic toy horses. Spin it, the horses fly off, you’ve just demonstrated centrifugal force.

Kate (museum public relations): You might find a motor to make it go around, and take the carousel from a pop up version from a card or book.

Karie (teacher): http://classroomteacher.com/carousel/

Kim (actor/director/writer): maybe observe a carousel at arizona Mills and do a graph to show which animal is selected and at what frequency. she can do a hypothesis about which animal she predicts will be ridden the most frequently and then she can count and see if she was right.

Ty (restaurant public relations): I suggest a beer first, then tackle the carousel.

Helen (owns a funky art space downtown): enchanted island carousel eyes closed write about the feeling

Kristen (teacher/my college roommate): Can you tie it into how many simple machines are used to create motion? Buy a carousel and identify them. Wheel and axle, pulley, screw. ?…

Kim (lawyer/cookbook author): Once (many years ago) I made a record player out of a rotisserie attachment for a barbeque grill. That same concept would apply here=get a small motor and connect it by a big rubber band to a small cake plate on a spool with toys glued to the top of it. In other words, think small.

Sue (artist): How the merry go round animals go up and down.

Karen (editor of a parenting magazine): If you DO end up making one, one of those cheap plastic lazy Susans you can put in kitchen cabinets to hold spices would make a great base!