Just 4 Kids & Teachers

Wind Energy Activities and Worksheets

 Contents

Make a Wind Sock and Weathervane........................................................................................................... 3

Make a Pinwheel........................................................................................................................................... 4

Make a Wind Serpent.................................................................................................................................... 5

Help Each Child Find the Way to the Wind-Fest!.......................................................................................... 6

Color the Animals.......................................................................................................................................... 7

Connect the Dots Wind Turbine.................................................................................................................... 8

Circle the Things That Are Using the Wind!.................................................................................................. 9

Which Two Wind Turbines Are Exactly Alike? ............................................................................................ 10

Help the Wind Turbines Find a Good Home! .............................................................................................. 11

Help the Power of Nature Get to Your Home!............................................................................................. 12

How Many Words Can You Make?............................................................................................................. 13

Unscramble the Parts of the Wind Turbine ................................................................................................. 14

True or False Wind Worksheet ................................................................................................................... 15

Find the Hidden Wind Words! ..................................................................................................................... 16

Take an Electric Inventory of Your Home! .................................................................................................. 17

Observing the Wind’s Effects Using the Beaufort Wind Scale.................................................................... 18

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Make a Wind Sock and Weathervane

Instructions

1. Poke a hole through a foam cup just below the rim (a sharp pencil
works great.)

2. Cut off the toe of a sock or knee-high hose.

3. Stretch the wide end over the cup and tape it to the rim.
Use scissors to snip the sock where the pencil hole in the
cup is.

4. Get a wooden dowel (3/16 inch is a good size) and make sure it is at least three
feet tall. Push a thumb tack through the top of the dowel.Twist it before removing
it (you’ll need the hole later).

5. Slip the wind sock onto the dowel through the hole in the cup. Leave
at least one inch at the top and put some tape around that so the sock
won’t slide off. Slide a ¼ inch washer up the pole to just below the
sock and then tape underneath that so the sock won’t slip down.

6. Get two straws and cut a small (¼ inch) slit in each end. Use four
small squares of construction paper to mark the points of the
compass. Insert them into the straws, glue to secure them, and let
them dry.

7. Pierce the middle of each straw with a thumb tack, then dab on a little glue
before you secure the whole vane to the dowel (remember that hole you made in
the beginning? Line everything up so it goes back in there!) Make sure the straws
are perpendicular. Let all of the glue dry.

Setup

Using a compass to find north, position the N of your weathervane to

point in that direction. Gently push it into the ground. The wind sock
should turn with the breeze until it faces into the wind. Your vane will
show which direction the wind is coming from.

Record your observations.

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Make a Pinwheel

Print this sheet and use this drawing as a template. Instructions are below.

Cut on the lines and punch out the holes.

Bring all of the holes to line up with the center hole.

Push a thumb tack through the holes, and push the tack into the eraser.

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Make a Wind Serpent

Print this sheet and use this drawing as a template. Instructions are below.

Thread a string through a hole poked in the X.

Make sure there's a knot in it.

With the help of an adult, carefully hold it under a flame.

What happens? Did you make wind?

Don’t get it too close to the flame!

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Help Each Child Find the Way to the Wind-Fest!

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Color the Animals

Print this sheet and color the animals. They’re happy because the wind turbines don’t pollute!

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Connect the Dots Wind Turbine

Connect the dots to see what a powerful wind turbine looks like.

Wind Power! The wind spins the big blades of this turbine to make electricity for us!

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Circle the Things That Are Using the Wind!

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Which Two Wind Turbines Are Exactly Alike?

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Help the Wind Turbines Find a Good Home!

Each wind turbine needs about two acres of space. Places that get steady winds, like mountain gaps
and shorelines, are the best.

Draw a line from each turbine to a good home.

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Help the Power of Nature Get to Your Home!

Energy from nature to you!

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

How Many Words Can You Make?

How many words can you make from the letters in this sentence:

Wind Power Is Cool!

Have a race! See who can come up with the most words in five minutes!

Example: powder

1. _____________________________________ 2. _____________________________________

3. _____________________________________ 4. _____________________________________

5. _____________________________________ 6. _____________________________________

7. _____________________________________ 8. _____________________________________

9. _____________________________________ 10. _____________________________________

11. _____________________________________ 12. _____________________________________

13. _____________________________________ 14. _____________________________________

15. _____________________________________ 16. _____________________________________

17. _____________________________________ 18. _____________________________________

19. _____________________________________ 20. _____________________________________

21. _____________________________________ 22. _____________________________________

23. _____________________________________ 24. _____________________________________

25. _____________________________________

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Unscramble the Parts of the Wind Turbine

The 1.5 MW wind turbine is just one of wind turbines manufactured by GE Wind Energy!

Use these words to label the parts of the 1.5 megawatt wind turbine:

nacelle blade tower base

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

True or False Wind Worksheet

1. _________ Wind power is safe, clean, and we’ll never run out of it.

2. _________ One GE Wind Energy 1.5 megawatt wind turbine can produce enough electricity to
supply the annual electricity needs of about 400 homes.

3. _________ Wind is created by the phases of the moon.

4. _________ The Beaufort wind scale uses observations of everyday things to determine wind speed.

5. _________ Windmills have been used for many things, including grinding flour and pumping water.

6. _________ Rembrandt, the famous artist, was the son of a windmiller.

7. _________ A wind turbine uses the power of the wind to produce nuclear energy.

8. _________ A wind farm is a place where pinwheels are planted and grow up to be wind turbines.

9. _________ Steady, consistent wind is necessary for a good wind farm site.

10. ________ Carbon dioxide is the primary “greenhouse gas” that contributes to global warming.

11. ________ The nacelle on a wind turbine is another name for the tower.

12. ________ Wind is actually a form of solar energy.

13. ________ For thousands of years, people have harnessed the power of the wind.

Answers: 1. T, 2. T, 3. F, 4. T, 5. T, 6. T, 7. F, 8. F, 9. T 10. T, 11. F, 12. T, 13. T.

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Find the Hidden Wind Words!

See if you can find some words that are important to wind energy. How many can you find?

anemometer
blade
certified
clean energy
climate change
controller
drivetrain
electricity
generator
germanischer lloyd
green power
kilowatt
kwea
lake benton
megawatt
nacelle
northern states power
power curve
renewable energy
rgbt converter
rotor
tower
variable speed
wind
wind speed
wind turbine
windfest
yaw system

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Take an Electric Inventory of Your Home!

People didn’t always have electricity in their homes. Today, however, our houses have dozens of
appliances, toys, and tools that use electricity every day. Take an electric inventory of your house and
see just how much we depend on electricity.

Walk through every room of your house and write down all of the things that use electricity. Look
carefully—it’s easy to overlook some items. Remember to look in closets and storage spaces like the
garage.

How often is each item used? Every day or only sometimes? How important is the item to the comfort
and happiness of your family? Is there something you can think of that could help conserve the amount
of electricity the item uses? (Turning off lights when no one is in the room, for example.)

Record your findings on this sheet. Compare your inventory with others. Did they find items you
overlooked? Share your energy conversation ideas with each other.

Electrical How Often Importance to Conservation

Room
Equipment It Is Used the Family Ideas

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Observing the Wind’s Effects Using the Beaufort Wind Scale

You can measure the effects of the wind without expensive technical equipment by using the Beaufort
wind scale.

Admiral Francis Beaufort began his service in the British Royal Navy when he was only 12 years old.
For more than 20 years, he observed and studied the wind. In 1805, he devised a scale to determine
the wind’s speed simply by looking at things around him. His scale still works today.

Go outside and use his scale to observe for yourself the effects of the wind’s power.

Description and Wind

Beaufort Number Observations Could Look Like This
Speed

Calm
0 Smoke rises vertically
0 to 1 mph

Light air
1 Smoke drifts slowly
2 to 3 mph

Slight breeze Leaves rustle,

2
4 to 7 mph wind vane moves
Gentle breeze Twigs move,
3
8 to 12 mph flags extended
Moderate breeze Branches move,
4
13 to 18 mph dust and paper rise

Fresh breeze
5 Small trees sway
19 to 24 mph

Strong breeze Large branches sway,

6
25 to 31 mph wires whistle

Moderate gale Trees in motion,

7
32 to 38 mph walking difficult

Fresh gale
8 Twigs break off trees
39 to 46 mph
Strong gale Branches break,
9
47 to 54 mph roof damage

Whole gale Trees snap,

10
55 to 63 mph damage evident
Storm
11 Widespread damage
64 to 72 mph
Hurricane
12 Extreme damage
73 to 82 mph

Copyright © General Electric Company 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved.