Anatomy of a firework

There are some really cool books and websites that explain how fireworks work. One of our favorite websites was this one, but there are lots more. This one was extremely helpful as well.  Inspired by this picture:

we decided to try to make our own fireworks models, with viewable cross-sections, of course.

I broke out the dried beans, colored lentils, and black sesame seeds. Ah, the joys of spontaneous creation and using what we have on hand. :)

The boys loved carefully including each part: the timed fuse, the short fuse, the lift charge, the burst charge, and so forth. Malachi and Daisy just wanted to pour lots of beans in theirs, and Junie (providing a nice symmetry) wanted to empty all the beans OUT.

We also found several diagrams/lists like the one above, telling about the names of various firework effects. You can even take a quiz here, though we found this one a little bit lacking in clarity. Still, it was fun.