Make Stuff with Your Kid

UPDATE:

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This one does not work… I apologize, it seemed so promising but 6 different readers had poor results as did I.  The best thing we caught was a raccoon(It licked the bottle completely clean - yeeeech!). I will let you know if I find a better device!

Thanks,

Jim

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I read about this last year sometime and have been wanting to try it ever since.
We are going to make a mosquito trap from an empty two liter pop bottle, sugar, warm water, and a packet of regular bread yeast from the grocery store.

First, a trick to draw a straight line on a cylinder:
Push the cylinder (pop bottle in our case) into a corner. You can hold the pen in your hand or tape it to a heavy book if you need. Press the pen against the bottle and spin the cylinder while keeping it trapped in the corner.

Stop and feel really smart for a minute for knowing the line trick, then, (all careful like…), follow your really smartly drawn line and cut the top off. I am using a utility knife but you could use scissors or anything that will suit.

Once you have the top cut off, set it aside but don’t throw it away. It will go inside the bottle but turned upside down.

Next, off to the kitchen for the filling.

Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 2 1/2 cups of warm water. The water should be warm but not hot.

You will need a packet of regular bread yeast to add to the water and sugar mix.

Stir the warm water and sugar until mixed and add the yeast.

Pour all this nastiness into the pop bottle and put the top part of the bottle in upside down. (Take the cap off first)

That is it. Put it outside somewhere shady in the evening and wait. The mosquitoes will fly down in thinking that the gases coming off the yeast concoction is some tasty kid to bite. They will fly in but not be able to get back out. I just put mine out in the yard. Email me and let me know how yours works.

(jim@makestuffwithyourkid.com)

Thanks for playing!

Tags: gross, mosquito trap, science

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 2:53 am and is filed under Science Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.