Do you know a budding engineer who’d love to win this awesome bundle of engineering gifts? This month we are joining forces with DK Books and Thames and Kosmos to bring you this brilliant bundle!
Here’s what you could win:
⭐ The Way Things Work book from DK Books: Embark on a captivating journey through the world of engineering with this acclaimed book. Discover the fascinating inner workings of machines and understand the principles behind everyday inventions. Packed with detailed illustrations and engaging explanations, The Way Things Work will broaden your understanding of the technological wonders that shape our lives.
⭐ Simple Machines set from Thames and Kosmos: Dive into hands-on experimentation with this captivating kit. Explore the fundamental principles of mechanical engineering through a variety of interactive projects. Build and operate models of levers, gears, pulleys, and more, gaining invaluable insights into the mechanics behind simple machines. Unleash your creativity as you tinker, test, and unlock the secrets of engineering.
⭐ Engineering Magazine Bundle and Snip-Out Science Activity Book from Whizz Pop Bang: Embark on a thrilling STEM adventure with a bundle of three Whizz Pop Bang engineering magazines and paper-craft activity book! This magazine bundle is packed full of activities to get children inventing, designing and building and the activity book is stuffed with 30 projects to cut, stick and fold, all with a science twist! Test fantastic flying machines, engineer brilliant bridges, make a moveable skeleton, craft some super sea creatures and much more!
✨ To enter this brilliant engineering competition, head over to Facebook or Instagram, where you’ll find all the details you need to enter for your chance to win this awesome engineering bundle. ✨
T&C’s: This giveaway closes at midnight on Friday 30th June 2023. One winner will be selected at random from all entries via Facebook and Instagram and will be contacted in the first week of June. This competition is open to UK residents only. Winner will be informed via your original comment by @whizzpopbangmag – please be wary of scams, do not give personal details or follow any links from other accounts. For full terms and conditions visit buff.ly/3ij98Q3 This competition is in no way affiliated, endorsed, sponsored or administered by Instagram or Facebook.
Digital subscribers can: 💥 Choose between an annual subscription or a one-off purchase of a single issue 💥 Flick through complete 36-page editions of Whizz Pop Bang 💥 Get instant access when a subscription is purchased 💥 Download and print the amazing cut-out paper craft activities included in each issue purchased 💥 Save up to 36% when buying an annual digital subscription* (or a huge 57% on international subscriptions)!
* When you order a digital subscription or digital single magazine you will be redirected to Issuu.com, our digital magazine publisher. Savings based on full cover price of physical magazine (£4.75 per issue) plus international postage charges. New issues will be available on 1st of each month.
We’re super excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with Laurence King Publishing and Insect Lore for May’s online competition which we are running on Instagram and Facebook only! Head over there to find out how to win this bumper prize!
You could win:
Bug Bingo Game – This beautifully illustrated bingo game features 64 species of bugs from around the world. Identify all kinds of insects – from the giant hawker dragonfly to the kissing bug and the orchid bee to the sacred scarab – mark them off on your card and bingo! Bug Bingo brings a fun and educational twist to the traditional game as players learn the names and colourings of both favourite species like the honey bee and more exotic bugs like the vampire moth. Contains one masterboard, 64 superbly illustrated bug tokens, 12 bingo cards and brightly coloured counters for you to mark up your card, as well as a leaflet containing basic information and a few quirky traits for all of the bugs featured.
Butterfly Garden – Experience the miracle of metamorphosis with this unique Butterfly Garden! Observe caterpillars grow and change into butterflies, and then release them. The kit includes a 30cm tall reusable habitat for easy butterfly watching and a voucher for 3-5 caterpillars with food. Once you have received your caterpillars, they will eat, spin silk, and grow to TEN times their original size! After 7-10 days watch as they hang upside down and form their chrysalides! Then watch as they emerge as beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies and observe them for a couple of days before releasing into nature.
A 6-month magazine subscription for Whizz Pop Bang! Keep your young scientist engaged with a monthly magazine subscription filled with hands-on science activities, the latest scientific news, jokes, puzzles, and more! The best part? Loads of the supplies needed for the activities can be found in your kitchen cupboard.
We are running this competition on Instagram and Facebook only! Head over to our socials to find out how to be in for a chance of winning one of three of these awesome bundles.
T&C’s: This giveaway closes at midnight on Wednesday 31st May 2023. One winner will be selected at random from all entries via Facebook and Instagram and will be contacted in the first week of June. This competition is open to UK residents only. Winner will be informed via your original comment by @whizzpopbangmag – please be wary of scams, do not give personal details or follow any links from other accounts. For full terms and conditions visit buff.ly/3ij98Q3 This competition is in no way affiliated, endorsed, sponsored or administered by Instagram or Facebook.
Enter to be in for a chance of winning one of four awesome Master Detective Toolkits from Thames and Kosmos!
Learn about how real detectives use forensic science to answer questions, gather evidence, and solve crimes. You’ll begin by setting up your detective’s office, then hone your observation skills with exercises. Move on to secure a crime scene and gather and document evidence such as fingerprints, footprints, and tyre tracks. Afterwards, head to the lab to analyse the evidence and learn about deciphering codes, writing with invisible ink, and communicating with secret symbols. Finally, you can apply all your skills and knowledge to solve a mock crime presented in the accompanying manual.
This 32-page book is full of illustrations and step-by-step instructions to guide you through your investigation. Start your adventure today and become a master detective!
For your chance to win, simply answer this question in the comments:
We’ve got three epic construction sets to give away from Geomag!
Enter our competition to be in for a chance to win a bumper 60-piece magnetic construction set from Geomag! This kit is sure to get mini-engineers excited about building 3D models because not only are they magnetic, but they also glow in the dark!
Use the strength and energy of the Geomag magnets and spheres to build crazy spinning tops and suspended models that will spin for ages. Put your building and spinning skills to the test with this Geomag Glow Magnetic Construction Set! Plus, they are environmentally friendly as all Geomag toys are made from recycled plastic!
For your chance to win, simply answer this question in the comments:
How tall is the Eiffel tower?
a) 30 metres b) 300 metres c) 3,000 metres
This competition closes at midnight on 28th February 2023. For full terms and conditions visit whizzpopbang.com/terms
Fill your child with science wonder with a subscription to Whizz Pop Bang, the award-winning magazine for 6 to 12-year-olds. Watch their face light up with glee when their very own magazine zooms through the letterbox! Packed full of hands-on science awesomeness, it’s the gift that keeps of delighting, month after month.
Whizz Pop Bang is the world’s most awesomely amazing kids’ science magazine, bursting with hands-on experiments, facts and fun! Every magazine is packed full of hands on science activities to help your kids fall in love with science. Here is a FREE science activity to help you entertain, excite and educate your child.
Learn the order of the planets by making a model solar system. Just download, print, add scissors and glue, and your astronauts-in-training will do the rest. It’s out of this world!
Our experiments are designed for children from 6 to 12, but this experiment is particularly perfect for year 5, P6 (Scotland) and 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds as it ties in with the National Curriculum topic about the solar system they will be taught this during this school year.
Did your mini-scientist enjoy this activity? This is just one of the many fun paper craft activities from the Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science Book. Click the image below to discover how much more fun your budding scientist can have with this book!
Fill your child with science wonder with a subscription to Whizz Pop Bang, the award-winning magazine for 6 to 12-year-olds. Watch their face light up with glee when their very own magazine zooms through the letterbox! Packed full of hands-on science awesomeness, it’s the gift that keeps of delighting, month after month.
We’re getting crafty with Build Your Own for December’s online competition! Enter our competition to be in for a chance of winning one of THREE bundles! Build Your Own’s new eco-friendly, STEM-inspired Periscope and a Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science Book filled with 30 projects to cut, fold and stick!
Build a fully functioning periscope with this incredibly clever kit from Build Your Own. Simply press out the parts then slot them together to construct a fun, lightweight and ergonomically designed periscope with a wide viewing area and extendable telescopic tube.
Everything you need to create the periscope is inside the box, including easy-grip handles which make the Periscope super easy to use and two high-quality mirrors ensure a bright, sharp image; also comes with a safety cap to protect the mirrors.
Even better, it’s made from sustainable cardboard using minimal plastics, the Periscope is stealth black with metallic silver detail with a sleek in design and will look great on the shelf when not in use.
The awesome Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science book is stuffed with 30 projects to cut, stick and fold, all with a science twist! Test fantastic flying machines, engineer brilliant bridges, make a moveable skeleton, craft some super sea creatures and much more!
It’s printed on high-quality uncoated paper, designed to be snipped out and experimented with! The book is slightly larger than A4 in size and contains 64 action-packed pages, based on the paper activities from the Pullout sections of Whizz Pop Bang. With so many projects to get stuck into, it’s sure to keep your child busy for hours and hours!
Will you be a lucky winner?
We are running this competition on Instagram and Facebook only! Head over to our socials to find out how to be in for a chance of winning one of three of these awesome bundles.
T&C’s: This giveaway closes at midnight on Saturday 31st December 2022. Three winners will be selected at random from all entries via Facebook and Instagram and will be contacted in the first week of January 2023. This competition is open to UK residents only. Winner will be informed via the original comment you made on the appropriate platform and will be from @whizzpopbangmag – please be wary of scams, do not give personal details or follow any links from other accounts. For full terms and conditions visit http://buff.ly/3ij98Q3?fbclid=IwAR0eEqSY-V9JtUvvaYsKhjvmSRBURmapUOmYBaR7hl5XESRIS3hdqsWTqHI. This competition is in no way affiliated, endorsed, sponsored or administered by Instagram or Facebook.
Why do carrots grow underground? Why aren’t rivers salty? Why do bouncy balls bounce? What’s the Moon for? Why don’t human eyes glow like cats’ eyes? Why does ice stick to your skin? Why do we shiver? How is fire made? Why do people have different accents?
If there’s a curious child in your family who never stops asking ‘why?’, Whizz Pop Bang could be just the answer you’re looking for! Give a gift subscription this Christmas and help your scientist-in-training to understand the world around them. Get a free Science Joke Book worth £6.99 with every subscription!
Keep reading to find the answers to these questions written by Whizz Pop Bang’s expert team of scientists, and discover why endless questioning is a really important part of your child’s development (even when finding the answers can be challenging!)
Every issue of Whizz Pop Bang is packed with fascinating facts, simple scientific explanations, and experiments designed to demonstrate the answers to some of your child’s burning questions. Our team of expert scientists (including our all-knowing robot, Y) are on hand to answer our readers’ questions every issue, too – so if you can’t find the answer to your child’s latest conundrum here, why not email us at y@whizzpopbang.com and see if we can help?
Meanwhile, here are the scientific explanations of a few wonderful questions we’ve been asked recently…
Whizz Pop Bang’s resident robot, Y.
Why do carrots and other vegetables grow underground and not above ground?
We eat at least six different parts of plants. Sometimes we eat the leaves (e.g. lettuce and kale and cabbage). Sometimes we eat the stems (e.g. celery, asparagus, and rhubarb). We eat seeds, such as sunflower seeds and sweetcorn. We eat flowers (such as broccoli) and fruit. And we also eat roots and tubers. A carrot is the main root (or tap root) of a carrot plant. As well as soaking up water and minerals from the soil, it acts as an underground food store for the plant. That makes it a great food for us, too!
Why aren’t rivers salty, like the sea?
Rain isn’t salty because when water evaporates, anything dissolved in it is left behind. Rivers are topped up by this rainwater, so they aren’t very salty either. But rivers do pick up some salt as they rush over rocks. Eventually, this salt ends up in the sea. Rivers around the world carry 3.6 billion tonnes of salt to the oceans every year! But the oceans don’t just get saltier and saltier, because about the same amount of salt sinks to the seabed each year, becoming part of new rocks.
Why do bouncy balls bounce and don’t just stick on the ground like a rock?
Unlike rocks, bouncy balls are made of elastic materials, such as rubber. Elastic materials are flexible – it’s easy to change their shape. But they return to their original shape after being squashed or stretched. When the ball hits the ground, it is squashed out of shape. Some of its movement energy is changed into elastic energy, stored very briefly inside the ball. Once the ball has come to a stop, this elastic energy is released as the ball returns to its original shape. The ball pushes against the ground and the ground pushes back, sending the ball back up into the air.
Why do we need the moon?
About 4.5 billion years ago, a giant space rock the size of Mars crashed into Earth and knocked off a chunk of our planet. This chunk of rock became the Moon, and it still orbits Earth, roughly once every 27 days. The Moon is big enough and close enough that its gravity causes bulges in Earth’s water that sweep across the planet’s oceans and seas, causing the tides. Many living things have adapted to depend on the tides for shelter and food. Humans who live near coasts also depend on the tides for catching certain fish and sea creatures, and for sports like surfing. But if the Moon suddenly disappeared it wouldn’t just be coastal life that was disrupted. All life depends on the Moon, because it helps to keep Earth’s climate stable.
Develop your child’s problem solving skills with the Whizz Pop Bang Science Riddle book!
Why don’t human eyes glow like cats’ eyes do in the dark?
Want to know why cats’ eyes glow? They shine in the dark because each eye has a thin layer of crystals at the back. This layer is called the tapetum lucidum. Its job is to bounce light back into the cat’s eye. This extra light helps cats to see better in the dark. Lots of other crepuscular and nocturnal animals have this light-reflecting layer too. Most animals that are awake in the daytime don’t, including humans. However, you’ll sometimes see human eyes glow red in a photograph, when the bright light of a camera flash bounces off the back of our eyes.
Why do ice cubes stick to your fingers and ice lollies stick to your tongue?
Heat always moves from a warmer place to a colder place. When you lick a lolly, heat flows from your toasty tongue to the, erm, icy ice. If the lolly is very cold, the saliva coating your tongue drops below 0°C before your body can warm it back up. The saliva freezes and becomes part of the chunk of ice along with the lolly! The same can happen with wet fingers and a very cold ice cube. Never pull your skin away – use room temperature water to melt the ice and set yourself free!
Why do your teeth chatter when you’re cold?
Want to know why do we shiver? Deep inside your brain, your hypothalamus (say hi-po-thal-a-mus) is busy monitoring your core body temperature. It’s your inbuilt thermostat! But instead of turning on the central heating when you drop below 37°C, the hypothalamus triggers reactions that help keep your organs warm while you find shelter! One of these is shivering. Muscles produce heat as they contract – think how warm you get when you exercise. Shivering is your body’s way of making your muscles contract and relax as you stand still. As your jaw muscles shiver, your lower jaw moves up and down quickly, bumping your teeth together.
How does fire form?
Heat is one part of the ‘fire triangle’ – the three things needed for a fire to start. The other two are fuel (something to burn) and oxygen (from the air). The heat – from a burning match, lightning or even the Sun’s rays – starts a reaction between the fuel and the oxygen. This produces gases, including water vapour and carbon dioxide. It also releases energy as heat and light. This heat keeps the reaction going until the fuel or oxygen runs out, or the fire is cooled.
Why do people have different accents?
People can speak the same language with very different accents. This is because we aren’t born speaking a particular language, but with a brain that is brilliant at absorbing and imitating any sounds it hears. This amazing ability to learn is why people tend to speak with the accent they heard most often when they were very young. By the time we are a year old, we are less able to hear different sounds and it becomes harder to pick up a new accent. The ability to imitate stays with us though, so accents can change as people move around, or even during a conversation. In fact, scientists have found that mimicking each other’s speech patterns can help two people to understand each other better, and make friends more quickly.
📣 We’re super excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with Den Kit Company and Tim Peake for October’s online competition which we are running on Instagram and Facebook only! Head over to our socials to find out how to win this bumper prize! ⭐
You could win:
⭐ The new Potions Making kit from Den Kit Company. Take your Potion Making Kit on an outdoor adventure and collect any special petals, leaves, grasses or soil to create a marvellous mixture of your own making. Add a pinch of natural colour, a splash of water, a sniff of sunshine – and just imagine the spells you could cast. Find it here.
⭐ Astronaut Tim Peake’s brand new book – A Cosmic Diary of our Incredible Universe. Are you bursting to know the answers to REALLY BIG questions? Like, how are stars made? What will we find in a black hole? Which fruit can create antimatter? What even IS antimatter? Put on your seatbelts and blast into space with your guide, astronaut Tim Peake (and a host of expert STEM characters) in this fascinating adventure through space, time and the diary of our truly incredible universe. Find it here.
⭐ A bumper bundle of 6 magically intergalactic issues of Whizz Pop Bang magazines that will have any scientist-in-training zooming to the Moon and cooking up peculiar potions, all with items you will probably find you already have in your kitchen cupboard. Each issue is jam-packed with science news, fun makes, puzzles, jokes and more!
To enter this competition please head over to Facebook or Instagram to find out more!
T&C’s: This giveaway closes at midnight on Monday 31st October 2022. One winner will be selected at random from all entries via Facebook and Instagram and will be contacted in the first week of November. This competition is open to UK residents only. Winner will be informed via the original comment you made on the appropriate platform and will be from @whizzpopbangmag – please be wary of scams, do not give personal details or follow any links from other accounts. For full terms and conditions visit http://buff.ly/3ij98Q3?fbclid=IwAR0eEqSY-V9JtUvvaYsKhjvmSRBURmapUOmYBaR7hl5XESRIS3hdqsWTqHI. This competition is in no way affiliated, endorsed, sponsored or administered by Instagram or Facebook.
We’ve teamed up with Build Your Own to offer 6 lucky winners the chance to win a super cool Eco Marble Run.
This eco-friendly, STEM-inspired Marble Run is assembled using slot together techniques – no glue, no mess, no fuss. Everything you need is provided in the kit – follow the detailed instructions: press out the pre-cut parts, build and watch them go!
Wind the handle to raise the 10 swirly glass marbles up the elevator; then watch as they speed down one of the three different neon coloured tracks. Enjoy endless fun as the marbles twist, turn, drop down the steps, and then whizz round the vortex cone before racing to the finish! Which marble will win?
Budding engineers will enjoy the challenge of the construction. And once built, the Marble Run stands at an impressive 50 cm tall, and has 3 different neon courses with run switches to randomise the marble directions.
Building the Marble Run will encourage children to use their imagination and problem-solving skills. Plus, they’ll learn about physics and kinetic energy as they play.
Build Your Own are the creators of an exciting range of award-winning, STEM-inspired children’s toys that you can build yourself. The Build Your Own range is suitable for ages 8 to 100!
Marbles were a popular toy in the Victorian era, to be in for a chance to win one of 6 Marble Run Build kits simply answer this question in the comments: