How to Skip a Flat Round Stone Over Water

Seems like yesterday when we were kids and tossed a stone into a lake, river, or stream to see how many times it would skip....we used to have contests to see who could skip one the farthest. Remember? This article will tell you how to select just the right stone and what to do to be the best skipper of the bunch! Teach your little ones next time you go on a picnic at the lake before someone else does! The author still skips stones every time he goes camping!.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• smooth, flat, round rocks
• your fingers, hands and arm, a little body motion!
• some energy!
• a body of water, preferably calm and peaceful
• friends or family members to watch in case you set a record!

1. 
    
   RIVER ROCK...CAN YOU PICK OUT THE BEST STONES?

   PICK OUT A FEW GOOD STONES.
   If you are near a river the flat round ones that are on the shoreline bottom should be just right . Put several in your pocket to take out and toss.

2. 
    
   CURL FINGER AND THUMB AROUND FLAT STONE

   HOLD STONE BETWEEN THUMB AND FOREFINGER. Make sure it feels comfortable. The experts like to have a little defect, a nick or irregularity, so they can hold it tighter without slipping.

3. 
    
   BAG OF SKIPPING STONES

   SET YOUR BODY SIDEWAYS TO THE WATER. This is so you can get a good body motion into your toss. Try to think about throwing the stone as hard as you can, at a low angle (experts like about 20 degrees angle to the water), with a position of the flat rock parallel to the water surface.....that way the stone hits the water surface at a low trajectory and flat to the water...thus "skipping" across the surface.

4. 
    
   MACINAC BEACH STONE SKIPPING

   SPEED, SPIN AND ANGLE IS THE KEY! The stone needs to travel as fast as you can throw it while maintaining the low angle, spinning all the while so it "skips" off the water surface.

5. 
    
   SKETCH SKIPPING FLAT ROUND STONE OVER WATER

   YELL WHEN YOU GET A REAL SKIPPER! As you successfully skip your stone, give a shout so all can hear and see!

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to save some time hunting for stones, you can buy skipping stones by the bagful from several places on-line, your Hobby Crafts store may have some you can use too.
• Caution your children never to toss stones when there is a person in their line of site..... if they are on the other side of a lake that is big of course that's ok!

[patysson]

on 8/14/2009 nice work on this topic