How to Make a Homemade Hourglass

Make an hourglass using household materials.

When you are teaching children about ancient methods of telling time, you can make the lesson more interesting by showing the kids how to construct a model of an ancient time-telling device. For example, make a model of an hourglass that will show the kids how people of old used to monitor the passage of time. You can make a craft hourglass using materials that can be found around the house or purchased from a grocery store.

Things You'll Need

• 2 plastic soda bottles, 2 liter
• Funnel
• Sand
• Nail
• Hammer
• Colored duct tape

Instructions

1. Take the tops off two 2-liter soda bottles, and set the tops to the side.

2. Place a funnel into the opening of one of the soda bottles, and fill the soda bottle halfway full with sand. Remove the funnel from the soda bottle.

3. Hammer a hole into the center of both soda bottle tops using a nail, then screw the tops back onto their respective soda bottles.

4. Place the empty soda bottle upside down on top of the filled soda bottle, stacking the tops of the bottles together. Line up the punched out holes.

5. Wrap colorful duct tape around the middle of the structure where the tops of the bottles meet, securing the two bottles together tightly.

6. Turn the homemade hourglass upside down to watch the sand pass through.

References

• Think Science: Soda Bottle Hourglass