Tire Tracks in Sand 沙地上的輪胎足跡

So recently, we've found a great new toy. It's called Kinetic Sand. It is similar to Playdoh in many ways, yet is something totally different. It is sand. It packs down just like sand and feels just like sand. The cool thing is that it's clean, easy to clean up and can be packed together and taken apart a million times.

話說我們最近發現了一個超棒的新玩具，叫做魔法動力沙。它跟黏土很像但卻是完全不同的東西。它壓緊後像沙，摸起來也像，最酷的是它乾淨又很好清理，也可以重複地拆開組合高達上百萬次。

We've been playing with our sand for the past couple of evening. Last night, we took a look at the different footprints Oliver's toys would leave in the sand and how they were different. Today, Oli was ready to go and curious if the different trucks and cars he had would leave different tracks as well. Sounds like a great question to me.

我們已經連續幾個晚上都在玩這魔法動力沙了。昨天晚上，我們試著看Oliver不同的玩具在沙上會留下怎樣不同的足跡，今天 Oli很好奇的想知道他其它不同的玩具卡車以及車子是不是也會在沙上留下不同的軌跡。嗯這真是一個好問題，我也想知道~

We started first by packing down the sand a bit. We had to play around to figure out how much we needed to pack it down to get the clearest tire marks. Next, it was time to pick a truck with some recognizable tire tracks. The excavator seemed like a logical place to start.

一開始呢我們先將動力沙稍微地壓緊，在這之前我們已經玩了一陣子了，知道沙子要壓多緊才能取得最清楚的胎痕。接下來就是挑選一輛可以留下明顯胎痕的玩具卡車了。挖土機看起來很符合這需求。

It left very clear tracks. All right, time to try the other ones now. We tried big cars and little cars. We learned that we could tell if the car was big or small by how wide apart its tire tracks were.

果不其然，挖土機在沙上留下了非常清楚的軌跡。嗯，不如也來試試其他的車子吧。我們同時還試了幾輛大台以及小的車子，發現經由胎痕間的距離我們可以判斷出車子的大小，每一台車都會留下不同的足跡。我們於是觀察起這些足跡的樣式然後跟車子的輪胎比對，漸漸的明白為什麼每台車子的軌跡樣式會有所不同了。

Each car had a different kind of pattern that it left. We looked closely at the patterns and compared them to what the tires looked like and started to figure out why every pattern was different.

Then, we saw a huge difference when we used the steam roller. It was totally smooth. We were able to compare it to one of the books that we have about building roads and all of the different vehicles.

果不其然，挖土機在沙上留下了非常清楚的軌跡。嗯，不如也來試試其他的車子吧。我們同時還試了幾輛大台以及小的車子，發現經由胎痕間的距離我們可以判斷出車子的大小，每一台車都會留下不同的足跡。我們於是觀察起這些足跡的樣式然後跟車子的輪胎比對，漸漸的明白為什麼每台車子的軌跡樣式會有所不同了。

Finally, after we had tried out all of the cars, we decided to play a game. Oliver covered his eyes and I ran a car over the sand. When he opened his eyes, he had to look at the tracks and then look at the tires of the cars to figure out which one had made the track.

最後，在我們試過我們所有的車子之後，我們決定玩一個遊戲。Oliver遮住他的眼睛然後我挑選一台車輾過動力沙。當他睜開眼睛時，他必須觀察沙上的軌跡並比對所有車子的輪胎來告訴我這軌跡是哪一輛車子留下的。

He was very quick figuring it out. Here are some questions you can ask your kids to get them thinking about it themselves.

"Look at the tire tracks. Are they wide apart, or close together? So, do you think it was a big truck or a little car that made these tracks?"

"Look closely at the tire tracks. What shapes or patterns do you see in there? Do they all go the same direction or different directions? Can you find the car that has the same tracks as those?"

他很快的就比對出來了。在這裡我列出了幾個問題，你們可以詢問你們的孩子並且讓他們自己思考答案:

“觀察一下這些軌跡，它們是散開的還是靠很近? 那你(們)認為這是大卡車還是小台車子的胎痕呢?”

“仔細看一下這些輪胎的痕跡，你(們)看到了什麼樣的形狀及紋路? 它們都是朝同一個方向行駛呢還是不同? 你(們)可以找出來是哪一輛車留下這軌跡的嗎?”

We're just starting to have fun with our sand. We'll keep you posted on all the other ways we find to play with it.

我們正要開始享受這動力沙帶來的樂趣呢! 如果我們發現了這沙子的其他玩法，我們一定會告訴大家的，下次見囉!

Cheerio!