Let me just tell you a bit about the birthday present Aunt Shel and Uncle Mark got the kids for their 6th birthday. Its a Science Box. Its a big grey Rubbermaid box full of science experiments and all the things you need to do them at home. The supplies are things like baking soda, bird seed, food coloring, a comb, etc. No mass-produced plastic Chemistry set, no siree. Good Old Fashioned Grocery Store Experiments. Geetle loves the idea and has been asking to get started. Unfortunately, she asks me at 7:45, when the bus comes at 8:00 or as we are cleaning up toys for bed.
Well, we finally got to do the first experiment Monday night. Pookie was a bit “whatever” in the beginning, because he thinks that if I tell him something is going to be fun, I am probably wrong. But, as soon as we got started, he was in to it. Geetle met us at the table, wearing her safety goggles. Our first experiment was called “Color Explosion” and involved milk, a tray, food coloring and dish soap…..all of which Aunt Shel had packed in the Science Box for us. (except the milk, of course). We read our instructions from the handy-dandy science notebook she had made for us.
First step was to pour the milk into the shallow pan.
Then add a few drops of food coloring in the center. Add a few more of a different color, right on top of the first puddle.
Finally, add a drop or two of dish soap on top of the food color blob.
Then…watch out! Color Explosion!
We had to do the experiment a second time, because they liked it so much. And the food color does really shoot out across the surface of the milk like gangly fireworks. We learned that this is because the soap is hydrophobic and when it runs away from the water in the milk, it takes the food coloring with it, drawing it across the white milk in random patterns. Its pretty cool. You should try it!
I will ask BAGD how to host the pdf of Aunt Shel’s Instruction Sheet and Scientific Explanation somewhere. That way I can share these experiments with you as we do them. Since he reads my blog EVERY DAY I would say we can expect an answer by tomorrow.
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I’ll have to send you the entire document! I keep forgetting! Glad they are having fun!
I love that idea! What a fun birthday present! She sounds like a neat aunt! One of my favorite kid’s experiments is a candle in a jar with vinegar and baking soda. I hope I haven’t suggested this before, but I love doing it, so here are the steps.
First, get an empty jar (like a jelly jar), then get a candle that will fit all the way down in the jar (so no candle is poking out of the jar) and put a little bit of play-doh on the bottom so that it can stand up in the jar. Now sprinkle some baking soda around the candle (maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of a cup, I never measure anything), and light the candle. Carefully, pour some vinegar into the jar, being sure not to pour any on the candle. Now watch very closely because this will happen very fast, but the carbon dioxide produced from the acid/base reaction puts the candle out. Neat.