Thursday, March 17, 2011

Spring Break: Wednesday - Science Day

Science Day is always my favorite. I seem to do it every time I do a theme week for the kids. It's just fun to show my kids that learning can be a LOT of fun!

So to set up for the entire day I filled 6 cups with vinegar. Then I put drops of food coloring on plastic spoons in 6 different colors. On top of the food coloring & put baking soda to hide the color & then some glitter (because we all know glitter makes EVERYTHING better!) On the wall I hung a poster that had a color listed with an activity next to it. They had no idea what it meant!


Well, when you mix baking soda with vinegar it causes a chemical reaction which makes it EXPLODE! (okay, maybe not EXPLODE, but fizz over) Taya got to pick first. She grabbed a spoon & mixed it into the vinegar. It started fizzing & scared her to death, but then we all laughed & she laughed to. She got BLUE so we got to do the BLUE activity.


I taught the kids about vinegar & it's many uses. We cleaned the kitchen sink with it (I love how it makes your sink clean & shiny) & then I let them clean dirty pennies with it. They were amazed at how the dirt literally "melted" away!



Lorien picked the next spoon & got PURPLE!


This project was definitely the highlight of the day. I found a home made bouncy ball craft kit at Target about a month ago for $3.00. How fun is that? We talked a little bit about expansion & crystallization & then made them. We made about 13 balls & the kids LOVED it!! They were SO cool. You just filled the mold with the crystals, held it under water for 60 seconds, & voila, you have a bouncy ball! We were busy making these for almost 2 whole hours. They were a BLAST!












Cadence mixed her spoon in & got the GREEN activity!


I love color wonder. Not only is it fun, but it's mess-free which is perfect for Taya & Bladen. We talked a little bit about how it works & then I just let the kids create for an hour. They had a blast!







Bladen stirred a spoon in & got YELLOW! We talked about mixing things. Water mixed with food coloring, but it didn't mix with water. We used that science to make motion oceans. (put blue water in a jar & put baby oil on top) The kids had fun making waves in their motion oceans.



Bladen insisted on wearing a cape while making his.


Taya found my science lecture BORING!




Then the kids mixed another spoon in & got ORANGE. Home made play dough. I got to teach them about thickening agents & they got to see it in action as we made home made dough. We made it green so we could play with it on St. Patty's Day too. We had a blast!




Bladen didn't want his once he figured out it didn't taste good. ha ha ha. Why must kids put everything in their mouths?


We didn't get to the RED activity because of time. . . it was to watch a movie anyway, so we weren't missing anything too exciting. But I loved science day & I hope the kids did too. I love learning!

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