Acid Egg Bath

This week I wanted to do a very simple experiment that the kids could observe without having to do a lot of preparation work. The acid egg bath turned out to be a perfect fit. It was a fun experiment to observe and taught the kids about chemical reactions (which I explained in a very simple yet scientific way for my little guys).

Materials Needed:
A glass jar with a lid
A hard boiled egg (make a few in case you crack one by mistake)
Vinegar

I created a simple worksheet that I walked through with Oliver.  I asked him questions and wrote down his responses, so that I could read them back to him as we were observing the egg over time. What you see below are the questions that are on the worksheet. The purple writing is what I recorded for Oliver during our experiment. Simply, place the hard boiled egg in the glass jar and cover it completely with the vinegar. Then, seal the jar and observe! We checked the egg for the first time after four hours and then let it soak overnight to be checked again in the morning.

Sink or Swim Density Column

Sink or Swim/Part 1:
This experiment is great for young kids!  It is visually appealing and holds their interest as they are busy testing whether different objects sink or swim in the different liquids! 

Lesson Objectives
1 .Kids will identify objects that sink and float in different liquids
2. Kids will understand the concept of density through verbal expression
3. Kids will record results on a graph 
4 .Kids will make and label a density column diagram

Materials:

1. Corn Syrup
2. Vegetable Oil
3. Food Coloring
4. Three glasses
5. Five Raisins, penny's, chic peas, sm. balls of paper and paperclips 

When we started this experiment I had three clear glasses on the counter with the same amount of three different liquids poured into them.  I used about 3/4 cup of corn syrup in the first glass, water in the second and vegetable oil in the third. The corn syrup that I had was the same color as the vegetable oil, so I wanted to drop some food coloring in to distinguish between the three liquids (I would suggest buying a dark colored corn syrup rather than light). 

Using Celery to Talk About Plants

In this plant experiment I will be doing what teachers do best and pulling from a couple of different resources to put my lesson together.  All of the original links I used will be included below as well as a guide to my lesson.

The Objectives in this lesson:
1. Kids will identify simple parts of a plant
2. Kids will understand the function of the different parts of the plant
3. Kids will identify what a plant needs to survive


Literature Used:
The Carrot Seed by: Ruth Krauss
(Optional) Diary of a Worm
(Optional) Magic School Bus Video: Plants

**Teaching Tip: Whenever you are teaching the kids a new concept it is always best to reinforce the new idea in as many ways as possible.  Checking out books with your new topic in the library is a great way to reinforce a fun new idea and get them interested. Teachers in the classroom are always displaying books about the current units of study that the kids can get their hands on.
 I often back up new ideas with movies or You Tube clips that might show the kids a different visual of what they are learning.  When you do this, you will find that they can't help but get excited about your new learning topic!

Materials Needed:

• Celery Sticks 
• Food Coloring
• Parts of a Plant Diagram (link below)
• What Plants Need to Survive (link below)
• The Carrot Seed by: Ruth Krauss

Gummy Bear Experiment

This weeks experiment was really fun for the kids because they got to use Gummy Bears in our experiment and then taste a few as we worked...of course we didn't eat the ones we experimented with!  In this particular experiment the kids are taking four different liquids and soaking the Gummy Bears for an extended amount of time. Then, they get to observe and record the changes that take place.

I let the Gummy Bear's sit in the liquids for two days on the counter.  They were then able to make observations and take note of the changes in the bear's over time.  You would think that they would lose interest over a two day period, but that was not the case in our house.  Many times during the day I heard "Mom! Come and see the Gummy Bear's...or Can I take a closer look?"  We had the magnifying glass on the counter next to the tray of soaking bear's and the fun lasted until we took them out :)

Balancing Scale Activity

Oliver loves an experiment where he can be totally hands on (I think most kids do)!  This particular experiment created great learning opportunities in both the areas of Science and Math. I searched online for how to make a homemade balance scale and found a very easy and effective example on Pintrest.

This particular balance scale only required a hanger, two cups and some string to build. We built the scale the day before we did the activity and both Oliver and Ellie got out their basket of cars and started playing!

Does it Dissolve in Water?

This Experiment was wonderful for walking the kids through the Scientific Process.  It was fun making new predictions and it kept their little hands very busy.

I found this particular experiment at the link below and then supplemented some fun worksheets for the kids to use as we completed the experiment.  I used the process from this site and then tweaked it a bit to match my own teaching style.

http://handsonaswegrow.com/kids-what-dissolves-in-water-experiment/#_pg_pin=579277

I started this experiment by gathering all of the kitchen items that we would be using and placing them into little clear cups.  I then labeled the cups (color coding each one so that I could refer to the colors during the experiment). I also filled six glass cups with water so that we could clearly see if the kitchen item was dissolving. We would be looking to see if brown sugar, white sugar, flour, salt, oatmeal and colored sprinkles would dissolve in water.

Our First Official Science Experiment: Which Liquid Best Cleans a Penny

I love Science and I love watching my little ones make discovery's and learn together!  Wednesdays are Science Experiment days in our house.  Our first official Science Experiment was discovering which liquid would best clean a dirty penny!  Oliver(4) and Ellie(3) were excited to get our their dirty penny's and put on their Science aprons to get started. 

I gathered our three liquids and labeled them with different colors (for my kids who can't read yet). I then laid out three glass bowls where we would place the penny's.

 I had the kids make predictions about which liquid they thought would best clean the penny and then taped their predictions on the bottle that they chose. 

Teaching Tip: Displaying labels for kids who can't yet read is a really important part of exposing them to written language and helps them develop their language and letter/sound recognition skills. It's never to early to expose your young children to the language of Science.  Talk to them about the Scientific process and "what scientists do," this language will just become a normal part of their science experience.