October 14: Fire!!!

Now that we'd made candles we had to use them for an experiement!  I started by asking the boys if they knew of any ways to put out fire.  Both boys knew that blowing on the flame would put it out...thanks to birthday candles, I suppose.  Koen also came up with water being able to put out a flame.  So we put their guesses to the test!

I lit Koen's candle and asked him to blow on it.  Sure enough!  The flame went out!  Then I gave Ty a small cup of water and asked him to pour it on the flame.  What do you know?  The flame went out!  Then I asked them what they thought might happen if we put the lid on while the candle was lit.  They looked at each other and looked at me and said, "I don't know."  I encouraged them to at least make a guess...especially based on the last two things they'd seen.  So they finally decided that the flame might go out.  We tried it, and wouldn't you know...they flame went out!  I know they're not super confident about making hypothoses, but it's good to start small like this! 

After we experimented with the fire, I asked the boys if they knew what to do if any flames ever got on their clothes.  I hate bringing up "scary" topics like this...I don't want them to worry about getting fire on them, but I want them to have the knowledge.  Both boys denied knowing what to do in that situation, yet when I began to say they need to stop moving, Koen piped up that we need to stop, drop, and roll!  He was so proud of himself and I was proud of him.  So then we practiced what we'd do if fire go on our clothing -- see the picture below of the boys rolling. :)

October 7: Color Changing Milk

This science activity originally comes from the Steve Spangler Website, but it's no longer posted.  It is very cool, though, so here's what you do.  Take a plate and pour milk to fill it.  Drip one drop of a few different colors of food coloring in the middle of the milk.  Try to keep the drops fairly close together.  Take a q-tip and dip it in the middle of the colors to see what happens (do NOT stir it).  Then put a drop of dish soap on the q-tip and place it in the middle of the colors again (for 10-15 seconds) and watch what happens.  Ty and Brielle were both excited about the movement of colors!  You can repeat that last step and place the q-tip elsewhere in the milk and watch what happens. 

Food coloring drops in milk.

Food coloring reacting to the soap in milk.

So what makes the food coloring move? 

     "Milk is mostly water but contains some vitamins, minerals, proteins, and tiny droplets of fat suspended in 

     solution.  Fats and proteins are sensitive to changes in the surrounding solution (milk)."  (Steve Spangler)

Apparently, the soap molecules weaken the chemical bonds in the milk's fats and proteins and then the soap molecules "chase" the fat molecules to connect them them.  I didn't explain all this to Ty and Brielle...maybe someday.

We decided to try this same experiment with food coloring in water.  I didn't expect much to happen based on the Steve Spangler website's information, but I was wrong.  It wasn't as dramatic as when it was in the milk, but still fun!

Food coloring in water.

Food coloring reacting to the soap.

Ty wanted to try something else for an experiment, so I pulled out the water color paint books and told the kids to see what happened when they painted with water.  They spent the next 30 minutes painting with water!  So fun!