science

Vinegar and Baking Soda Kitchen Science Bubbles

vinegar baking soda science

 

“Bubbles! Exploding Bubbles!!!”


This was the scientific observation my year 2 year old while completing this super sensory experiment. Not only a fun way to watch cause and effect but the use of the eye dropper qualifies this as fine motor skill practice.


Supplies you need to have on hand to create fun bubbles that also count as a science experiement:


•    Baking Soda (a whole box)
•    Vinegar
•    Eye Dropper
•    Food Colouring
•    Cloth for spills/explosions
•    Tray, Baking Sheet with a ridge is perfect
•    Muffin Tray


Start by sprinkling a fair amount of baking soda all over the baking sheet so it’s nicely covered.


Put vinegar in about 6 of the muffin sections, about half way full. Add various colours of food colouring to the vinegar sections, one colour per area.


Suck the coloured vinegar up in the eye dropper by pressing the eye dropper into the vinegar. Then deposit the vinegar into the baking soda hills.


POOF! Bubbles will group up and spill around the tray like a mini volcano. Your child will delight with excitement that their action just created this response!

“Again!!!”


Likely your child will love to do this over and over and over, measuring the results in their mind. Does the blue “water” do anything differently than the red? Ask them probing questions to encourage experiementing actions (ie: If you put more vinegar do you get bigger bubbles? If you add more colours does it change the explosion? How?)


As long as your child can maneuver the eye dropper well, this is a great activity to keep busy for a long time. Perfect for the kitchen table while dinner prep is happening and you can watch over but not do it for them.


One piece of warning – stay out of the baking soda! It tastes gross and has a messy flour-like consistency if it’s made a mess of.  If you’re anti-mess you may wish to discourage your child from raking their hands through their finished product (like mine did…) as the mess will be a combination of powdery and also sticky from the vinegar.

 

If your child loves the 'exploding' effect, try creating baking soda and vinegar "Volcanoes" together. All details and instructions here.

Posted by momstown mama on 04/02/2013 - 16:15
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Using Science to make Balloon Aliens

Science is fun at all ages and our little ones especially love learning about the wonders of the world through science.  This month with our theme being the Solar System, we have explored lots of crafts but we can even us science to have fun with space aliens!

 

We used a very simple concept of vinegar and baking soda reacting to cause a gas to blow up our aliens!

 

First we took some balloons and drew on our alien faces.

Then we added about a 1/4 cup of vinegar to an empty water bottle.  We also added about a table spoon of baking soda into our balloons.

 science for kids

 

We then placed the balloon over the mouth of the bottle. 

When we were ready we tipped the balloons to allow all the baking soda to fall into the bottle and mix with the vinegar.

 science for kids

 

The results were instant!  The gas and bubbles started to form and the balloons filled up revealing our alien faces!

 

science for kids

 

 

This got a great reaction from the kids and was fun for the moms too.

 

Submitted by momstown Barrie

Posted by momstown team on 03/27/2013 - 12:05
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Earth Hour Ideas and Activities for Kids

Will YOU turn off your lights this weekend for Earth Hour?

momstown moms and kids will be turning off their lights and unplugging this weekend for Earth Hour. 

 Earth Hour Activities for Kids

 

Earth Hour began as a small World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) event in Sydney, Australia. In 2007, 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. The movement was quickly picked up, and the following year was an even bigger event.

 

In that short time over 50 million people had become aware of Earth Hour, and turned out their lights to save energy and spread awareness in 2008. Even some of the world's most recognizable buildings were dark for Earth Hour, including Rome's Coliseum, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square, New York.  In 2012, Earth Hour cemented itself as the largest voluntary action for the environment, with more than 6950 cities and towns across 152 countries and territories taking part.

 

You can help make a difference by reducing your energy consumption for Earth Hour in March, between 8:30 and 9:30 pm, while taking note of how much you consume, and how you can make changes every day to help reduce climate change for future generations.  Earth Hour and Earth Day are perfect times to open the dialogue with your children.  What can they do to help the Earth?  In addition to unplugging chargers, clocks, computers, lights and turning down the thermostat, find other ways that you can help to be eco-aware in your home.

 

momstown has found lots of great ideas to help with this conversation and inspire our kids to do their part for the environment.

 

There is no better time than Earth Hour (and Earth Day on April 22nd) to spend some quality family time creating crafts that help encourage the conversation about our earth, recycling and endangered animals. We have crafts that reuse items from around the house, create the earth out of pizza cardboard and even create our planet with your kid's feet! 

 

Young kids can work on the letter "O" with this amazingly simple "On/Off" Switch craft, teaching not only about early reading, but small ways in which they can help be eco-aware in their own home.  Planet Forward also has a great lightbulb craft for kids to get "turned on" to the environment and saving energy.

on off switch craft for Earth Day 

 Since our kids will likely be asleep, how about turning off your lights twice?  Create a "kid-friendly" hour like Caroline Fernandez of the Yummy Mummy Club will do.  She uses this opportunity to talk about the environment and even extends the hour into a full weekend including movie time to watch "eco-conscious" movies for kids. 

 

Older kids might be ready to make a committment to help out by reducing their own footprint.  Earthhour.org has some great online games, virtual lightswitches and kid-friendly information about .  Our friend, 10 year old Eco-Blogger Hannah Alper, has also created a great pledge for kids- download it on her blog.  She recommends spending lots of family time talking about what you can do to help the earth, in your house.

 

Whether it's gazing at the stars, having games night, crafts by candlelight or even a night alone in the dark with your spouse, use this chance to talk to your kids about the environment and help ensure that the next generation will continue to work towards making our earth stronger.

 

Posted by momstown team on 03/20/2013 - 09:41
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Silly Crafts and Ways to Get Silly with your Kids!

Who doesn't love to get silly once in a while, whether it's jumping in leaves in the fall, playing dress up or even making funny goo!  At momstown this month, we are getting our "silly on" with creative crafts, funny books, crazy dress up or hilarious snacks!

 

great ideas to get silly with your kids

 

 

Here are some fun ways to get silly with your kids;

 

Tell Silly Knock Knock Jokes or make up your own!

 

 

Start Clowning Around!  Create a circus in your own house!

 

 

Fun with Magic Mud and Silly Putty

 

 

Silly Handprint Monsters

 

 

Giggle together when you share embarrassing and silly stories that happened to you!

 

 

Nothing is sillier than a dance party with homemade microphones!  Here's a great song to start you off!

 

 

 Read some Dr. Suess books and act them out!

 

 

Make a Animal Cracker Carousel

 

 

Have a tea party, dress up like pirates or princesses and speak in a new silly language!

 

 

Silly Snacks - or how about this silly apple smiles from athriftymom.com

 


silly activities for kids

 

 

 

Posted by momstown team on 01/07/2013 - 13:32
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Science for Kids! Making Borax Crystals

At our home, we love science experiments!  I'm not talking about making penicillin/growing mold by leaving food in the fridge for too long (although I'm embarrassed to say that may or may not have happened in this house before)!  I'm talking about learning about why things are the way they are or how to create or manipulate matter. We love hands on experiments!

 

Recently, we grew our own crystals! How cool is that?


making Borax Crystals

 

MATERIALS NEEDED:

string

wide mouth pint jar 

pipe cleaners (we used sparkly, shiny ones)

Borax

pencil, stick or BBQ skewer

boiling water

scissors


INSTRUCTIONS:

 

1. To make borax crystal snowflakes we need to first make the snowflake shapes with the pipe cleaners. Cut a pipe cleaner into three equal sections. You need to then twist the sections together at their centers, forming a six-sided snowflake shape. It doesn't have to be even because you can cut and trim the sides. Make sure the snowflake can fit inside the jar.

 

2. Next, tie the string to the end of one of the snowflake 'arms'. Then, tie the other end of the string to the pencil, stick, skewer. Make sure the length is so that the pencil hangs the snowflake into the jar. Not touching the bottom of the jar, but enough that the snowflake is fully immersed in the solution.

 

3. ADULTS, this is where you need to come in. Fill the wide mouth pint jar with boiling water.

 

4. Add one tablespoon of Borax at a time to the boiling water. Stir to dissolve after each addition of Borax. The quantity: 3 tablespoons of Borax per cup of water.

 

5. Hang the pipe cleaner snowflake in the jar. Rest the pencil, stick, or BBQ skewer on top of the jar.  Make sure the snowflake is completely covered with liquid solution. Ensure that it hangs freely and doesn't touch the bottom or sides of the jar. If doing more than one experiment at a time, make sure none of the snowflakes are touching.

 

6. Let sit undisturbed overnight.

 

7. Presto! As my four year old will tell you, "It's like magic, but it's science!" You can now admire all the pretty crystals and hang your snowflake as a decoration or in a window to catch the sunlight. We're using ours as Christmas tree ornaments!

 

LOOKS LIKE SOME KIND OF WACKY SCIENCE EXPERIMENT, DOESN'T IT? THE WATER TURNED PINK BECAUSE OF THE PURPLE PIPE CLEANERS. WE USED SOME SPARKLY SILVER, BLUE, AND PURPLE PIPE CLEANERS JUST TO SEE WHAT THE EFFECT WOULD BE. YOU CAN USE REGULAR PIPE CLEANERS, BUT THE SPARKLY ONES REALLY DO ADD TO EFFECT AND MAKE THE CRYSTALS LOOK EVEN MORE BRILLIANT!

 

making Borax crystals

 

IMPORTANT NOTES


1.Borax is available at most grocery stores in the laundry detergent aisle. The one that is readily available in our local grocery stores is the 20 Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster.


2.Parents and adults required to not only supervise, but assist with this experiment. Boiling water is used and Borax is not meant to be eaten. Please make sure that there is an adult to supervise!


3.If you don't have Borax, you can also use sugar or salt. It may take longer to grow the crystals without the Borax, so be patient. Add sugar or salt to the boiling water until it stops dissolving. Ideally you want no crystals at the bottom of the jar.

 

THESE ARE SO BEAUTIFUL! MY FOUR YEAR OLD WAS AMAZED TO SEE THE CRYSTALS FORM RIGHT BEFORE HER EYES! WE LEFT THE SOLUTION AND THE PIPE CLEANERS OVERNIGHT AND WITHIN A SHORT TIME WE SAW CRYSTALLIZATION BEGIN. BY MORNING, THE CRYSTALS WERE BIGGER AND FULLER. TRULY AMAZING! 


THE CRYSTAL SNOWFLAKES AND STARS MAKE GORGEOUS DECORATIONS FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

 

Thanks to our guest blogger,

Christine McNaughton from Life on Manitoulin.
Twitter: @chancesmommy
Facebook: Life on Manitoulin

 

Posted by momstown guest on 11/22/2012 - 12:55
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Little Scientists: How to Make Magic Mud and Silly Putty


Our momstown Victoria moms and kids did something incredible at our Little Scientists program last month! Science whiz and on-leave primary school teacher, Glenn Kachmar, demonstrated the amazing properties of both "Magic Mud" and Silly Putty!


Magic Mud is a suspension of cornstarch in water that has the bizarre property of being a liquid when it is resting or moving slowly, but solidifies once you slap, punch or squeeze it. The science behind it? “The cornstarch is ground into such fine particles that the molecules line up like little plates. The plates stay rigid when squeezed or slapped, but slide around when released and there is little or no pressure.” (Dianne Pratt, Hey Kids! You're Cookin' Now!)

 

Glenn mixed up a huge blue batch and let our lil' scientists dip their hands into it, squeeze it into a solid, and punch the surface which would become instantly hard. Amazing! You can also do a lot of other cool tricks with Magic Mud (also known as Oobleck,) like using sound waves to make it take on life-like movements, or running across a huge container of it!

 

little scientists at momstown

 

Magic Mud Recipe:


Stir together approximately:
3 or 4 parts cornstarch
1 part cold water
Optional: several drops of food colouring

 

how to make magic mud

 

Next we made silly putty!

 

Glenn gave each of us a cup and added Elmers Glue, water and food colouring. We mixed and mixed our ingredients, and then added a solution of borax and hot water. When the ingredients started to solidify, we took them out and started to squish and knead. Voila, silly putty!

 

Like Magic Mud, silly putty is another non-Newtonian fluid. It has characteristics of a fluid and will form a puddle if left to rest; but it has elastic properties and can stretch and bounce, or even break if given a sharp blow. Our kiddies had so much fun playing with these bizarre properties!

 

how to make silly putty

 

Silly Putty Recipe:

 

1. Mix 250 ml of hot water with 7 ml of borax powder until all the borax dissolves. Set this solution aside. It is called borax solution.
2. Get a cup and mix 30 ml of Elmers White Glue with 20 ml of water. (Elmers works best!)
3. Add two or three drops of food colour to the glue/water mix.
4. Once the glue, water and colour is mixed together well, ad 20 ml of borax solution. Stir this lal together.
5. Take the mix out of the cup and knead it in your hands (it's messy). Be sure to pop all of the bubbles of glue. More borax solution can be added if it is very gluey. Knead it until it has a consistent texture. You now have silly putty.
-Keep it in a closed ziploc bag when you are not using it.
-Experiment. Does it bounce? Does it stretch? Can you break it?

 

how to make silly putty
 

Kids, do try this at home!

Thank you, Mr. K, for this incredible momstown Little Scientists workshop! We can't wait to see what you have planned for us next!

 

 

Posted by momstown team on 11/13/2012 - 17:47
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