My girls complained of being "bored" again yesterday so I hopped on the internet and searched for science activities for them to do. I came across this tea bag rocket on Kids Activities Blog and thought my girls would love it. Turns out they did! Our first rocket didn't work. I'm not sure why. It simply burnt down without lifting up. The girls were disappointed but as you can tell from the video, our second one went just fine! We went through 6 more tea bags before I told them I was done. I don't like to steal other blogger's ideas so you'll have to go to Kids Activities Blog for the actual directions and to see why this awesome rocket works. One final note, Kim did her rockets inside her house because she said any type of breeze outside will knock the rocket over. I was too scared of flying fire in my house so we did ours in the garage. Turns out, if you have a high ceiling, you can totally do this inside as the rocket burns itself out super fast. … [Read more...]
Raising Monarchs Part 1
A few weeks ago a family friend posted photos on his Facebook page of the Monarch caterpillar his family was raising. I thought it was fascinating to see the changes and thought my girls would love to raise a Monarch too. I called my friend and asked him where he got his Monarch kit. Turns out, they didn't buy a kit. They found the egg themselves! Photo above By Killerlimpet via Wikimedia Commons because I keep forgetting to take a photo of my own.Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed plants so if you have Milkweed near you, you can most likely find Monarch eggs. The girls and I set off to explore the walking trail by our house where I knew Milkweed grew. Monarchs in the wild tend to lay one egg per leaf and you can find the eggs on the underside of the leaf. Because the eggs only take 3-4 days to hatch (and make tasty treats for other bugs) they can be a bit difficult to find. After some searching, we found two eggs. We cut the leaves off the plant, brought them inside and … [Read more...]
Mommy and Me Day
Last year I talked about the importance of one-on-one time with your children. In that post I talked about how Nutty and I never get time alone together so we had a special mommy and me day at the zoo for some bonding time. For that past few months, Nutty has been again feeling the affects of not spending time with me. She was complaining that I loved Tottie more because I do more things with her. In reality, I do more things with Tottie because Tottie is not yet in full-day school like Nutty is. So...I spoke with Nutty's teacher. We decided that it was ok for me to pull Nutty out of school for the afternoon for some one-on-one time while Tottie was in preschool. As un-luck would have it, things kept getting messed up with our plans and we kept having to postpone our afternoon together. Nutty thought for sure I just didn't want to spend time with her. Well, today things changed...I set up a play-date for Tottie with a friend and called Nutty's teacher to let her know I … [Read more...]
Rain Storm In A Jar
Last week there were horrible tornadoes across the US so the girls and I made a tornado in a jar so I could teach them a little about how they form. Two nights ago we had horrible storms at our house which included greater than one inch hail. The girls and I did another experiment to talk about how rain and hail is formed. First off I'll tell you that you need shaving CREAM and not a gel-type shaving cream. I tried this with gel first and it was a failure. We went and got some cheap shaving cream at the store and started over. Fill your jar almost to the top with water then cover the water with shaving cream. Next put drops of blue food coloring all over the shaving cream. Use a dropper if you have one (we ended up using a baster as a dropper) to add small amounts of water over the food coloring drops. It will start to "rain" as the food coloring seeps through the "clouds" into the water. Rain forms when the clouds get a lot of water and then start to drip … [Read more...]
Tornado In A Jar
First, my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the recent tornadoes in the central US. Because of all the news about these tornadeos, the girls have had a lot of questions. I thought we would do an experiment to hopefully answer some of those questions. Thus, we did a tornado in a jar. To make your own tornado, you'll need: a jar water a small amount of dish soap (about a teaspoon) 1) Fill the jar to almost full and add the dish soap. 2) Put the top on then shake it up to get some suds on the top. 3) Let the water settle out just a bit for the best results. 4) After the water has settled, shake the jar again in a circular motion. When you stop shaking, you should see a tornado form! 5) Let the water settle out again before making your next tornado. You can explain to your kids that tornadoes happen when two different air masses (usually a warm and a cold one) bump into each other. One mass moves faster than the other so they form a … [Read more...]
Magic Leprechaun Flower
Rumor has it that if you leave a white flower out over night during the week before St. Patrick's Day, a Leprechaun will visit your house and turn it green! At least that's the rumor I'm starting at my house this year. It's the magic Leprechaun flower! I can't wait to see the looks on my girls' faces when we do this! For the sake of this post, I had to try a flower to make sure it would turn green overnight. Thank goodness for school and a large closet bedroom so I could hide my experiment! I remember doing this experiment in school but I couldn't remember how long it took. I started with a white carnation which was just over $1.00 at my local flower shop. Then I added a bunch of green food coloring to the water and waited... After just 4 hours the flower started turning green so I knew that overnight would be just fine. Sure enough, the next morning... A green flower! I've got plenty more Leprechaun tricks up my sleeve this year. This magic Leprechaun flower is … [Read more...]
