Help me make a "science experiment"

[Pepe]

Hello! Ever since he saw one in a book, DS, 4, has wanted to do an "experiment." I know we could mix some household products together for big effect...but what? I keep thinking of peroxide and baking soda. Will that bubble, or something?

Please help me mix safely without blowing up my house right before holiday guests arrive.

Thanks!

[2xy]

I know this is MDC so this might not work for you, but if you aren't totally against your kid eating corn syrup and sugar, this is fun....

Sponge Candy

The reaction is between the baking soda and vinegar. Aside from being fun, it also shows kids that science is everywhere....even in the kitchen.

You don't have to do the chocolate coating that's mentioned. The candy sort of tastes like molasses.

[EviesMom]

Peroxide and baking soda I'm not sure, but baking soda in a cup (a tablespoon or two would be plenty) with a tablespoon or two of orange juice or vinegar definitely works! It's the interaction of an acid (OJ/Vinegar) and a base (baking soda). It'll bubble like mad and eventually fizzle out as they cancel one another out.

[EviesMom]

If you happen to have mentos candy and a bottle of soda/coke, you can also go OUTSIDE and drop the mentos into the soda. It'll make a geyser, so do it far from the house outside!

Then you can set him up to watch the eepybird guys do it with hundreds of bottles of soda set to music. http://www.eepybird.com/

For indoor soda play, fill a tall glass with something carbonated and drop in a raisin. It will rise and fall repeatedly from the effect of the bubbles being caught in the grooves of the raisin. Repeat with a smooth object like a glass marble and see how it just sinks instead because there's no grooves to catch the bubbles and be lifted.

[sewchris2642]

Try some of these: http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodco...xperiments.htm

[quantumleap]

Or, fill a bowl with water and then sprinkle some ground black pepper on top. Then, put a drop of dish soap in, and the pepper will *shoot* to the sides of the bowl (surface tension).
What about making butter in a small jar (with heavy cream)? Shake, shake, shake. Ah, I loved pre-school.
Do things like spinning eggs, some boiled and some raw, to see the difference count as science experiments, or are we looking for something the produces the awe factor of quasi-explosions?
Oh! The always impressive sucking of a (peeled) hard boiled egg into a bottle! I googled to find the details, cause it's been awhile... http://www.easy-kids-science-experim...xperiment.html
I also remember getting a kick out of picking up a glass of water, upside down. You fill the cup to the very, very top, put a piece of paper over it, and then turn it carefully upside down and take your bottom hand away. Ta da! You're a magician.

Have fun!

My parents are both scientists. I hate "science", but love, love, love labs, which I attribute entirely to all the science experiment play my parents facilitated when we were little.

[betterparent]

make a volcano out of clay or playdoh, put a small container in the bottom with some baking soda. put some red food coloring in some vinegar and poor it in! boom, volcano.

rub your fingers on your forehead and touch a glass. take scotch tape and get fingerprints!

fill a large bowl with water. make clay into different shapes to see which shape floats and which sink.

magnets are always fun! so is making jello

[columbusmomma]

cool thread! Gotta remember this stuff for DS

[MusicianDad]

Baking powder and water bubbles too!

You could do what I used to do as a kid and collect different household products and see what does what when mixed with what. Warning though, you might want to check online for any negative effects any mixture might have.

(P.S. If you do that, you will be the coolest mom every in my eyes because my mom used to get really mad at me for doing it.)

[limette]

If you google "kindergarten science experiments" a ton of cool links come up.

You can make gak. Two parts cornstarch with 1 part water. If you put pressure on it, it's behaves like a solid but if you are gentle with it (let it pour through your fingers) it behaves like a liquid.

There is a name for this type of substance but my brain isn't cooperating at the moment.

[SunshineJ]

There's always the layers experiment. Collect things like water, cooking oil, honey and rubbing alcohol. Add a few drops of food coloring to the water and pour all of them into a glass. Let it stand a couple minutes and you'll see very distict layers of each.

[NiteNicole]

You can make gak. Two parts cornstarch with 1 part water. If you put pressure on it, it's behaves like a solid but if you are gentle with it (let it pour through your fingers) it behaves like a liquid.

There is a name for this type of substance but my brain isn't cooperating at the moment.

Ooblik!

I start with equal parts cornstarch and water, then just keep adding one or the other till it gets where you want it. It's fun to mix along the way.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by limette

If you google "kindergarten science experiments" a ton of cool links come up.

You can make gak. Two parts cornstarch with 1 part water. If you put pressure on it, it's behaves like a solid but if you are gentle with it (let it pour through your fingers) it behaves like a liquid.

There is a name for this type of substance but my brain isn't cooperating at the moment.

It's a non-newtonia fluid, (specifically a shear thickening fluid or dilatant). In our house we call corn starch and water Gobbledy Goop.

[Pepe]

Thanks a million! We'll get our kitchen lab up and running ASAP thanks to all of you.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

Most of the things I was going to suggest (which are age appropriate) have already been mentioned but here are two more simple ones.


Invisible ink- Mix the juice of half a lemon with a few drops of water. Use a q-tip or small paintbrush to write on plain white paper with the lemon mixture and let dry, the writing should be invisible. Reveal your message by holding the paper near a light bulb to heat it up. As it heats up the writing should appear on the page.

Why: The lemon juice contains compounds of carbon which are almost colorless when dissolved in water, but when you heat them up they break down and produce carbon, which is black.
------------------------------------------

Inflate a balloon-

Pour an ounce of water into an empty soda(sized) bottle, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and stir until dissolved. Pour in juice of 1 lemon and quickly stretch a balloon over the bottle mouth. The baking soda(base) and lemon juice(acid) react and create carbon dioxide which rise into the balloon and inflate it.

[philomom]

I always was fascinated by this one...

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/690/

and this one I did with my grandma...

http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodco.../rockcandy.htm

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad

It's a non-newtonia fluid, (specifically a shear thickening fluid or dilatant). In our house we call corn starch and water Gobbledy Goop.

You remind me of the dh who is a chemist. This is what he is always telling us when I explain to dd that it works because it's magic. Waldorfers and chemists make strange bedfellows. We call our cornstarch/water "Ewww Yuck".

[fizzymom]

One of my kids favorites, besides the volcano one, is making squishy eggs.
Cover a raw egg in vinegar and let it sit in the fridge for a day or two and the shell will dissolve leaving a cool looking squishy egg.

[Kidzaplenty]

[NiteNicole]

There was one we used to do when I was small...ghost in a bottle or something like that? It has to do with freezing a bottle with a penny over it and then taking it out. Maybe you put a drop of water on the penny? I think when it's warming up, it makes the penny open and close over the bottle. I don't remember exactly but my friend and I LOVED trying it out. A lot.