exploring science w/ tween DD

[harrietsmama]

My daughter Harriet hates anything that is presented in a non fiction format. and she is very very picky about what she reads etc.

So, I'd like to expose her to some science-y stuff from a side approach.

So far, I figured I could use planning a princess wedding to get into the math of figuring out budget and quantities of fabric and other supplies, and get into the textiles - fiber, weave/knit, dyes and make some of our own examples. She wants to know why velvet changes color when you move it around, so we can incorporate that into this perhaps by talking about nap vs. no nap fabric yardage and prisms, etc.

She also want to learn how to make butter so we can get into the details of what happens to the milk etc. and break it down. I know a few farmers from getting raw milk & stuff, so that will help.

What other ideas can you share?

I don't want to push her, I just want to expose her and have the science somewhat thought out so I can offer it conversationally and if it sparks, we can dig deeper.

[Starflower]

We do a lot of science stuff at our house. We usually end up googling something one of us is curious about and going going from there. I am very visual and like lots of pictures. Also, I look up a lot of stuff just for myself and then DD gets interested because she's curious about what I am doing.

You said your DD doesn't like things presented in a non-fiction format. Have you explored her learning styles? Maybe there are other ways of finding the info she wants without having to go through a typical book format she may find boring.

We've found interesting science stuff - videos of amoebas and paramecia - even on YouTube. I don't remember why DD wanted to know about amoebas but it was very cool and we all got into it.

We have done a lot of chemistry stuff involving slime here (DD is very into sensory things). Also we like trips to zoos, the aquarium and the science center (we live near a large city). Most of what we end up doing is a lot of hands-on stuff coming from the yard. DD is currently lobbying us to do farming lately (she wants to grow a garden and raise back yard chickens). She gets a lot of ideas from fictional books. DD and DH also really like to watch "Mythbusters" and "Dirty Jobs." We like the PBS science stuff a lot too thought the format can be a bit dry.

One project we did that was very cool was raising mosquitoes from larval form to adult. We hadn't planned on doing this, but we had some standing water. DD wanted to keep the water to play in, but we agreed to dump it if it contained larvae. I had to look up photos on the internet to see what the larvae looked like. When we spotted them, I was going to throw the water out, but DD decided to collect them and we ended up with a very fascinating science project.

I hope some of this is helpful. I feel like we've got science very well integrated into our lives. Math is the tough one for us. It's there..... but I worry about it sometimes.

[harrietsmama]

I have explored her learning styles somewhat, I know we survived her memorization stuff in school by making it into songs. I tried it after hearing about musical learning somewhere and she's always singing and and dancing. She is the stereotypical bubble gum pink bedroom-ed princess with the tiara and tulle skirt who believes in pixies and fairies and loves to make pretty things and make things pretty, including convincing my partner to let her try to color his beard pink and paint his fingernails. She is feminine to from the core to the sky and back to earth.
in addition, she snubs 'fact movies', aka, Nova type shows, doesn't like anything 'dirty'.

If I can frame things to meet her imagination, I can plant some seeds. In spring, we can literally plant some seeds, but for now - I was hoping to find a resource for a science lesson to make something I can conceal as pixie dust, but teaches something scientific, or love potion, or maybe a super princess-y feminine role model who does science-y stuff to inspire her.