Have You Ooblecked?

Seriously - this is a

FUN ... EASY ... MESSY

activity to do with kids - and they'll love it!

Earlier this week we had a Dr. Suess themed lunch, and ever since I have been wanting to make Oobleck with the kids. (I did this with my Science classes, but haven't with my own kids - what was I thinking?) Anyhow, this is how you do it:

You will need:

Water

Corn Starch

Plastic Cup

Plastic Spoon

Plastic Plate (or paper)

I added dye to the water, just to make it more interesting. I had red on hand, but the Oobleck of Dr. Suess is GREEN!

I added 4 heaping spoonfuls of cornstarch to a cup.

Then I added 4-6 Tablespoons of water and started to stir.

It is hard to stir, so patience is your friend. And, you will need to assist smaller, less-patient hands!

NOTE: I stirred all of this in a cup, but found it is easier to stir on a plate, later on.

Then you can start playing with it! I like to direct the play a little at first.

Here is a little video with some ideas:

And then just let them play and have their own fun!

And a few more videos of the kids ...

Thing 1:

Thing 2 (aka Science Girl):

The Boys:

Just a few notes:

Using disposable products will make your clean-up easier!

I suggest wearing an apron!

You might need to mop - depending on how much fun the kids have - but it's worth it!

Mystery Powder

Today we did a little kitchen chemistry ...

we had planned to go out for some fun, but when an unexpected little bug hit The Boy (see how doesn't have his usual "spark"), we ended up homebound. So, I pulled together what we needed for this little investigation, and put the kids to work.

The King didn't really think much of the whole thing ... he's just happy to be here ("here" meaning anywhere within arms reach of Mommy)!

The experiment,

(which I saw on an episode of Fetch with Ruff Ruffman - yes, I watch kids' shows - I'm sure that doesn't come as any big surprise to anyone, though),

consists of gathering 6 ingredients:

baking powder

baking soda

flour

water

iodine

cabbage juice (from RED cabbage)

I made the cabbage juice simply by steaming a small head of RED cabbage until it was very tender. Then I just picked it up and squished out as much juice as I could. Nothing too technical, really.

The purpose of the experiment was to gather enough information from playing with the different powders and indicators so as to be able to figure out what a mystery powder was by using the three liquid "indicators" (water, iodine and cabbage juice).

We started by testing the three liquids on the baking powder, then the baking soda and finally, the flour. We wrote down on a little graph, what each reaction was like.

We saw some fun things, lots of fizzing and color changing ... the kids were full of ooohhhhs while they watched what happened when they put the two things together.

When it came time to guess the mystery powder, they did a phenomenal job! Looks like they just might pass Summer School!

A big thumbs up from everyone!

Diet Coke is good for something, afterall ...

What happens when you start with a bottle of:

... and add a few of these?

You get a:





We followed the advice of some friends and strung the mentos together (I used a needle and thread). Then I drilled a hole in the cap and fed the string through the hole. Finally, hurry and screw on the cap and let go of the string for a fun little explosion!

And if you happen to like Diet Coke

... well, get up close and open your mouth ...

It's raining Diet Coke!!!

Good news: I found the mentos at Costco and when Diet Coke goes on sale ... we're gonna have a good old time!

Brings new meaning to the ad campaign

"Fresh and Full of Life!"

Ice, Ice, Baby!

We've been doing a little summer school around here, just to keep us busy this summer. I'm kind of hoping we can have enough fun this summer that they won't be so eager to go back to school - must be an ego thing for me, I guess.

Anyhow, this week we were learning a little about Greenland and Iceland and decided to do a little science experiment with ice. I had heard about this, but never tried it. So, I put my lab rats to work on the following problem:

How can you lift an ice cube out of water with a string?

The answer: With a little help from salt!

What to do: Place your string (we actually used yarn) over the ice cube in the water. Sprinkle some salt over the string and ice, not a lot, just a little. Then wait ... about 2 minutes.

After you have waited 2 minutes, gently pull on the string and:

SUCCESS!

(Okay ... it took us a couple of tries ... but that's how science is.)