One of my good friends and colleagues recently wrote a blog post about the word “Staycation”…defined as a vacation spent close to home. http://oshouldknow.com/2008/06/21/o-summer-staycation/ That got me thinking about a chat I had this last week with the Mom I referenced in that last post (the one who set up the movie on the front porch for her kids). She told me about how they’ve turned their kitchen into a science lab this summer. She shared a couple of the experiments with me and gave me permission to share them here with you.
So, if you are taking a staycation – instead of a vacation – this summer, or, even if you are just looking for some fun ways to mix things up with the kids after you get home from work, you might try these easy and very fun things science experiments with your kids.
This is the kind of stuff I’m talking about! Fun, Easy, Simple, Together!
A Little Science Experiment #1
Pour 1/4 cup white vinegar into a small water bottle.
Pour 1/2 Tbsp baking soda into a deflated balloon.
Stretch balloon onto the mouth of the water bottle, shaking balloon to release the baking soda into the vinegar, and watch the balloon inflate! (When vinegar and baking soda mix, carbon dioxide gas is produced, filling the bottle and balloon.)
Science Experiment #2 – With an Egg
We used a Starbucks bottle and a peeled, hard boiled egg.
The egg is too large to fit through the mouth of the bottle.
We put the egg in a bowl of ice water.
We poured very steamy water into the bottle, then after three minutes, poured the water out of the bottle, and immediately set the egg back on the mouth of the bottle.
After a short time, the egg got sucked into the bottle with a POP!
Hot air inside the bottle is at a lower pressure than the cooler air outside the bottle. This creates suction!
