Keeping the kids busy and learning during the lockdown isn’t always easy. I’ve had good days when we all get some work done. But I’ve also had plenty of resistance from my two young kids to engage in any educational activities. When I finally get them interested in something, it usually involves a lot of mess, and clearing up, or planning ahead of time to buy materials or ingredients that I don’t have at home. This is time we don’t currently have since we are all parenting 24/7.
So I’ve partnered with the awesome Big Bang Science team, to bring you three simple and thrilling science experiments for children aged 3 to 11, using only a few ingredients that you might already have at home.
I first met the Big Science Team when my eldest (6) attended one of their science holiday clubs during a school break a year ago. He had never been particularly interested in science but one of his school friends was going so I signed him up too. He loved it so much, he still talks about it. The school club only lasted a few hours, but it awoke in him some deep-rooted interest in science that we didn’t know he had. And it only gets bigger as he gets older. All he wants to do now is science. In fact, he wants to be a scientist when he grows up. We can certainly do with a few of those at the moment.
I realised the Big Bang Science team really know what they are doing. They are brilliant at teaching kids how fun and fascinating science can be. So I’ve invited them to write a few guest blogs that we can share with you. I hope you find them really useful. Here’s the first blog.
Hi, my name is Alice, and I am a qualified science teacher and founder of Big Bang Science. Our aim at Big Bang Science is to nurture children’s natural curiosity and inspire the next generation of budding young scientists. If you like some of these experiments why not purchase our Big Bang Science ‘Big Box of Experiments’ by visiting www.bigbang-science.com/boxes. And look out for our monthly subscription boxes coming soon. Please like us on Facebook to keep up to date.
With 3 children myself, I know how tricky it can be keeping children busy and entertained in the right way, but it feels especially difficult at the moment with the heavy restrictions imposed on our movement. This is the first of a series of weekly blogs and in this first week, I have included 3 experiments that I think will keep any child happy. These tried and tested science experiments are:
I have decided to base my first 3 experiments around the weather. We have been blessed with some beautiful weather recently which appears to have temporarily (I hope) disappeared, so to reflect the changing weather patterns I thought these could be fun and educational too!
Rainbows are everywhere at the moment, as they symbolise the tremendous work and thanks we give to our fabulous NHS workers, so what better way than to open with a skittle rainbow experiment.
Place the skittles around the edge of a plate. The edge of the inner rim is best. The skittles can be arranged in any way, so this is great for the children to be creative and decide themselves. They can be arranged either in colour groups or a repeating pattern or even better… just random. The skittles should be touching for best results. Into the centre of the plate pour some water. This can be cold or slightly warm. Pour the water in gently and just enough so it reaches out and touches all the skittles at the edge of the plate. Now watch…. After a short while, you will begin to see the colours from the skittles dissolving into the water and after about 5 minutes a beautiful rainbow pattern will have been made. It’s really important not to jog the plate when this is happening as the colours can muddle up.
The Science
You may wonder why the colours don’t mix up as the rainbow forms…well here’s the science. As the water dissolves the colour and the sugar from the skittles, the sugary solution moves from a high concentration (by the skittle) to a lower concentration (towards the centre of the plate). As there are multiple bands of coloured water all doing the same thing, they don’t travel sideways but to the centre and therefore do not appear to mix. This can also be demonstrated by squirting perfume at one side of the room and counting how many seconds it takes to travel to the other side of the room (another fun thing to try).
Extensions
See if you can chat to your child about how real rainbows form. What 2 weather conditions need to be present to see one?
See if they can learn the 7 colours of the rainbow using this acronym, ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain’.
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
What if you could float into the sky and watch a storm happening from above the clouds? If you’ve ever travelled on an aeroplane, then you will know what it feels like to be above the cloud level, looking down. This is exactly where you are going to go in this activity…well, almost.
You will need an empty jam jar or a large glass. Fill it about three-quarters of the way with tap water. This represents the air. On top of the water, you are going to squirt some shaving foam to fill the rest of the jar. This is your big fluffy cloud. Next, either using food colouring or poster paints dissolved in a small amount of water, squeeze (using an old Calpol or Nurofen syringe) the colours into your shaving foam. After a few squirts, you will notice the shaving foam becoming full of extra liquid which will eventually burst through into the water layer below. The colours represent the rain.
You can make it authentic by just using blue colours or make a rainbow by having a selection. This quick, easy and delightfully mesmerising experiment is great for all ages!
The Science
Have you ever wondered why clouds form in the sky? Clouds form when moisture is collected in the atmosphere. When you see clouds, you are seeing water vapour that has attached to small particles of dust in the air. When the cloud eventually gets too heavy to hold any more water vapour, we say it is SATURATED. When this happens, the water vapour begins to turn back into water (CONDENSES) and rain begins to fall.
Extensions
Try the experiment again and use slightly warmer water in the jam jar. Does this make a difference to how quickly the colours mix in the water? Try using glow in the dark or neon paints too!
Have you ever wondered why tornadoes do so much damage? Well in this experiment, using a few simple items from around the home we are going to create our very own mini tornado so we can see exactly what they get up too!
You will need a clear plastic bottle with a cap, half to 1tsp of washing up liquid depending on the size of the bottle, 1 tsp of vinegar (but not necessary) and water.
Fill your bottle about 3/4 full with water and add in 3-5 drops of blue food dye (depending on the size of your bottle and how dark you want the water to be). Add the soap and vinegar to your blue water. (Vinegar is only optional. It is used in the mixture just to lower the number of bubbles after you mix the water and the soap). Make sure you don’t mix to quickly as you don’t want too many bubbles. Make sure the lid is nice and tight. Hold the bottle by the lid and swirl the container around in a smooth circular motion lots of times. When you stop you should be able to see what looks like a tornado or a Vortex. It will slowly disappear as it reaches the top of the container.
The science
Tornadoes in the real-world look and behave in a similar way. When cold, dry air meets warm, moist air the atmosphere becomes very unstable causing high winds. They combine and begin to spin in a vertical direction. They contain a lot of energy and as they travel can cause a lot of damage on the ground.
Extensions
Try adding more food colouring or glitter to your tornado.
I hope you find this blog useful. As Alice mentioned above, there will be more experiments coming up soon at Poole Mumbler. Please don’t forget to follow us and Big Bag Science on Facebook to be the first to know when they are published. And if you have lots of fun, please tag us on your photos. We’d love to see them! #poolemumbler
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