Build A Bridge And Get Over It!

One of my favourite parts to the Science Syllabus is the "Design and Make" component.  It is a chance for kids to use their creativity, problem solving and reasoning skills.  I always LOVED watching the kids get creative in the classroom - there was always so much discussion and so many busy little people.  I ignored the messy classroom and instead embraced the creative chaos!

I wanted to introduce my kids to the concept of designing and making.  I began by giving them a couple of things that I thought would help them complete the task.  These included:

• A lid that came off a "city scene" box that my kids had.  It had a picture of grass and two lakes.  You can use anything to set the scene - you could even cut up some paper to make it look like water, or you could use some tape to make a busy road
• Paddle pop sticks
• Playdough
• Toilet paper rolls
• Tools (I thought the tools would capture their interest - and it did!!)
• Cardboard
• Pencils
• Small cars/trucks

Note: You do not need to use anything in this list - just pick up things from around your house that you think will work - it's surprising how creative your kids will get!

I then set the scene...

This little truck wants to go over the lakes... Look how the truck drives around the lakes - it's taking so much time! Look! It's getting stuck because there is not enough room to move!  The truck wants to go across the water - how can we get it across the water?

E: A boat! Or a bridge!

He was right onto it!

Usually when we facilitate a design and make session, the kids are asked to "design" by drawing a plan of what they are going to do before they actually build it. Because this is the first time my kids have done this, I decided to swap it around and get their creative juices flowing first by "doing" then drawing what they did.  This is how it went...

At first they were a little lost - they poured all of the paddle pop sticks onto the water and E proudly said that that was their bridge. Rather than take them all off and show them another way, I got the truck and showed them that the truck still couldn't get over the water because all of the paddle pop sticks were moving around and it was too bumpy for the truck.

I asked them to think of another way to build a bridge that wasn't so bumpy and...

Great idea! But the truck finds it really hard to climb up the edges of the bridge. What do we need to help the truck to get up?

 

Awesome idea!! Paddle pop sticks sloped onto the container and some play dough to hold the "ramp" together. E took it upon himself to test the bridge and check if it was easier to travel up... It was! I love love love everything that happened there - problem solving, making, testing, re-making, retesting, fixing, thinking, questioning... This activity has it all! 

Extra challenge for E - can you make another bridge using different materials?

 

This is what he came up with ...

 

4 toilet paper rolls with cardboard on top. Initially there was only 3 toilet rolls (N was busy with the 4th toilet roll I had initially put out) so he made me get another one so there was an even amount on both sides!

Pretty creative! And so much fun! I love the look on their faces when they are engaged in these activities!

 

You might notice that E was the only one doing this experiment. At almost 4 years old this experiment was more suited to E than N who is 2 and a half. Having said that, N came up with his own little experiment - throwing a big blob of play dough through a toilet paper roll and seeing how far the play dough flew through the air and onto the floor... Hours of fun and lots of giggles! It kept him amused for ages! Love that :)

 

The beauty of the design and make process is that the list of things to design and make is endless - building a bridge is just one idea. Maybe you would like to design and make a shelter for a pet? The houses in the story The Three Little Pigs? An obstical course for a younger sibling? An obstical course for a dog? A car? A park?....should I keep going? 😉

Egg Teeth and Apple Germs!

We all know that getting kids to wash their hands and brush their teeth can sometimes be a bit of a battle.  After all - their teeth and hands look clean, so why should they clean them?  It's pretty hard to explain the concept of "germs" when the kids can't see them.  It's also hard to rationalize with a 3 year old who has gone from brushing his teeth without us telling him to - to not brushing at all... All because someone told him "the tooth fairy comes when your teeth fall out! I want my teeth to fall out so the tooth fairy comes!"... Ahh the joys!

I stumbled on two experiments which I thought were great ideas on why it's important to wash our hands and brush our teeth.

Egg Teeth

What you need:

4 eggs - all ours were raw but you can boil 3 and leave 1 raw if you like

3 dark drinks/foods - we used coffee, cranberry juice and melted chocolate.. You can use anything you have handy (eg. other juices, dark sauce etc.)

Vinegar

OK so with this experiment I had to set the scene.  I told the kids to pretend that eggs were our teeth.  I held them up to my mouth with a big smile and said "look at my teeth!" It must have looked quite the sight but they quickly understood and asked to hold the eggs close to their mouths too.  I had to remind them to hold the eggs carefully because they were still raw.  After showing off their egg teeth with a giggle, it was time to get on with the experiment. 

We filled a small bowl with a different liquid/food.

(Top left) Cranberry juice, (top right) Vinegar, (bottom left) melted chocolate, (bottom right) instant coffee.

 

Then the kids put the eggs into each bowl (if you have boiled some of the eggs, put a raw one in the vinegar). 

Over the course of about 2 days, we observed the changes that happened.

These are some of their observations...

The vinegar and the cranberry juice bubbled up when we put the egg inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a couple of days the eggs that were in the cranberry juice and the instant coffee had turned a different colour.

The melted chocolate had stuck to the egg.

Now the fun part!

We put all of the eggs onto a tray (I wasn't brave enough to give it to them to hold by themselves - especially because I had made a conscious decision not to cook the eggs!!).

 

 

"Look mummy this egg is brown.  This egg has hard chocolate on it! Can I eat the chocolate?" Hahaha... umm noooo :)

"Yuuuuuck! The vinegar made the teeth go soft!" The shell on the egg literally fell open, and it felt kind of rubbery.  I've seen other people who have done this experiment and they kept it in the vinegar for longer - the vinegar literally disintegrated the shell and cooked the egg!!

 

 

 

Then we got out some old toothbrushes - as they carefully cleaned the "teeth" with a toothbrush and toothpaste I explained that all foods stay on our teeth unless we brush them.  Different foods or drinks can change the colour of our teeth if we don't brush them regularly and other foods - like chocolate - can stick to our teeth and damage them. 

 

 

Mr. 2 and a half year old "no I don't want to brush my teeth" - now excitedly tells me (after everything he puts in his mouth), "mummy we need to brush our teeth so the food doesn't stay on there!"... Oh and Mr 3 year old who wants the tooth fairy to come is now happy to wait until his teeth fall out naturally - because the tooth fairy only comes for clean teeth ;)

 Aha! Mission "Healthy Teeth" a success!

Apple Germs!

All you need is 2 apple slices and 2 small containers or glass jars.

Put one piece of apple in a container in the lid.  Explain to the kids that this is a clean apple that has no germs on it.

With the other slice, get them to touch it for about a minute each (make sure they have not just washed their hands - they need dirty hands for this one!).  This experiment would work awesome in a classroom because the end result would be a lot more dramatic!

 

  

 

We left the apple slices for about 6 days and observed the results.

The end product?

Self explanatory! ;)

 

 

 

 

Wash your hands, kids! Germs are there - we can't see them but they are really there! The proof is in the apple!!

Did the experiments have a lasting affect on my kids?

Yes - they are both now happily brushing their teeth - it is not a chore... And they are both washing their hands (even though they need reminding - difference being is that I don't have to ask them 5 times before they actually do it!).  It has only been a week - I wonder how long it will last?? I'll keep you updated!

 

Invitation To Discover: Magnets!

This week I decided the kids needed to have a little bit of magic in their discoveries (toddler magic, that is :) ) ...

I made up a tray for each boy with lots of different items on it.  Some items could be picked up by magnets, some couldn't.

Some of the things I included on the tray were:

• Key rings
• Plastic balls
• A glass cup with cut up pipe cleaners in there (although I heard that they aren't called pipe cleaners any more???).  You could also use a plastic bottle instead of the glass cup.
• Paperclips
• Toy cars
• Pens,
• Screwdrivers,
• Material
• Blocks/lego
• Coins

And of course the "magic" ingredient - a magnet (which I bought from the Dollar Store - it was something like 8 magnets for $2).

This experiment was more an invitation to discover whatever they wanted to discover - I didn't direct much during their investigations (except for a couple of activities towards the end).  They were thrilled at what they discovered and I enjoyed the fact that they were using their own thoughts and taking risks with their ideas.

Here are some of their discoveries...

"This one sticks to the magnet, this one doesn't!"

"I know, let's sort them! All the things that stick on the magnets go in the yellow plate, all the things that don't stick go on the green plate!" This was a great idea from E, that really benefited N who is still learning his colours... Love how math and science present themselves in the same experiment!

"Look! The screwdriver is a magnet too!! The paperclips are sticking onto the screwdriver."

I challenged the boys to see if they could get the pipe cleaners out of the glass without putting their hands and the magnets into the glass... E worked out he could get out a few of the pipe cleaners without actually putting his hand in the cup.  He ran the magnet along the side of the glass and the pipe cleaners moved up with the magnet... And then...

"Look how many pipe cleaners the magnet can hold at the same time!"

"Look mummy! The paper clip is hanging down!!" Look at the joy on his face.  He was super excited!

The last two investigations were directed by me - I put the boys tray between two chairs so they could have access to the bottom of the tray.  They put the magnet under the tray and moved it around.  To their absolute delight the pipe cleaners moved around the tray as he moved the magnets around and they looked like they were dancing because they were standing up!  The kids loved this and stayed on this activity for a while. 

The next activity was a challenge for E.  I told him to make the two cars move but he could only touch one car. I used blue tack to put the magnets on the back of the cars

He discovered pretty quickly that the cars (magnets) stuck together, but then he said "but they aren't racing, how do I make them race?"  I asked him to think about it for a second.  He didn't have any solutions so I suggested he turned one of the magnets around and see what happens. 

 

He did that, then...

They wouldn't stick together... So he persevered... Look at the concentration on his face...

and discovered that he could make both cars move with just his hand on one car... Magic!

He was so excited! And little N was pretty excited too when he noticed what E was doing.  In their eyes it really was magic.  How could the other car move without touching it??

In our eyes, it's science. Magnets are usually made from metal iron (or another material that has lots of iron in it).  All magnets have the ability to pull things towards themselves.  The invisible force is called magnetism.  They are concentrated around the two poles (ends) of the magnet - these are called the north and the south pole.  They look the same but behave differently.  If you put identical poles together, the magnets will repel (push away) from each other.  Different poles together will pull towards each other. 

The kids had so much fun with this and was once again another good rainy day activity!

Looking for more rainy day activities?
Try these:
Gooey Goop!
Explaining Rain!
Moving Milk Rainbow!
DIY Crystals!
Dancing Sultanas!

 

Worm Farm!

The sun is back and the kids are finally getting their dose of Vitamin D ... under the sun and loving it!

What better way to celebrate the sun coming back than to spend some quality time in the garden - digging, picking fruit off the trees and enjoying each other's company.  So it was off to E and N's great-grandparent's house for some lunch and gardening... And the beginning of our very own worm farm!

All you need to make a worm farm is:

A clear bottle or container
Some hay, leaves, or mulch
Soil
Worms
Fruit/vegetable scraps
Black paper

First, the kids began digging the soil.  The kids always enjoy doing this and can keep them entertained for ages - they even have a special spot in the garden where they can dig so that they don't dig up any new seeds or destroy any of the growing crop already in the garden. 

While they were doing that I cut the top off our bottle so that we could easily put in all the things we needed to make the worm farm.

Pretty soon the kids got to some moist soil and this is where the fun started... Worms galore!

We found lots of worms - the kids were really excited and were describing them

"Look mummy! That worm is so small, it's so cute!" (Never thought I'd hear that! Haha)
"That worm is dancing!"
"This worm is so fat!"
"Yuuuck!"
"That worm is digging back down in the dirt.  Come back, worm!!"

We put some soil into the bottle and added a couple of worms. 

Then a layer of hay that mum had in her garden.

Then continued that pattern until we reached about 3/4 of the way up the bottle.  The soil was really moist because of all the rain we have had, but if yours is dry you may want to use a spray bottle to wet the soil.

We taped the top of the bottle back on and the kids put their fruit scraps in as compost.

Worms are nocturnal, so it's really important to keep their environment dark, otherwise this observation wont work well.  We taped black paper around the bottle and kept the black paper on for 2 days.

When we took off the black paper and saw what the worms had created...

It was a little hard to point out initially, but finally the kids saw and understood the little tunnels the worms made.

It's a little hard to see in this picture, but you can see a worm made tunnel just under the first groove in the bottle, slanting from the left to the right.  There were lots of other tunnels just like this one around the bottle.

Once I pointed it out to them the kids turned the bottle around over and over again, pointing out all of the worm tunnels.  They even noticed that the pear scraps that they had put in had turned brown.

We kept the worms for a couple of days and then released them back into the garden - bye bye worms!

The best part about this experiment?
We had just made the worm farm and what did the boys do? Straight to the cumquat tree, picking fruit off the tree and eating them fresh off the tree with their great - grandfather.  Love!  :) ...

 

 

 

Gooey Goop!

Ever heard of "messy play" and avoided it?  Seems like too much trouble?  This is the sort of activity that you (and the kids) will love - it's messy but so easy to clean up! Easier than cleaning up dinner, I promise!! :)

I've wanted to do this for a while but have avoided it.  So glad we did it though - the kids were so entertained, they played with it for at least 45 minutes - then one thing turned into another and like the other experiments we have done it changed into something completely different!

All you need is:

2 cups of cornflour
1 cup of water
Food colouring

That's it! It's so easy to make - and safe for little fingers (especially if some mixture "accidentally" landed in their mouths haha).

I asked the kids to pour in the cornflour into a bowl.  If you do this at home, encourage the kids to run their fingers through the cornflour before you add the water - this is where the sensory learning starts.
 

 

Then slowly add the water and ask the kids to quickly mix together the ingredients.  While they are mixing, add the food colouring. 

It's surprising because it's actually a little hard to mix.  I had to get my hands dirty too, to help them along!

After a couple of minutes E became a little bit uneasy, and asked to wash his hands - he didn't like the feel and texture of the mixture.  He has always been like this - every time I do an activity where he has to get his hands dirty he avoids it (an example would be when I made jelly but hid some shaped buttons in the jelly for the kids to find - E was the only one who didn't use his hands and asked for a spoon.  I did the activity again a few weeks later and he actually quite enjoyed using his hands this time around!).

N kept mixing and lifting the mixture.  He thought it was so cool how when he lifted it, the mixture was all stringy.  It stuck to his hands and made what looked like a web - he was so excited when he told me about it... "Look mummy! A spider web!! Mummy look!" He was so excited. 

 

E came back from washing his hands and saw the progress N had made with the mixture.  He heard him talking about the spider web and immediately became interested again.  I guess this is an example of peer tutoring - something I have always been a fan of and think it works really well.  A child can learn so much from the actions and reactions of their peers.  To my delight it worked a treat! E wanted to make a spider web too, so in went his hands again! Yay!

 

For added fun I put in some shaped buttons and some cotton reels into the mixture.  Pretty soon the kids were stamping the cotton reels into the gloop and making quick prints.  They were hiding the shapes in the gloop and started playing "see who can find the most shapes!" I love when kids direct their own learning.

 

 

One of the most amazing parts of this mixture is that the gloop is both a solid and a liquid.  When you pick it up and squeeze it into a ball, it becomes hard and turns into a solid...

 

Then you open your fingers and it pretty quickly changes back into a liquid

 

Why?
"Solid or Liquid: Cornflour is made of lots of long, stringy particles.  When water is added they do not dissolve in water, but they do spread themselves out.  This allows the gloop to act both like a solid and a liquid.  When you roll the mixture in your hands or apply pressure to it, the particles join together and the mixture feels solid.  But if it is left to rest or is held up and allowed to dribble, the particles slide over each other and it feels like a liquid." (learning4kids.net)

 

Where did the experiment take us?
You wouldn't believe it if I told you....

Remember how E didn't like the texture at the beginning? After a while he added more water to the mixture... probably about 4 or 5 cups...

Why did he do this?
"Now we can wash our hands, mummy!" He was just so proud of himself! I love how kids minds work :)

It was easy to fix that after they had finished playing - the cornflour sank to the bottom and I was able to pour the excess water out of the container and save the rest by putting it in a snap lock bag.

Believe me when I say it's easier than cleaning up dinner mess!! All you need is a wipe (or 2) and wipe it off... Too easy!