storecupboard science

[Honesty]

we have recently found a fun thing to do and i wonder if anyone else has any suggestions (even quite obvious ones?!) though perhaps saying "science" is stretching it a bit far.

i accidentally left the water from cooking a purple cabbage in a pan lying around (less than a 24 hours, health and safety people) then remembered that it can be used as an indicator for acids and bases.

So, we put some in a glass dish (well, science has to involve glass dishes ;)) added some baking powder and it turned from purple to blue. Then we added some vinegar and it fizzed up a storm and turned pink! before turning back to purple under the froth.

we had earlier been playing around adding baking powder/bicarb to vinegar and getting excited about the bubbles.

this is about the level we are at at the moment. :lol

Does anyone else have any suggestions for easy things to do when we haven't planned in advance but just fancy doing something interesting like that? the only easy thing that springs to mind is food-coloured water and celery to see the change in leaf colour and maybe look at the xylem. But I don't keep food colouring in the hosue and i don't want to waste the celery just yet :blueroll

[Currawong]

We're about to do a science experiment where you get a bottle and put some vinegar in it. Then you get a balloon and put some bicarb soda in it. Then you carefully put the balloon on the top of the bottle (without spilling the bicarb into the bottle). Lift the balloon and when the bicarb hits the vinegar the gas will blow the balloon up. The book says to stick eyes and a mouth onto the balloon first but I think we might just draw a face.

Second part to the experiment is to carefully lift the balloon off the bottle and let the gas out in little bursts. Apparently it should burp.

I'll let you know how it goes. :)

[Janet]

Those are very kewl!

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

That's science all right ~ make sure you remember that: you may need as much 'edu-babble' as possible for keeping moderators happy ;-)

The '501 TV-Free Activities For Kids' books have a Science Experiments version (www.hinklerbooks.com (http://www.hinklerbooks.com)) ~ (although I got mine knocked down to a few dollars in The Warehouse book sale) which should keep you busy/inspired awhile...

[Ceres]

Sounds like a blast! The extent of science in this house at the moment is pouring water into different shaped receptacles and trying to guess the volumes.

[Beatrice]

Take lots of photos! I'm doing B's portfolio atm and it's amazing how you can stretch out a report on an activity like that with photos, white space, a little explanation of what they're doing, and maybe some clip art ;)

[Beatrice]

And I'll be back later with some links - fak. But google cornflour slime for a really cool, icky activity. And along the lines of the red cabbage liquid - natural dyes from kitchen ingredients. Brown onion skins make a yellow dye, I can't remember the others but there are a few.

[Honesty]

ooh so you basically all think i should be more pro-active on the recording events front! at the moment that is so not our style but i can see that there is a value in providing proof of education, sadly our children's development doesn't seem to be enough! it annoys me there is so much about what is taught/done, rather than what is understood and taken out of the experience by the child.

i've been meaning to try the balloon bicarb vinegar thing, but i'm allergic to latex so it'll have to be down to daddy to have fun with that one

[Beatrice]

Yeah well, it depends on your regulation scheme. But I have gotten around my resentment over having to provide all this "proof of learning" bullshit and instead try to focus on giving my kids a gorgeous record of their learning years. The moderator will look at it once but you and your kids can look back on them when they're adults and reminisce about how much home ed rocked ;)

[Currawong]

The bicarb soda experiment went really well. ds1 loved it and we did three of them (his friend didn't want anything to do with it though :( You win some, you lose some :)). I know now why they said to put stickers on because the black faces we drew on didn't come out when the balloon blew up. The 'burp' was more like a squeal but ds1 loved it anyway. We used a paper funnel to get the bicarb in the balloon and shoved it down with a chopstick, so good to have those things handy. Also gotta remember to hold the balloon on the bottle when the chemical reaction is happening (which was amazing to watch, actually, so good to have a see-through bottle).

The piece de resistance was ds2 playing at the table afterwards, finding a balloon filled with the mixture and squeezing it all over him and everywhere else! It must have exploded because I found it all over the place. Great thing is that it's not messy as any spillage can be used to clean the surface it was spilled on :rofl

I meant to say the cabbage water one sounds great. Pity we never have cabbage in the house. Must get around to making that sauerkraut I've been meaning to make for ages...

[Honesty]

Currawong, we'll look forward to that fun this weekend then! The kitchen table could do with a good clean anyway ;)
Betrice, that is a good perspective on the past, I'll try to focus on that (not as easy as it sounds as I have always been loathe to record anything about them ) :kotc

I had a moment today to have a look at the rest of the book and we shall be trying out some of the other things, they look absolutely great! I'll share details when I get a chance. Interestingly I also noticed the book is aimed at the 8-12 year age of exams in the UK. Why wait?! :)

[Currawong]

I thought of another one we did a couple of weeks ago. It's sort of a mix between art/craft and science.

Dry out some corn husks on your window sill. When they're dry they go white. Then fill a number of jars with water and a few drops of food colouring (you can experiment with making different colours). Then put a few of the corn husks in each jar and poke them down so they are fully covered (you could even leave some sticking out and see if they take up the dye). They don't take up the dye straight away so it's interesting to leave them for a couple of days and check them at intervals to see how saturated with dye they've become. It could lead to a discussion around plant cells and the way plants soak up water. After a couple of days take the corn husks out and leave them to dry. They pick up the dye really well and look great. We are going to use ours for making peg dolls (they will be the clothes and hair) but they could be used for any number of craft activities.

I'm really proud of that one because I thought of it myself! :D

[~*heket*~]

These are fucking fabulous!!! My daughter was only talking about alkaline and acid last week! I was going to buy some litmus paper, but cabbage is useful so I might buy that instead :lol

I can't think of any atm. But Stylish was asking me about boiling water the other day so I gave her Adam's fancy schmancy thermometre and put some water on the stove and we watched til the bubbles started and then read the temp. She loved it :lol

[Honesty]

something else you can do with boiling (or just very hot) water is to hold the bottom of a chilled metal surface (such as a saucepan) over the boiling kettle (or hot cup of tea), at an angle and let the condensate drip off into a cup/glass/tray.
I think that suggestion came out of the book we are reading. We haven't tried that yet, bit too advanced for us this week ;)

[Honesty]

Currawong, are the corn husks from eaten corncobs? if so, that is good timing as we have some to eat today or tomorrow, just not got any food colouring yet. might need to try the onion skin or red cabbage water?

[~*heket*~]

corn husks are the papery bits you peel off corn cobs before eating so it really doesn't matter whether you eat them or not

[Honesty]

oh ok, :oops then it is lucky i chose to buy some with husks on rather than without! (they were a lot cheaper but are so much more fun and useful)

as an aside, did you know that the cornsilk (the strands) can be made into a tea/tisane to treat some urinary problems?

[gemi_ny]

as an aside, did you know that the cornsilk (the strands) can be made into a tea/tisane to treat some urinary problems?

Yep - great for the kidneys!

[Ayla]

We need a Plant Medica thread methinks :D

[~*heket*~]

I didn't know that no! But thanx for telling me :)

[~*heket*~]

We did the cabbage one, it was great :eager We've got leftover cabbage water to do it again too.

[Currawong]

as an aside, did you know that the cornsilk (the strands) can be made into a tea/tisane to treat some urinary problems?

I didn't know that either! I was pulling them out the other day thinking, 'hmmm, I wonder what I could do with these...'

[Honesty]

unfortunately i left our corn husks and silk too long in plastic packaging :bah so we shall have to wait to try the dyeing. We even bought food colouring!
I have however found a different play to do with it - add it to the base of a coffee filter with a dash of water and watch the colour rise and split into it's separate components. We don't drink coffee here though so I'm looking for an alternative paper or else wait for our next shopping trip.

I have found another demonstration which would fit in this topic (though again not containing items from our store cupboard!) - adding chopped raisins to soda water and watch them bob up and down with the bubbles. I might try to make my own with bicarb and water but haven't had a spare moment to try it out!

[~*heket*~]

I can't find it! :shrug

In lieu of the original I'm going to start a new one and hopefully someone smart will find the right word to search for and we can merge them - and possibly delete this ridiculously long ramble!!!!:lol

This week we are going to make a compass out of cork, a pin, stick tape and a magnet :eager

We're also going to do the boiled purple cabbage, alkaline, acids experiment again, to take photos this time :eager

[~*heket*~]

We did them both, they're both great experiments!!!

[Blossomtime]

Sounds great :D Audrey went nuts in the kitchen last week and created what can only be described as crumpet cakes :lol They were yummy apparently. She's really enjoying playing with different textures and working out what rises and what doesn't ;)

[Ceres]

That was a good thread.... I can't find it either. It was on the new JL and not the old one wasn't it?

[~*heket*~]

yeah! I only joined after the new one happened so it's a bit of a mystery isn't it! Lisaaaaaaa HELP :lol

[Ceres]

Who started the thread? Was it you Heket?

[~*heket*~]

not me, I have NO IDEA who started it!

[~*heket*~]

This week's kitchen pantry experiment is with a celery stalk and food colouring.

I'm trying to work out how the hell to explain it! :lol

you cut about half way up the celery stalk, then you put one half in plain water and the other half in dark food coulered water. After 24hrs you slice down the celery from the top end until you discover that the half dipped in food colour has changed colour. It's meant to show how plants absorb water :eager

[Sarasvati]

We did one the other day.

Get two glasses, fill one with water and add food colouring (dark colour better). Get some paper towel and dip one edge into the water and drape the other edge into the empty glass. The water is sucked up the towel and ends up dripping into the other glass.

[~*heket*~]

oh wow! that could more or less demonstrate the same thing as the celery :D Do you think it'd work with an old sock instead of the paper towel? I have lots of old sox but no paper towel :lol

[Sarasvati]

:lol Maybe! Give it a whirl!

[Currawong]

*wanders in* dum de dum de dum de dum *drops a thread* whoops! (http://joyouslearning.info/forums/showthread.php?t=533&highlight=corn)
:lol

[~*heket*~]

That was my UH HA moment! Should I ring Oprah or Ripleys :lol

I think I'll merge the two when I'm not on the computer and meant to be doing something else ;)

[Ceres]

Merged :) And THANKS! for finding the thread, Currawong.

[~*heket*~]

Oh good, I tried to find the other one to merge it and couldn't find it :rofl this must be why ;)

[Ceres]

Bump... some really fun ideas here!

[Beatrice]

K and DH and I had a long conversation the other day about primary and secondary colours and about the difference between colours of light and colours of pigment. Looks like there might be lots of experiments coming up along those lines :eager