mini scientist in the kitchen

I declared today a home day. It was a ferocious weather day, the ground out there is so waterlogged there will be no gardening for awhile. There were waterfalls down the drive and a pond appeared at the front door. Great weather for ducks. Not so great for little folks wanting to go on adventures. I thought i would share a few things we did today. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas of craft and projects and science experiments to try and i know from your emails some of you are too. We found this book at our last rummage at the library...

...Mini Scientist in the Kitchen by Lisa Burke. All sorts of fun experiments you can do with kids....all with stuff you likely already have in the kitchen. I really recommend it. Great photos and layout for kids. Plus a fold-out section on each double page with the scientific break-down of each experiment in launguage kidlets (and non-scientific mama's) can understand. Very cool.

This project was a look into solids and liquids and the task was to mix up some goop and play with it, running various experiments (will it flow through a sieve?) to determine if it was a solid or a liquid. Answer: neither, its a colloid. Hilarious word for a four year old to be fluent in using! Love it. Oxidation got a mention today too. Ha!

For those who want to try at home, goop is just pure fun to mix and play with even with no science attached:

Two cups of cornflour

One cup of water

few drops of natural food colouring optional but fun.

Add the water very gradually and mix well as you go.

It's a wierd mix...you scoop it up and it runs through your fingers but if you grab handful and press it'll act like a solid then run through your fingers again when you release the pressure. Fun stuff. We started off inside but as the play got more vigorous we moved outside to the covered deck. This is another one we tried recently. It involved marshmallows so was sure to be popular. Though it does involve some self control so the experiment doesnt get eaten before time.

We built a huge tower by piling several cubes on top of each other and topped it off with the pyramid. Good clean fun. Perfect for a rainy day.