For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep journal to record results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I simply printed and cut apart the cards. You can also laminate for extra durability.

I purposefully made the cards four to a page so they would be big enough for little hands to hold.

Once I printed the sorting mats, we were ready to play!

5 Senses Sort

To start, we did a quick review of the body part we use to learn about each sense. We talked about how we use our mouth to taste, our ears to hear, our nose to smell, etc.

Then, we shuffled the deck of body parts and grabbed the card on top: eye.

A volunteer confidently placed the eye on the “see” mat and then grabbed the next body part in the pile.

The activity prompted lots of discussion about why we use that body part for that sense.

After sorting the body parts came the real fun!

Students selected an object card and explained why they use a certain sense to learn about it. We had great discussions about what was the best fit.

When a volunteer grabbed the rainbow, for instance, he pointed out that he can’t touch, smell, taste, or hear a rainbow, but he can SEE one which is why “see” was the correct answer.

Students continued sorting the picture cards into the correct mats until everything was in the right spot.  The 5 senses sort was complete!

5 Senses Extension Ideas

I included blank cards so you can have students add their own pictures and sort them!

And, as a fun follow up, you could have students play a quick round of memory. Just line the cards up in two rows and have students select a picture from each row until they find a match!

Easy peasy review!

Grab Your Set

Click the blue download button below to snag your free 5 senses sort!  Then, want more science fun!? Check out our 30 Science Experiments that kids will love in our shop!

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

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Snag your 10 free STEM challenges below and then hop over to grab our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

Getting Ready

Prepping the activity was quick and easy!

I printed the pages on cardstock to give them added durability and cut along the grey lines to separate the pieces.

Then, I grabbed our geoboards and a handful of rubber bands.

We were ready to play learn!

STEM Geoboard Challenges

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but my stash of geoboards sat on the shelves for YEARS collecting dust. ?

I didn’t really know how I could make them engaging for kids and I was too busy trying to keep up on my to do list to dive in and figure it out.

I soooo wish I had these challenge cards back then!⁣

To play, kids grabbed one card at a time and recreated it on their geoboard with rubber bands.

They had to count pegs, think about angles… they worked on so many geometry skills at once!

Geoboard Challenge Extension Activity

Stretch students who are ready for a challenge by having them draw mini models of their creations on the record sheet to practice scaling!

You can even have them create their own design in the box in the bottom right corner!

It’s such an easy way to differentiate for kids who can take it further.

Snag Your Set

Click the blue download button below to grab your 10 free geoboard cards.

More STEM Projects

Make measurement and weight concepts exciting with these STEM Challenge Cards! They’re an easy, interactive way to get students thinking critically about balance, mass, and estimation.

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Who can build the strongest bridge?  Find out and then hop over to our shop to grab our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

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Building Straw Bridges

To give the kids a strong introduction to bridge design, we started our activity by reading Carol Johmann’s Bridges! together as a class.

Then, we talked about five popular types of bridges: arch, beam, suspension, cable-stay and truss. As we reviewed the characteristics of each one, I drew a simple anchor chart kids could refer to when they were designing their bridges later.

Then, I placed students into teams of three or four and gave each group a tray of supplies:

• Tape
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Paper clips
• Straws

Their task was simple: build a bridge that was strong enough to hold a plastic cup filled with 100 pennies.

They could cut the straws to any length, but their bridges had to sit at least one inch off the table.

Some teams succeeded and some failed, but either way, it was impressive to watch their problem solving and teamwork. They loved observing what worked for other groups and then incorporating it into their own designs.

More STEM Challenges

Looking for an easy way to boost critical thinking and problem-solving in your classroom? These free LEGO Challenge Cards are perfect for engaging students in hands-on STEM exploration!

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P.S. Looking for some easy ways to add super cool, hands-on science to your classroom or home? Hop over and grab 30 Science Experiments your kids will love!

Getting Ready

To make 12 muffin-sized homemade bath bombs, we first gathered a few supplies:

• • 1 cup baking soda
  • 3/4 cup corn starch
  • 1/4 cup Epsom salt or cane sugar
  • 1/2 cup citric acid (available in natural food stores or online for canning})
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Essential oils (optional)
  • Large bowl
  • Measuring cups
  • Mixing spoon
  • Sifter
  • Spray bottle with water
  • Anything that can serve as a mold (silicone molds, plastic eggs, muffin tin lined with saran wrap, etc.)

Homemade Bath Bombs

Once I gathered all the supplies, A quickly ran over, excited to make her grandmom some fizzy homemade bath bombs. First, she measured out the baking soda, cornstarch, Epsom salt and citric acid and mixed them in a large bowl.  Since this recipe is pretty forgiving, it’s a perfect measuring activity for younger children as well.

A sifted the dry ingredients to break up any chunks.  This was a pretty dusty step (which is why we did it outside) and one I’m not sure was really necessary.

Next,  I asked A what scent she wanted to make. She chose orange and jasmine.  A added several drops of orange food coloring to the water in the spray bottle and slowly began spraying the dry mixture.  She loved watching the mixture fizz each time she sprayed it.  The key was to lightly spray it, wetting it enough that the mixture formed a clump when squeezed but not so much that it lost its fizziness.

Next, A added several drops of orange and jasmine essential oil and thoroughly stirred the mixture.  Then, she scooped the mixture into the silicone muffin liners and firmly pressed it down.  The homemade bath bombs were really coming together!

A and even her little brother, Q, loved mixing up this fizzy concoction so much we ended up making 3 more batches.  Both kids had a cold, so in addition to lemon-lavendar and pink grapefruit, we made some sinus clearing peppermint-eucalyptus using peppermint baking extract.

You can use whatever molds you have on hand – even cookie cutters on a baking pan or an ice cube tray would work well.  We also made egg-shaped bath bombs with leftover Easter eggs.  They turned out super cute!

For the egg molds, gently remove half the egg shell after an hour or so to allow it to completely dry.  Leave the bombs out to dry overnight and then gently pop them out.  Store them in an airtight container or package them up for that special someone who deserves a little extra R & R.

Now all I need it to get my kids to give me a little quiet time so I could enjoy a few of them. I guess I’ll have to wait until Mother’s Day!

The Science Behind It

When you drop your fizzy bomb into the tub, the water sets off a chemical reaction between the citric acid and the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).  That’s why the dry mixture fizzed when it was sprayed with water. During the reaction, carbon dioxide is created making those relaxing, fizzing bubbles.

Want More?

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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They couldn’t believe their ears.  Launching candy across the house? What’s not to love?!  After your little engineers build theirs, hop on over for more science fun with our Epic STEM Challenges!

In the most basic terms, a catapult is a simple machine used to launch an object or projectile without the use of explosives.

Before building our catapult, I showed my kiddos an example of a simple catapult using a spoon.  Balancing the candy pumpkin on the end of the handle, I simply hit the spoon end with my hand to send the pumpkin flying through the air.

Making Candy Pumpkin Catapults

To make the pumpkin catapult, I quickly gathered a few supplies:

• 7 craft sticks (wide craft sticks are easier for little hands to hold.)
• 4 rubber bands
• 1 small cup (We used the top to a juice container.)
• A hot glue gun

First, I had each kiddo stack 5 craft sticks on top of each other and then I helped them bind them on each end with a rubber band.  This would act as the base and fulcrum – the point at which the lever will pivot.

They stacked the remaining 2 sticks and bound them with a single rubber band on the very edge of one end.

Next, we pried open the 2 sticks to make a “V” shape.  We placed the bundle of 5 sticks at the very bottom of the “V” shape and secured it with the final rubber band.

The last step on the pumpkin catapult was to glue the small cup that would hold the pumpkins onto the end of the top arm of the catapult.  In the photo below, the arm is the stick with the Halloween tape on it.  If you are doing this with little ones, it helps to glue the cup in from the end of the stick.  This gives little fingers an area to push down on to create the tension to make projectiles fly.

Making Pumpkins Fly

It only took a few minutes to construct our ultra simple pumpkin catapults and my kids couldn’t wait to launch pumpkins.

At first, they just played around with the catapults to see the best way to get the pumpkins to fly the furthest.  {These aren’t the most powerful catapults and only launched the pumpkins a few feet.}

I handed them a couple candy corns to see if the difference in weight had an affect on the distance the projectile would fly.

Then we moved on to experiment with how we aimed the catapults.  I set up 9 small glasses in a pyramid shape.  The kids had to get 3 out of 5 pumpkins into the glasses in order to eat one.  Of course, once the sugar kicked in, things got a little crazy and the game turned into shooting candy pumpkins into each others’ mouths.  Whoever said science wasn’t fun?!

As far as first attempts go, this catapult was perfect.  Simple, quick, and easy for all ages to use.  My 3 year -old is officially obsessed! He used his catapult the next day to launch acorns to our neighborhood squirrels.

Pumpkin Catapult Extensions

Both kids are already thinking about what they could launch next and how to make things fly further.  Here are a few extensions we’ve thought up:

Secure the catapult to prevent movement and test how accurate it is using the same projectile.

Change the number of craft sticks in the bundle and see what effect it has.

Test different rubber bands.  How does this affect the launch?

Test different sizes and weights of objects.

Test holding the arm down at different angles.

Build a few different models and test which launches the furthest and most accurate.

Build a bigger catapult and test different materials (bungee cord, exercise band) to see what happens.

The Science Behind It

A simple machine is a mechanical device used to change the direction or magnitude of a force.  The catapult is an example of a lever type simple machine in which a beam or arm pivots at a fixed point called the fulcrum.

In the catapult we built, as we pressed down on the arm, tension was building and energy was being stored.

Energy that is stored when a material is compressed (think of a spring) or stretched (a slingshot) is called elastic energy.  When you release the arm of the catapult, the elastic energy is converted into kinetic energy – the energy of motion.  When you place an object like the pumpkin candy in the bucket, the pumpkin will move at the same speed as the arm and the bucket.

When the arm stops, the pumpkin projectile continues to move forward due to Newton’s first law, which states that an object in motion stays in motion. The pumpkin becomes airborne.

Gravity pulls the pumpkin back toward the ground, giving the pumpkin its trajectory, or path.

Ready for More?

For more scientific inspiration, grab a copy of our Epic STEM Challenges!

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Check out how to make these fascinating crystals below!  Then, grab our 30 Science Experiments your kids will love in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for these glow-in-the-dark crystals, I gathered a few supplies:

• Pipe cleaners
• Borax
• Glow-in-the-dark paint
• Fishing line (twine or yarn would work, too)
• Pencils or wooden skewers
• Scissors
• Glasses or plastic container (one for each shape)
• Liquid measuring cup
• Heat safe mixing bowl
• Blacklight (optional, but makes the glow brighter)

Glow-in-the-Dark Crystals

Once I grabbed all of my materials, I called my kiddos over and told them we were going to whip up glow-in-the-dark crystals.  They decided what they wanted to make, grabbed pipe cleaners and started to bend the them into shape.

I tied each spooky creation to a wooden skewer using fishing line.  (Even though the fishing line is a little tricky to tie, crystals won’t grow on it but they will on twine.)

I placed each shape into a glass jar and made sure it didn’t touch any of the sides or the bottom. If they do touch, the shapes will grow attached to the jar and could break a bit when you take them out.

We ended up making a dozen Halloween shapes and needed a ton of borax solution.  My 5 year-old, A, measured out 1/4 cup of borax per cup of boiling water and mixed the solution until the borax dissolved.

A has done a lot of cooking so I was confident in her mixing and pouring hot water safely, but obviously please use caution when letting your child work with hot, hot water.

To make the glow-in-the-dark crystals actually glow, A added about a 2-3 tablespoons of glow-in-the-dark paint to the borax solution and mixed until well combined.  We used orange for the pumpkins and pink for the bat.  She then poured the solution into the jars and lowered in the shaped making sure they didn’t touch the sides or bottom.

Since we have a blacklight, we also made a few glow crystals simply by using fluorescent and white pipe cleaners since white glows in black light.

Now all we had to do was wait.  Within an hour you could see some of the borax precipitating out, mostly on the sides and bottom but my kiddos had to hold off until the next day for their favorite part: revealing the crystals.  We patted them dry then headed to a dark room to see the results.

Here’s what they look like with the lights on.  So sparkly and gorgeous, right?

And here’s a side-by-side of a pumpkin made with just fluorescent pipe cleaners and one made with glow paint.  You can see they both glow but the one that used paint (on the right) is definitely brighter.  Without the blacklight, the one made with glow-in-the-dark paint does glow after a good charge but it was too faint to photograph well.

My kiddos love making borax crystals but glow-in-the-dark crystals was infinitely cooler.  So cool they just had to take the spooky creations to bed with them that night.

The Science Behind It

When borax is dissolved in water, a suspension is created.  A suspension is a mixture that has solid particles (the borax) that are large enough for sedimentation {settling out}. As the borax begins to settle, it starts to crystalize on all the surfaces it comes in contact with – including the pipe cleaner shapes.  As the borax continues to settle out, it builds crystals on top of other borax crystals forming a thick layer.

More Mad Science

Save time hunting down awesome science activities for kids and grab our 30 Science Experiments your kids will love in our shop!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 Science Experiments kids will beg to repeat in our shop!

This kids’ science experiment uses antacids which can contain aspirin so make sure to inform your kids that it is a medicine and should not normally be played with. Also, make sure to clean up any remaining bits of antacid tablets – especially if you have toddlers in your home.

Getting Ready

To prep, I gathered together a few supplies:

• Mini M&M tubes
• Antacid tablets
• Cardboard (cereal boxes work great)
• Foil
• Glue gun (not pictured)
• Decorations (stickers, washi tape, painters tape)
• Bottle of water
• Small ball of clay (optional)

It was time to start this American-themed kids’ science experiment!  To build the rockets, I first emptied and peeled the label off the M&M tubes.  Next, I cut the tab that holds the cap on the tube so the cap could be completely removed.  Then, I used an empty cereal box and my hot glue gun to make mini cones to top off the rockets

I called A over and handed her the stickers and tape so she could decorate her rockets.  While she was busy happily peeling stickers, I covered the cones with aluminum foil to finish off the tops and to provide them with a little more protection. When A was done, I hot glued the cones to the bottom (the side opposite the cap) of the M&M tubes and we were ready to make the rockets fly.

Exploding Pop Rockets

We gathered our rockets, the antacid tablets, and a bottle of water and headed outside.  This activity can get pretty messy, especially if you are like us and launch your rocket dozens of times.  I placed the small ball of clay in the lid to hold the antacid tablet in place so that A could close the lid without starting the fizz until the rocket was flipped right side up.

Next, I poured about a teaspoon of water into the rocket and handed the rocket and lid to a nervous A.  She placed the lid snugly on the rocket, flipped the rocket onto the wooden board I had placed on the grass and ran for cover.

The first reactions happened quickly giving A only a few seconds to run away before it popped and shot up about 3 feet in the air.

As the tablet disintegrated, it took longer for the pressure to build, giving her more time to hop away. Initially, my daughter was nervous about exploding rockets until she realized how harmless it really was.  Now, she can’t wait to show her grandparents and cousins how to make popping rockets when we visit them for July 4th.

The Science Behind It

When water and antacid mix, carbon dioxide gas is produced. By placing the lid on the rocket, you are trapping those gas bubbles inside. As more and more bubbles are produced, the pressure inside the rocket builds, creating enough force to break the seal on the lid.  There is so much force from the built up pressure that it launches the rocket into the air.

More Kids’ Science Experiments

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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One hot day a few weeks ago, I pulled out a batch of the magical popsicles from our freezer and invited my 4 year-old daughter to start painting.  She was thrilled when her masterpiece began fizzing! Ready to make your own batch of magic fizzing popsicle paints? Read on.

Want even more cool science!? Check out our super awesome 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I gathered a few supplies:

• A popsicle mold
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• A paint brush
• Food coloring (liquid watercolors would work well too)
• Watercolor paper

A couple important notes about this popsicle paint – I made the popsicles the night before to give them time to freeze.  Since vinegar has a lower freezing point than water, I also turned my freezer temperature down to 28 degrees.

To make the popsicles , I filled the popsicle molds with vinegar until it almost reached the top.  Then, I added several drops of food color to each pop, gave them a good stir and placed them in the freezer.

To prep the watercolor paper for the fizzy reaction, I mixed about a 1/4 cup of  baking soda with water until the mixture was about as runny as white glue.  Next, I used my paintbrush to paint a nice thick coating of the baking soda mixture over the entire surface of the watercolor paper  and set it aside to dry.  (You might want to make several sheets.  I ended up having to make more on the fly as the kids had so much fun we quickly ran out of the few sheets I pre-made.)

Magic Fizzing Popsicle Paint

The next afternoon, I grabbed the baking soda paper and pops and headed outside with my very excited 4 year-old to paint.  I wanted A to enjoy painting and watching the baking soda and vinegar reaction without any constraints.  A, however, wanted to watch her name bubble up and had a blast making other fizzy letters on other sheets.

“How did you get the popsicles to fizz mama?” A asked.

I had her feel the paper.  “Does it feel different?” I inquired.

“It feels powdery,” she said.

I explained that I covered the paper with baking soda and made the popsicle paint out of vinegar.

We’ve done many activities with baking soda and vinegar before, so A knows what happens when the two chemicals mix. This time I explained acids and bases to A in simple terms.  We talked about how acids taste sour.  A decided she needed to taste the vinegar and baking soda and then we thought of a few more foods (like lemon and oranges) that are acidic.

A then turned her attention back to painting and 14 sheets later, I had a colorful, bubbly mess and a wonderfully-dyed daughter to clean up.  We laid the papers out in the sun to dry.  They were beautiful!!

The Science Behind It

When the vinegar (an acid) in the popsicle touches the baking soda (a base), a chemical reaction occurs,  releasing carbon dioxide gas that produces fizzy bubbles.  For more fun kids’ science, whip up a batch of magic balloons, make pop rockets and pour a rainbow in a jar.

Want more?

Check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop for some more science fun for kids!

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It’s the perfect STEM project for your child’s inner engineer.  Then, when you’re done building, head on over to our shop and check out our Epic STEM Challenges for more STEM fun!

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The DK series offers a huge selection of children’s science books including this one called “Car” that walks kids through the ins and outs of car design.

After reading a few key pages of the book together, I divided my summer camp students into teams and invited them to start building their own K’nex race cars.

After 30 minutes of designing and testing, they were ready to start RACING!

I had made two ramps out of a wide piece of cardboard by drawing a simple black dashed line down the middle. I securely taped each end to the top of a table and let the other end rest on the floor.

Two teams raced each other at a time. The first round, they competed for speed to see which car reached the bottom of the ramp first.

The second time, children competed for distance. They marked the spot where their car completely stopped rolling with a piece of tape. The team with the furthest tape mark won.

You can imagine the squeals of laughter (and sometimes disappointment) after each competition. The kids were surprised to find that their design made a huge impact on the car’s performance. One car might win for speed but fail miserably in the distance competition.

They eagerly huddled with their team again and started tweaking their design based on components of the winning K’nex race cars.

Then, it was back to the race track again for round two of competition!

40 STEM Activities for Kids

Continue the STEM learning and fun with our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

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With a few common ingredients and a little muscle, you too can enjoy delicious homemade ice cream in a bag!  For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments your kids will beg to repeat!

Getting Ready

For one serving of ice cream, you will need:

• 1/2 a cup of half and half, cream, or milk
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

You will also need:

• 2 sandwich or quart-sized baggies
• gallon sized baggie
• 1/2 cups of salt (larger salt like rock salt works best)
• ice (around 5 cups)
• gloves or small towel (optional)

Making Ice Cream in a Bag

First, I handed each kiddo a sandwich sized bag and had them measure out the sugar and vanilla.

Next, they measured a half cup of half and half and carefully added this to their bag.

I helped them squeeze out most of the air and seal the baggie really well.  They placed the baggie with cream into another sandwich bag for added protection.  We’ve done this before with just a single small bag and the salt water leaked into the baggie making the ice cream a wee bit salty.

Next, we placed the doubled up sandwich bags into the larger gallon baggie and added about 5 cups of ice.

Finally, we added the 1/2 cup of salt to the ice and sealed the baggie.  We ran out of rock salt and used kosher salt instead – the experiment still worked fine.  Now all that was left to do was shake!

After about 5 minutes the cream began to feel slightly thicker.  My 5 year-old, A, just had to remove the sandwich baggie to check on its progress.  By this point, the kids were getting pretty tired so it was my turn to shake.  I added another handful of ice, resealed the bag, and shook like mad.  After several minutes we had ice cream!

The easiest and least messy way to get the ice cream out was to cut off a corner of the sandwich bag and squeeze out the cream like soft serve.

And what is ice cream without sprinkles?!

Yum!  Science sure is tasty!

The Science Behind Ice Cream

The salt you add to the ice causes it to start melting, just as salt added to icy roads does in winter.  Normally water freezes at 32 degrees F (0 degrees Celsius) but when salt touches the ice, it lowers the freezing point to much lower than that.  The more salt, the lower the temperature ice will melt.

In order for the ice to melt, however, it has to absorb heat.  The heat that it absorbs comes from what’s around it.  In this case, it takes heat from the air and the warmer cream mixture.  The icy salt water solution becomes colder than 32 degrees F by sucking heat from the cream and this allows the cream to freeze.  Remember, the cream doesn’t have salt in it so it will still freeze at 32 degrees F and that’s good news for you!

Want More?

Check out our awesome stash of 30 Science Experiments in our shop to keep the science fun going all year!

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Little scientists and pizza fans will beg, “More please!” as they learn about solar power in this awesome kids science project.  After you’ve enjoyed your pizza, check out our amazing 30 Science Experiments to keep the science going!

How to Make a Solar Oven

I wanted to cook a pizza with my kids but you could cook almost anything – s’mores, eggs, hot dogs… This kids science activity is really versatile.

I grabbed my pizza supplies and the materials I needed for our solar oven:

• 2  nesting cardboard boxes (The smallest one should be big enough to fit your food but not too big that it won’t heat up.)
• Black construction paper
• Glue sticks (We used 3.)
• Foil
• Tape
• Scissors
• Box cutter or small serrated knife (Not shown)
• Plastic Wrap
• Newspaper, packing peanuts, or Styrofoam packing material to insulate your oven
• An oven thermometer (Optional but fun)

To make the oven , I grabbed the smaller of the two boxes and taped it closed using packing tape. Then, to make the window for the sunlight to enter, I cut around the top of the box leaving about an inch border using a serrated knife.

Next, I cut around three sides of the box, one inch down from the top, to make a hinged lid for the oven. Now that I was ready for my daughter to help, I called her over and explained that we needed to line the inside with black construction paper.  Of course the first thing she said was, “Why?”  So as I handed her the glue stick and the paper, we talked about how different colors absorb heat differently. Black paper absorbs the most heat, which is what we want if we want to cook.

After the box was lined, we turned our attention to the larger box.  I tore off a piece of foil and slowly moved it back and forth reflecting the light onto the table and wall.  I asked A if she noticed anything about the foil.

“It’s shiny and crinkly,” she said.

“Exactly, it’s shiny and reflects light,” I replied.  “More light means more heat in our oven.”

I handed her another glue stick and asked her to cover the top flaps so we could glue foil on them to help reflect more sunlight into our oven.

We worked our way around the box, gluing and smoothing the foil over each flap then taping the foil down on the back (outside) of each flap.

Once all the gluing was done, it was time to add the plastic wrap window. The plastic wrap needed to be as smooth and taut as possible, so this step was better done by a grown-up.

Finally, to really help our oven get hot, we decided to insulate it.  This step is optional, but since I wanted to really cook food (not just melt something) and we happened to have Styrofoam sheets from a package, we thought we would insulate.  If you don’t have Styrofoam sheets on hand, newspaper works well as insulation too.  I had my daughter place the smaller oven box into the larger box then fill the sides with the insulation.

“What is insulation?” A asked.  I explained that insulating means to stop something, like our oven, from losing heat by using a material like the Styrofoam.  We talked about how a coat insulates her in the winter and her lunch box has a insulating material in it to keep her food warm.

Cooking with a Solar Oven

Now we were ready to cook!  Just a note, the best time to cook with a solar oven is when the sun is at its highest around 11 am to 2pm.  We constructed ours so we could start cooking at 11 am and it was a good thing because it took over an hour to get the crust crispy!

A rolled and tossed the pizza dough until it was nice and thin. Then, she placed it on a little pan coated with olive oil.  We put the crusts in the oven, closed the lid and placed it in our backyard’s sunniest spot to cook.  I used tape to help angle the foil flaps and reflect the most light into the oven.

We checked the crusts every 20 minutes or so, flipping them over after about 40 minutes.  Finally after an hour and 15 minutes, the crusts were  almost crispy and I headed inside with a very excited A to add the toppings.

I did end up cooking the crusts for about 5 minutes in a regular oven just to make sure the insides were fully cooked – mostly because I hate undercooked pizza dough.  After adding her toppings, we placed the pizzas back in the solar oven for another 30 minutes so the cheese was melted and gooey. My hungry daughter scarfed down her first piece and then declared, “Cooking with the sun is the best! I want to to cook everything outside!!”

The Science Behind It

The sun’s rays have a lot of energy in them.  When they strike an object, all of that energy causes the molecules in the object to vibrate. The molecules get excited and jump around.  All of this jumping around causes heat.  The solar oven works by trapping in the heat created when the sunlight strikes the black paper bottom. As more sunlight enters the box, the molecules in the paper get more excited and generate more heat to cook the food.

Even More Kids’ Science

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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It was a good lesson learned in more than one way!  For more science fun, check out our amazing 30 Science Experiments kids will beg to repeat in our shop!

Getting Ready

The prep for this kids’ science experiment couldn’t be easier.  I grabbed a piece of dark construction paper (black, blue, or purple) for each child, a writing utensil and sunscreen.  (Use sunscreen that goes on clear. We initially used a zinc oxide sunscreen and it was too thick and we couldn’t see the results.)

Then, I drew a line down the middle of the paper and labeled one side “sunscreen” and the other “no sunscreen.”  Ta da, it’s as easy as that.

Before starting the kids’ science experiment, I asked my 3 and 5 year-old why we wear sunscreen.  My 5 year-old shouted, “To protect us from the sun!”  “Exactly, now lets see if we can see that,” I replied.  I grabbed a bottle of spray on sunscreen and covered my kids hands with a thin layer.  I had them make a sunscreen handprint on the side of the paper labeled “sunscreen.”

Sunscreen Kids’ Science Experiment

Next, we headed outside to find a spot where the paper would get full sun and left it there while we played.

Initially, the paper looked wet from the oils but it eventually absorbed over time and the handprint almost disappeared.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so after a couple hours, we could already see the paper had become lighter.  We left it for another couple hours before bringing the papers in to see what damage the sun had done.  We went out to go check on our kids’ science experiment.

The paper had become pretty sun bleached but the paper under the sunscreen handprints remained the original color.  The sunscreen really did protect the paper from becoming bleached.  My kiddos were pretty amazed!

The Science Behind It

The sun emits 3 types of ultra violet (UV) radiation.  Two types, UVA and UVB, can damage skin.  Sunscreen works by combining organic and inorganic active ingredients to protect skin from these harmful UV rays emitted by the sun.

Inorganic ingredients like zinc oxide or titanium oxide provide a physical barrier and work by reflecting or scattering ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Organic ingredients like octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC) or oxybenzone work by absorbing UV radiation and dissipating it as heat. Some organic chemicals don’t break down when exposed to UV light but others do slowly break down over time.  That’s one reason why we have to reapply after a long time in the sun.

When we applied sunscreen to the paper, the chemicals in the sunscreen absorbed the UV radiation and prevented them from bleaching the paper.

More Science Fun

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab our 30 Science Experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no-prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

For this chromatography activity, I grabbed just a few common household supplies:

• Glasses or jars (one for each leaf color)
• Mortar and pestle (or a spoon)
• Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
• White coffee filters
• Leaves

My kids and I grabbed a couple leaves that had already changed color as well as a few green leaves.  My 5 year-old really wanted to test all the various colors of leaves so we decided to collect red, orange, yellow, green and purple.

Once she had a basket full she sorted them by color and chose the best leaf from each group to test.  I couldn’t resist a shot of all the leaves sorted, simply gorgeous!

Leaf Chromatography

We decided to start with the green leaf. My daughter, A, tore up the leaf, placed it into a mortar, and crushed the bits up to release their juices with a pestle. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle place your leaf bits into a glass and crush them with the back of a spoon.)

Once she was done crushing the leaf bits, A placed them into a glass and repeated the process with all the other colored leaves.

As A finished smashing bits of the various colored leaves, I labeled each glass by taping on a matching leaf to the back of the glass so we could remember what it looked like.

Now came the stinky part of the chromatography activity! A carefully poured a couple tablespoons of rubbing alcohol into each glass until the crushed leaf bits were covered.

Next, I placed the glasses in Pyrex dishes and poured boiling water around (not in!) the glasses to warm up the alcohol. By warming the rubbing alcohol, we sped up the process of drawing the pigments out of the leaves.  You can also cover the glasses with plastic wrap and wait overnight for the pigments to dissolve in the alcohol.

After about 30 minutes, we could see the leaves’ pigments had colored the alcohol.

I cut 1 inch by 5 inch strips from white coffee filters to use as our chromatography paper and showed A how to place one end in the solvent (alcohol) and drape the other over the edge of the Pyrex.

After A placed one strip in each glass, all we had to do was wait. We ended up starting this chromatography activity in the afternoon so we just left it overnight, but an hour or two is usually enough time.

In the morning, we pulled out the filter strips to see what had happened.

The alcohol had carried the pigments from the leaves up the paper and separated them into bands.  The purple and orange had the most dramatic bands.  You could even see the two different kinds of chlorophyll on the paper from the green leaf.

This experiment was so much fun we plan to do it again using a single leaf with multiple colors to see what pigments we can separate.

The Science Behind It

Photosynthesis is the process in which plants convert light energy from the sun to chemical food energy.  To absorb the light, leaves use brightly colored  pigments with chlorophyll being the most important one.

There are two main types of chlorophyll: chlorophyll A which is bluish-green, and chlorophyll B, which is yellowish-green. During most of the growing season, leaves contain more chlorophyll than any other pigment, making them appear green.

In the fall, chlorophyll begins to break down, and the other pigments, which have been there all along, are finally revealed.  Yellow leaves have pigments called xanthophyll, orange leaves have a pigment called carotenoids. Anthocyanins give leaves their intense red and purple pigments.

These pigments, however, aren’t present in the leaves during the summer and are only made toward the end of summer.

Chromatography is the separation of a dissolved mixture by passing a  through filter paper through which different parts of the mixture will move at different rates.  The pigments that were more soluble in the solvent (alcohol) moved further up the paper than the less soluble pigments.  Using the green leaf as an example, the blueish-green chlorophyll A was less soluble than the yellowish green chlorophyll B and thus it didn’t move as far up the paper.

Jaw-Dropping Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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With just a pile of clean recyclables and a kiddy pool, little engineers can design, build and race their own batch of junk boats, too!  For even more STEM fun, check out our amazing Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Building STEM Junk Boats

After reading the book “Toy Boat” – a story about a boy who creates a boat out of a can, a cork, a yellow pencil and a white cloth – the kids were eager to build a boat of their own.

I pulled out our huge collection of clean recyclables, a roll of duct tape and scissors and invited them to get to work. After pairing up into teams of two kids dug through the pile and picked their supplies: empty paper towel rolls, old newspapers, plastic tubs, straws…

After 15 minutes or so, the mini engineers were eager to see if their boats would really float.

We headed outside to a kiddie pool I’d filled with water. I gave each team a straw to make “wind”.

One person blew the boat across the water and then a second teammate blew it back. The first boat to touch the edge of the pool was the winner.

After one round, the kids were hooked!

They took their boats out of the water and, using what they’d learned from watching the other junk boats perform in the water, they made adjustments to their designs to make the STEM boats faster.

Then, they headed over to the pool for round 2.

More STEM Inspiration

Try out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle and keep the science fun going all year!

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Coloring changing is gorgeous on its own, but at the same time, some cool biochemistry is happening beneath the surface. These three rock solid activities exploring why leaves change colors will leave kids hooked for life!

For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop that will leave your little one full of wonder!

Why Do Leaves Change Color?

Science Experiment #1: The Black Marker Experiment

One of the easiest and quickest ways to show children the science behind why leaves change color is one of our all time favorites: the Black Marker Experiment. This experiment quickly exhibits chromatography. Black separates into a variety of pigments, some quicker than others depending on the molecules within that particular color.

All cool biochemistry aside, the best part is that the materials are already available to you in your home or classroom! I love activities that require zero cost.

Materials Needed

Before starting the experiment, gather a few supplies:

• Paper towel
• A black marker (not a permanent marker)
• Water

I like to use a spray bottle or dropper to make it a bit more interactive for the kids and to add a bit of fine motor work into the activity.

The Experiment

Have the children design their paper towels with the black marker. During this time, ask the children, “What is black? What do you think is going to happen when water touches the black?”

Have the children take a medicine dropper or a spray bottle or just use fingers to add water to the paper towel. The water will cause the pigments to reveal themselves at varying rates. Children are mesmerized by this process. Plus, you get a beautiful piece of art as a result.

Connect to Color Changing Leaves
After completing the experiment, ask, “What happens to many leaves as the seasons change from warm to cool temperatures?”

Experiment #2: Use Real Leaves to Simulate the Color Changing Process

Materials Needed

To prep for the experiment, grab:

• Leaves
• Small glasses or jars
• A tool to crush the leaves, like a fork
• Paper towel or coffee filter
• Rubbing alcohol
• Cling wrap of aluminum foil to cover the jar
• A bowl big enough to place the jar in

The Experiment

Have the children crush the leaves with a fork, pour rubbing alcohol over the leaves until covered, mix/mash up the leaves & the alcohol, cover the jar, place the jar in a bowl of hot water, leave for an hour, after the hour, place a strip of the paper towel into the jar, observe the liquid travel up the paper towel, the colors will appear over the next hour.

Experiment #3: Get Outside for Leaf Sequencing

This activity is a great one to get kids outside and moving their bodies. Simply challenge the children to gather many leaves of various colors over a period of ten minutes. Gather back together to examine the leaves.

Ask, “What is happening to this green and yellow leaf? Why is this leaf turning red? Why is this leaf still green?”

Then sequence the leaves by the stage of color change.

The Science Behind Leaves Changing Color

Leaf color comes from three pigments: chlorophyll (green), carotenoid (yellow, orange, brown), and anthocyanin (red).

The factors that affect leaf colors are pigments, amount of daylight, and weather. As the nights get longer, the leaves begin to change color. Less sunlight and cooler temperatures cause a biochemical reaction in the leaves.

As the length of night increases, chlorophyll (green) production slows down and eventually stops. As this happens, the other two pigments (already present in the leaf) begin to show themselves.

Further Leaf Learning

• This video is a great starter for a lesson: Why Leaves Change Color?
• Simply asking “Why do leaves change color?” opens a huge door for learning. Leaves change color for many reasons. Discuss how these variables impact the color of the leaves from one season and one year to the next. Talk about the length of the day and the weather, for example.
• Explore chromatography with process art such as this fun butterfly chromatography craft from Buggy and Buddy.
• Dive deeper into the three pigments found in leaves: Chlorophyll, Carotenoids, and Anthocyanins. Discuss which trees may contain more or less of these pigments.
• Ask, “What conditions would give us the most extraordinary color palette?” (sunny, crisp days seem to deliver the best array of vibrant colors)

More Super Cool Science

Grab our 30 Science Experiments in our shop and watch your little scientist grow!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no-prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

To Prep

I grabbed my supplies for this balloon science experiment:

• • 2 clean bottles
  • yeast
  • a teaspoon of sugar
  • vinegar
  • baking soda
  • a packet of Pop Rocks candy
  • a roll of mint Mentos
  • a couple bottles of soda
  • a funnel
  • and balloons {You’ll want the big, regular-sized balloons rather than water balloons.}

Magic Balloon #1: Warm Water and Yeast

In our first bottle, we poured in about an inch of warm water and then dumped in the entire packet of yeast.  We swirled the yeast around a bit and then added the teaspoon of sugar and gave it another good swirl.  We put the balloon over the mouth of the bottle and then let it sit in the sun.

It only took about five minutes for the yeast to start bubbling and our balloon to start inflating!  “Ew, what is it?” C asked, looking at the foam that was starting to bubble.   “Yeast is a type of bacteria, so it’s actually a living thing,” I explained. “It’s eating the sugar that we added and when it eats the sugar, it creates a gas called carbon dioxide that makes all those bubbles. That carbon dioxide is filling up the balloon.”

Magic Balloon #2: Vinegar and Baking Soda

In our second bottle for this balloon science experiment, we poured a couple inches of vinegar.  We prepped the balloon by using the funnel to fill half of it with baking soda.  I put the balloon over the mouth of the bottle and then C dumped in the baking soda.   The effect was instantaneous and the balloon quickly inflated as the bicarbonate baking soda reacted with the acetic acid in the vinegar making carbon dioxide.

Magic Balloon #3: Diet Coke and Pop Rocks

Our third bottle was half filled with Diet Coke.  I liked the Diet Coke because it didn’t leave a sticky mess, but any soda would work.  We found that we got a better reaction if we opened a fresh bottle and poured out the soda we didn’t want rather than pouring soda into an empty bottle — I think it stayed better carbonated.

To prep this balloon experiment, we dumped a pack of Pop Rocks into it.  I stretched the balloon over the mouth of the bottle and C dumped them into the Diet Coke.

This one was definitely the noisiest! You could hear all the popping going on in the bottle as the Pop Rocks released their pressurized carbon dioxide.

Magic Balloon #4: Diet Coke and Mentos

For the last bottle, we filled half of it with Diet Coke again.  We put two Mentos in the balloon, stretched it over the mouth of the bottle, and then dumped them into the Coke.

We actually ended up doing this experiment twice because the first time we didn’t have enough soda in the bottle so it produced a pretty weak reaction.  Half a bottle seemed to work just fine and the Mentos were a great catalyst, causing the Diet Coke release its carbon dioxide.

We lined up our bottles to check out the results.

“Which bottle do you think blew up the balloon the best?” I asked C.

“This one!” he exclaimed, pointing to the yellow balloon of the vinegar and baking soda bottle.  I explained to C that all of these combinations created carbon dioxide.  The carbon dioxide fills the bottle and then moves into the balloon, blowing it up.  Each reaction produces a different amount of carbon dioxide. Which one did he think made the most?

“The one with the yellow balloon,” he said.  “It’s the biggest.”   We tried the experiment a couple times more to see if our results were the same.  We used the same color balloon for each reaction to make it easier to compare past and current results.  The bottle with vinegar and baking soda was the clear winner again.

More Inspiring Science Experiments!

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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This sugary twist on the classic Will It Melt? kids’ science experiment is  sure to make your little scientists smile.  For more amazing kids’ science, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep this fun kids’ science activity, I printed off the Will It Melt? chart (below), grabbed a couple crayons, and gathered my science experiment supplies:

• an empty ice tray
• Smarties
• M&M’s
• Skittles
• gumdrops
• gummy worms
• Laffy Taffy
• Gobstoppers

I used the candy we had on hand from a candy science lab summer camp class I taught a couple weeks ago, but you could really use any candy for this easy kids’ science activity.

Will It Melt? Kids’ Science

My boys (ages 3.5 and 5.5) eagerly dropped the candies in each cube of the tray, munching a few while they worked.

I wanted them to practice making hypotheses so I gave each of them a chart and helped them mark their predictions with an X in the right spot.

Then, they wandered out to our boiling hot driveway and placed the tray on the ground so the bright summer sun could shine down on it.

Two hours later, they excitedly grabbed the tray and brought it inside to record their results with a blue circle on their chart.

Such an easy way to learn about melting and solar energy!

The Science Behind It

Like everything around us, candy is made up of molecules. The individual molecules of candies like M&M’s are packed so tightly together that they can’t move. That’s why they’re solid.

When the candy molecules are warmed in the sun, however, they start moving around, making the candy melt into more of a liquid. The temperature where solids melt is called its melting point.

Grab Your Printable

Click the blue button below to download your free record sheet!

More Inspiring Science

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Will It Melt? Candy Science appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Add them to your STEM centers or use as independent work!  For more STEM fun, check out our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle in our shop!

Getting Ready

Prepping for the LEGO measuring activity was quick and easy. I dug through the kids’ LEGO stash and pulled out a big handful of square bricks.

Then, I printed one activity sheet (below) for each child and called them over to join me.

Beginning Measurement

Before many kids are able to measure with abstract units like inches and centimeters, they must first understand how to measure with concrete objects. LEGOS are a perfect measurement tool because their straight sides make them slide together so nicely.

To start, I pulled out the beginning measurement page first. Big Brother (age 6) and Middle Brother (age 4.5) looked at the top line and estimated how many LEGOS it would take to cover it.

Big Brother guessed 12 and then eagerly began laying the bricks side-by-side.

“Bummer!” he called out when he counted the bricks and realized that the actual answer was eleven. He’d only been off by one. So close!

One line after the next, each boy made an estimate and then found the correct answer.  They were quite invested in this LEGO measurement activity!

Standard Measurement

When our warm up with the LEGO measuring activity was complete, Big Brother moved on to measuring in inches. (Although we weren’t working on it, I included a centimeter page for all of you in case you prefer it.)

He read the first box and estimated how many inches long a train of seven bricks would be. Then he counted out seven LEGOS and started placing them in a line.

When he was finished, he grabbed a ruler and carefully measured – being sure to line up the start of the ruler and the beginning of the LEGO train.  This was the part of the LEGO measurement activity that would be applicable to real-life measuring.

Four and a half. He was off by an inch!

Big Brother wrote down the actual measurement and started working on the next estimate.

Grab Your Download

Ready to measure with LEGOS?! Click the blue button below to download your copy and then check out our STEM Challenge Bundle for more LEGO fun!

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Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Then, if you’re ready to tackle more fun science, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop your kids will beg to repeat!

Weather Activities: Peek Inside

These hands-on activities make learning about weather fun for kids!

Introduce three types of weather (rainy, snowy and sunny) with an engaging flapbook.

Learn about weather-appropriate clothing with a batch of playful clip cards.

Check for understanding with a daily weather report.

Then, add in some graph practice with a fun roll and chart game.

Talk about hot and cold temperatures.

And practice coloring the correct temperature on the thermometer.

Grab a Ziploc and whip up a water cycle in a bag.

And follow up with a cloud craftivity.

Learn about tornadoes by whipping up one of your own.

Play Weather Bingo.

And that’s just the beginning!

Grab Your Pack

Hop over and download your copy of the Weather Activity Pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

And don’t forget to keep the science fun going with our 30 Science Experiments!

Want More Science 

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Weather Activities Kids Love appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Kids can’t get enough science!? Great! Check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop and keep the learning going!

Getting Ready

Our summer travels led us to several volcanoes, so naturally my kiddos were curious about how they were formed.

For this activity, I grabbed a box of graham crackers, some Cool Whip and a plate. We were ready to make mountains with our tectonic plates!

(If you don’t have Cool Whip on hand, you could use any soft food like frosting or peanut butter to mimic the Earth’s flowing mantle.)

Explaining Plate Tectonics

My kiddos and I looked through several geology books explaining the layers of the Earth. To simplify, I explained that the Earth was a made up of many layers.

The outermost layer is hard and surrounds the Earth like a shell.  This is called the crust. Earth’s crust is cracked into big pieces called tectonic plates.  These plates fit together like a puzzle surrounding the Earth.

Under these plates is a layer called the mantle.  The mantle can flow like a liquid if it’s hot enough and has enough pressure.

This causes the big plates of crust to move and its the moving of these plates that causes mountains and volcanoes to form.

Making Tectonic Plates

Once my kids had an idea of how tectonic plates move, it was time to get our hands messy.

I handed each of my kids a dish with solid but moveable Cool Whip mantle.  I added a few drops of red and orange food coloring to make it match the fiery orange mantle in our books.

On top of the mantle, we placed two graham crackers to represent the cooler, rigid crust.

Where the two graham cracker plates meet is called a plate boundary and they are named by the way the plates move against each other.  I also made a dish for myself so I could model what each boundary should look like for my kids.

A Transform Boundary

The first boundary we recreated was a transform boundary. This type of boundary occurs when two plates grind past each other.

I had the kids gently push their crackers together then slowly slide one up and the other down.  I asked them to pay close attention to how it felt to slide their tectonic plates against each other.

“It’s scratchy!” exclaimed my 3 year-old.  She was loving this plate tectonics activity!

I had them repeat the sliding in the opposite direction and listen.  You could hear the plates grind past each other.

At transform boundaries, plates move in opposite directions slowly grinding past each other, occasionally getting snagged on each other. As pressure builds, the plates finally slip, releasing a jolt of energy that we feel as an earthquake. California’s San Andrea’s fault is a perfect example of a transform boundary.

Divergent Boundaries

Divergent boundaries occur when two plates move away from each other.

To mimic this, I had my kids gently press down on each graham cracker plate while pulling them apart.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Some of the mantle oozed up,” replied my 5 year-old.

Most active divergent boundaries occur where two oceanic plates move away from each other. Hot magma flows up where the plates separate, forming large underwater lava flows and creating new seafloor and even volcanic islands.

Convergent Boundaries

Convergent boundaries are the final type of boundary and they occur when two plates move toward each other.  When two plates move toward each other, they can either collide forming mountains or one plate can slide under the other at the subduction zone.

To model when two continental plates collide to form mountains, I quickly dipped one end of each graham cracker in water.

I placed them with soggy sides facing each other and then had my kids gently push the two plates together.

The soft graham crackers slowly folded up on each and mountains were formed.

This is how the Himalayas were formed.

Subduction Zone

Finally, we used our last graham crackers to make a subduction zone – what happens when a more dense oceanic plate is thrust under a less dense continental plate.

My 5 year-old instantly recognized this boundary as it’s what led to the formation of all the volcanic mountains that surround us: the Cascade Range.

To mimic what occurred in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, I had the kids gently press one graham cracker down under the other.

“Where are the volcanoes?” asked A.

To recreate her beloved Cascade Range, I poked several holes in the less dense continental ridge parallel to the subduction zone.  As my daughter slid the oceanic plate under the continental plate, the oceanic plate melted and hot magma oozed up through the fissures, creating a range of volcanic mountains.

Finally, after all that earth shaking mountain making, the kiddos were ready to dig in.  Oh, science sure is sweet!  It was a great (and yummy!) lesson in plate tectonics.

For Older Children

Since my kids are a little young, I simplified the layers of the Earth involved in plate tectonics to crust and mantle.  Technically, it is the Earth’s lithosphere that is broken up into tectonic plates.  The lithosphere is made up of the outer most layer of the Earth, called the crust and the solid, top most layer of the mantle.  The lithosphere’s plates float on layer of the mantle called the asthenosphere.

The asthenosphere is hotter than the lithosphere and while generally it is a solid, it can be fluid-like if at a hot enough and under enough pressure.

Find More

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Graham Cracker Plate Tectonics appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your Plant Life Cycle Pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Then, while you’re in our shop, grab our 30 Science Experiments for some more fun!

Plant Life Cycle Activities: Peek Inside!

I love starting the plant unit by making our sprout houses so that seeds have plenty of time to grow.

My kids keep track of their plants’ progress in their handy journals.

I use the eye-catching posters to introduce the parts of a seed and flower and chat about photosynthesis.

Then, we dive further into the stages of a flower’s life cycle with a colorful craftivity.

We also make a fun sunflower life cycle hat.

We make an interactive lapbook that’s all about flowers, gluing the labels next to the right parts…

…then opening up the book to put the life cycle stages in order and identify four things flowers need!

And finally, sorting objects that are plants and not plants on the back page! It’s a four-in-one.

We find out why leaves are green and then change colors in the fall with a fun chromatography experiment.

Then we turn an ordinary white flower into not one but TWO colors to learn about how plants “drink” water from the ground and then deliver it throughout the plant!

AND we learn how scientists decide whether or not something is living. (It sounds so simple, but it’s surprisingly tricky for some kiddos!)

And that’s just the beginning!

Grab Your Set

Download all 40 pages of plant goodness in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Ready for some more science!? Grab our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

The post 11 Plant Life Cycle Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab these sprout houses (plus 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I picked up a pack of fast-sprouting seeds at the store. A few of my favorite varieties include lima beans, cowpeas, snap peas, sunflower seeds, marigolds, radishes, alfalfa sprouts and mung bean.

My kids filled a cup with water and dropped in the seeds to soak them overnight. This extra step is an old farmer’s trick for speeding up the germination process.

The next morning, the kids grabbed six cotton balls each, dipped them in water and squeezed out the extra so that it was wet but not dripping. They slid them into a Ziploc and dropped in a couple of the seeds.

I printed the Little Sprout Houses on cardstock to give them extra durability and make the colors really pop. Since the templates for the houses are pretty unforgiving, I cut them out with scissors myself instead of having the kids help me.

Then, we flipped the houses upside down and taped the bag to the back.

Watching the Little Sprout Houses

We grabbed a couple pieces of tape and hung the Little Sprout Houses on the window.

The kids checked in on their houses several times a day and, after almost a week, they were THRILLED to discover a teeny tiny sprout emerge from one of the seeds.

That was all it took!  Soon after that, the seeds sprouted quickly and we soon moved them into our garden!

The Science Behind It

A seed needs water and warmth to grow. The Ziploc bag creates a mini green house that makes warm, moist air from the sunlight shining through the window and the water contained in the cotton balls. The happy seed quickly sprouts.

Want More

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post My Little Sprout House appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Then, enjoy watching the birds find a home!  Then, enjoy 30 Science Experiments in our shop that kids will beg to repeat!

With the arrival of spring, we’ve noticed our resident crows busy collecting material to build their nests.  My 2.5 year-old was fascinated watching them search for the perfect twigs and root through the grass to find a tuft of moss.  After observing and researching, we discovered that we could easily help out our feathered friends in their search for the perfect nest building materials by putting together these simple bird nest helpers.

Getting Ready

Prepping for this activity couldn’t have been easier.  I simply grabbed a few suet holders we had on hand, one package of suet and several bowls.  Then, we headed outside to collect the materials.

Making the Nest Helpers

I lined up five bowls on our patio table and asked the kids what kinds of materials the birds around us use for their nests. While reading and observing our backyard crows, we learned that they build large nests out of twigs and line them with moss, pine needles and animal hair.  In our area, we didn’t need to venture far to find moss to fill our first bowl.

The kids filled the next bowl with pet hair I gathered from our very own bunny. If you don’t have a pet, you can ask a dog-owning friend for a fur donation or simply replace it with bits of yarn.  If using string or yarn, make sure the pieces are no longer than 3-4 inches. Anything longer can entangle adults birds and strangle the hatchlings.

For the final bowls, my 2.5 and 5 year-old raced around the house gathering small to medium-sized twigs, hay from the rabbit and lint (fabric softener free).

Once we had all the materials, I broke off a chunk of suet for each suet holder and placed it in the bottom before letting the kids fill them. The suet is optional, but we figured it wouldn’t hurt to attract the birds to the nesting materials with a little treat.  My kids filled the containers with whatever material they liked.  I reminded them not to pack it down otherwise it would be too hard for the birds to pull out.

Once all the nest helpers were completed, we headed to the birds favorite tree (the one with the bird feeder in it) and hung them for the birds to discover.

About a week as passed and so far the most popular materials with the birds has been the pet hair and moss.  We’ve all been fascinated watching the birds flying back and forth collecting material.  It makes my kiddos smile to think there are going to be some nice soft nests with some very happy hatchlings!

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Check out our incredible 30 Science Experiments kids will love!

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Follow the step-by-step below and then grab 30 more kid-friendly science experiments (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To start, I gathered a few supplies:

• 3-6 white flowers (The thick stems of gerbera daisies work best. I picked up extra in case the stems snapped.)
• 4 glass cups (narrow jars or vases work well, too.)
• Food coloring (or liquid watercolors)
• A cutting board
• A sharp knife

Then, I filled the four glasses with water and asked my daughter, A, to squeeze 30 drops of dye into each glass.

We decided to make the first glass red, the second yellow, the third blue, and the final glass red again.  We wanted to see if the primary color dye would mix in the petals to create a secondary color.

After I trimmed the flowers to fit in the glasses, I very carefully cut the stems up the center of the stem.  This was easier said than done and I’m glad the bunch of flowers I bought came with extras to cover my mishaps.

I discovered that the thicker stems of the gerbera daisies were the easiest to cut.  (Our chrysanthemums didn’t work as well.) I made sure not to cut much longer than the length of the glass.  I didn’t want the stem that was out of the water to dry out and stop transporting water.  Be sure to take great care with this kids’ science experiment!

When the stems were cut, my daughter gently placed each flower into the dyes, putting one side of the stem in one cup and the other side into another cup.

Now all we had to do was wait.  (I recommend starting in the morning so you can observe the changes throughout the day.)

Kids’ Science: Making Bicolor Flowers

I asked my daughter to predict what was going to happen.  She correctly guessed that the flower would “suck up the colored water,” but she didn’t expect the dye to affect the flower color.

When I asked if she thought the different dyes would  “suck up” at the same speed, she predicted her favorite color, red, would be the fastest.

It took less than an hour to start seeing dye in the very tips of the petals.

Several hours later, we could clearly see the colors – especially in the center. We were all pretty surprised at how quickly transpiration happened.  One of the great things about this kids’ science experiment is that you don’t have to wait very long!

The blue dye transpired the quickest, followed by the red, which disappointed A. (Her favorite color wasn’t the fastest, after all.)

We left the flowers over night and awoke to find the colors had reached most of the petals.

The flowers were pretty much half one color and half the other, with no mixing of colors. We decided to leave the flowers for a few more days to see what would happen.

“They are so bright!” A shouted when we checked on them later in the week.

I removed the flowers so my daughter could examine them.  After looking closer, she noticed there was a slight mixing of colors between the two halves.

“Green!  The blue and yellow made green!” she exclaimed.

The Science Behind It

Initially plants “drink” water through their roots.  Once inside the stem, tiny tubes called xylem that run up the stem transport the water to the plant’s leaves and flowers.  The water can travel up the xylem because of a few processes: transpiration, cohesion and capillary action.

Transpiration or plant “drinking” happens when water molecules evaporating from the plants leave and flowers “pull” other water molecules up to fill the empty space behind it.  This is what happens when you suck on a straw, except in plants the evaporating water is providing the suction instead of your mouth.

The “pull” or cohesion between water molecules happens because water molecules like to stick to each other and to the xylem.  Capillary action, the ability of a liquid to flow in narrow spaces against gravity, occurs in plants because water is attracted to the sides of the tiny straw-like xylem and to each other.

By splitting the stems, we showed how the xylem run all the way from the bottom of the stem to the petals of the flower.

More Kid-Friendly Science Experiments

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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Get ready for this fun and unique science experiment!  And for more addictive kids’ science, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To make a mummy fish, I simply took a quick trip to the store and grabbed a few items:

• 1 whole fish (we used a trout, with its guts removed, and descaled)
• 2 lbs. or more of baking soda
• A container with a lid to store your fish while mummifying
• Gloves (optional)

Making a Mummy Fish

My 5 year-old, A, has been fascinated with mummies for a while and had to know just how ancient Egyptians made them.

First, we started with the dead body. We chose a fish.  If you want to make the experience more authentic, you could gut the fish at home to remove its internal organs.  Since I have a 3 year-old that tends to put his fingers in his mouth, I chose to buy a pre-gutted fish.

I quickly descaled the fish by scraping a sharp knife down its side against the directions of the scales.

Before making the mummy, I had my kids examine the fish.  They noticed it was very slippery and a little stinky, its body was squishy and floppy and its eye was watery.

Next, they covered the bottom of a glass dish with about 2 inches of baking soda.

I then helped them hold open the fish to stuff the insides with more baking soda.  Make sure to really fill the body cavity, including the head.  You may want to wear gloves for this, though we found the gloves didn’t fit my kids’ little hands well and made handling the fish harder.

Once the body cavity was full, we placed the fish in the glass dish and covered it with more baking soda.  We made sure all of its body parts had at least an inch of baking soda covering it.

Then, next part was the hardest part of the mummy fish experiment: waiting.  We covered the glass with a tight-fitting lid (to minimize smell) and put it in a cool but dry part of our basement.  I was tempted to place it in the fridge, but that’s not how real mummies were made, so we opted to leave it out.

After a week, we checked on our mummy fish to see how it was coming along.  I didn’t know what to expect, so I had the kids wear gloves when examining the fish this time.  They noticed the body had gotten harder and no longer flopped around. Also, the baking soda was damp.

In the picture below, you can see the fish had become stiff by how its tail stayed curved upward.

They were also surprised that the fish didn’t smell!  Obviously my kids aren’t afraid to really dive into science.  This mummy fish was no exception!

We removed the damp baking soda from the fish’s belly and packed it full of fresh baking soda.  Again, we filled the dish with baking soda, added the fish and covered it with more baking soda.  This time life got busy and we forgot about our mummy fish until 12 days had gone by.

When we removed the fish, it was significantly more firm.  You can see it in the picture below. The body cavity stayed open without help!

It had been almost 3 weeks since this fish died and it still didn’t really smell bad.  The kids couldn’t believe that this mummy fish wasn’t rotting.

In fact, other than the fish becoming firm and stiff, the only other change we noticed was the slightly sucked in appearance around the fish’s head.

I had planned on packing the fish in fresh baking soda for a third time, but the kids had other plans.  They wanted their mummy fish fully wrapped like a real mummy!  Since we pretty much saw the process through which mummies were made, I let them go at it.

The Science Behind It

Ancient Egyptians preserved the bodies of dead for the afterlife by removing most of the organs and treating the body with a naturally-occurring salt called natron, a mixture of soda, ash and baking soda.

In our activity, we started with a fish that had its organs already removed.  Bodies decay from the inside out starting with the soft, moisture-rich organs.  By removing the organs and surrounding the body with a desiccant, we were able to preserve our dead fish just like the Egyptians.

Next, the Egyptians rinsed the body with wine to kill any remaining bacteria and stuffed the inside with either natron or stuffing (to keep the body’s shape).  The whole body was then covered in natron.

Salt is a desiccant, which means it helps draw out water from things, including human bodies.  Remember how the previously dry baking soda felt wet after the fish sat in it for a week?  Without moisture, the bacteria and fungus that cause the body to rot cannot grow.  That’s why the fish hardly smelled after 3 weeks.

After the bodies had desiccated for 40 days, the Egyptians would wash and repack the bodies with spices and more natron. Then, the bodies were carefully bound with strips of linen to help keep the body parts together.  The whole process took 70 days to complete. Our version took just 19.

Mummy Fish Extensions

Try different kids of salt (table salt, baking soda, Epsom salt) to see which salt acts as a better desiccant and preservative.

While mummifying your fish with the above method, allow another fish to decay normally.  Compare the two.

Try mummifying a fish with its organs and one without.  Similarly, try mummifying a fish with scales and one without.  Are there any differences?

Before refrigeration, one way to preserve food was by salting.  Can you think of any food today that is made this way?  How does its texture compare to your fish?

More Fun for Little Mad Scientists

Try out 30 more kid-approved science experiments in our 30 Science Experiments kit!!

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Getting Ready

Assembling the free bug book was quick and easy!

I printed the pages on regular copy paper and grabbed a pencil, crayons, clipboard and stapler.

Bug Book Activity

To begin the bug book activity, my students cut around the pages, being careful not to cut off the tabs.

They colored each tab a different color.

We clipped the pages to a clipboard and grabbed a pencil.  We decided not to assemble the book just yet, as it would be easier for the students to record their outside observations on the clipboard.

The second part of the bug activity was about to begin!  We went outside for a bug hunt. Each time they found a new bug, I helped my kids write the name on a side tab: ladybug, beetle, ant…

It was easier to write in all of their observations before assembling the book, so we finished up our record keeping before heading back inside to staple the pages together.

I helped kids fold the cover page in half to make a book. Since the pages were already numbered, we just put them in order inside the cover. Then, I placed three staples vertically aligned on the left side patterned binder edge.

Viola! Our bug book was complete.  The kids had a great time with this bug activity assembling their books and exploring the great outdoors.

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More Science Fun

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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Getting Ready

This game works great as a morning center or as an independent activity but I wanted to play it with my daughter before using it in my classroom because she’s been so interested in the weather lately!

To prep, I simply printed out the Weather Game (below) on cardstock.  I also laminated it for extra durability so we could keep using it throughout the year!

Then, I printed copies of the playing card page and stored them in a Ziploc baggie. If you choose not to print the extra copies of the playing cards, you can just reshuffle when you get to the bottom of the pile.

To finish, I grabbed two playing markers for each player.

Playing the Weather Game

We placed our markers on the “Start” snowflake.  Then, we placed the cards upside down on the “Card Draw Pile.”

My daughter went first.

She drew a top card from the pile and moved the first space with the matching picture. She drew a sun!  She moved her marker on the sun spot. 

Then, it was my turn.  I picked up a “lightning” card!  I headed to the closest lightning space. (If you draw a lightning card, head to the nearest lightning space, even if it’s behind you.)  I then followed the arrows to where the lightning directed me to go.

We played through the whole game until then end.  Since the rule is you can only win by landing on the sun and you MUST draw a sun from the pile in order to move, it took us a while! This game ended up being great fun.

Ready to Play?

Click the blue download button (below) to snag your free copy of the game. Then, hop over and grab our 30 Science Experiments for more fun!

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This quick prep activity is a hands-on, tasty way to learn colors. I hope your kids love it, too!  For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Prepping the Cool Whip

To prep for our color mixing activity, I grabbed a tub of Cool Whip, a box of gel food coloring, some spoons and six plastic cups. (You can find Cool Whip in the frozen food aisle of your grocery store.)

Since I wanted my boys to keep track of the colors they made when they mixed together different primary colors, I also drew a little color mixing chart on a blank piece of paper. The extra step would help reinforce their learning.

Color Mixing with Cool Whip

My four year-old helped me scoop a mound of Cool Whip into three plastic cups. On top of each dollop, he squeezed a pea-sized amount of either red, yellow or blue – the three primary colors.

After giving each cup a really good stir, I gave my son his first challenge: finding out what would happen when he mixed red and yellow together.

My son grabbed a clean cup and filled it with one hearty scoop of yellow and a second big scoop of red. He started stirring and just a few seconds later, his new color began magically appearing.

He was THRILLED and, after taking a big bite of his orange Cool Whip, he grabbed an orange crayon and started coloring in the top cup on his color chart.

Several color combinations later, his chart was full and he gave me a happy, rainbow-colored smile. Gotta’ love nibbling on some sweet treats while you learn colors, right?!

Grab a Record Sheet

Click the download button below to snag a free color mixing record sheet!  For more science fun, check out 30 Science Experiments that your kids will beg to repeat!

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It’s a little bit of science magic!  For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Balloon Science Experiment Prep

I grabbed a plastic bottle, a balloon, a hammer and a nail.  I placed the balloon in the bottle so that it covered the mouth like the photo above. See?! I told you it was quick prep.

Uh Oh! The Balloon Won’t Inflate

I handed my son the balloon in a bottle and asked if he could blow it up for me. C grabbed it and enthusiastically started blowing.

After a minute of huffing and puffing to no avail, he handed the bottle back to me. “I don’t think I can do it.”  The balloon science experiment wasn’t off to the best start, but there was a reason for that.

“It’s because there’s air already in the bottle,” I told him. “And air takes up space.  Right now, when you blow into the balloon, there’s no space for it to blow up because the bottle’s already filled with air.”

Poking a Hole in the Bottle

We filled the bottle with water, capped it,  and I grabbed the hammer and nail. “Let’s poke a hole in the bottle and see if that helps.” We poked a small hole into the bottle about an inch up from the bottom. {Filling the bottle with water makes it a bit easier to hammer the nail through.}    I dumped out the water, put the balloon back in, handed the bottle back to C and said, “Try again.” What a difference a little hole makes in this balloon science experiment!

I explained to C that by poking a hole into the bottom of the bottle, we created an exit for the air in the bottle to escape, leaving room for the air he was blowing in the balloon.

While he blew up the balloon, I had him hold his hand over the little hole. “Do you feel the air coming out?” I asked him.  He nodded. “That’s the air leaving the bottle because you’re pushing it out when you blow air in the balloon.”

Staying Magically Inflated

When he finished blowing up the balloon, I had him put his finger over the hole and then hold up the bottle.   “Cool!” he cried. “It stayed blown up!” “There’s no air pressure in the bottle to push the air in the balloon out so it stays inflated,” I told him.  “But if you take your finger off…”   C removed his finger and, sure enough, the balloon deflated.   “Do you think if you cover up the hole, you could blow the balloon up?” I asked.

C shook his head. “No, because it would be like there isn’t a hole.”

“Right, the air in the bottle wouldn’t have anywhere to go, so you wouldn’t be able to blow up the balloon.”   C blew up the balloon several more times and discovered that he could only blow the balloon up until it reached the little hole — once the balloon covered up the hole, he couldn’t blow it up anymore.  This balloon science experiment was making a little scientist out of him!

I explained that it was the same concept — the balloon was covering the hole, so the air in the bottle couldn’t escape,.  Therefore, there was no more room for the balloon to expand.

This balloon in a bottle was a super easy but fascinating kids’ science activity! And C was excited to have a whole new way of blowing up balloons.

Find More Kids’ Science

Make magic balloons, see how to make rainbows dance, walk on eggs and levitate pipe cleaners.  Also, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

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Ready for more science fun!? Check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for this activity, you’ll need to gather a few supplies:

• 1-2 apples (depending on how many variables you want to have in your experiment)
• 2-4 jars with lids
• Tape (to label jars)
• Marker or pen
• Hand soap (not pictured)

While my daughter was in preschool, I gathered our supplies and labeled each jar with the following labels:

• Control (the apple half that would not be touched)
• Dirty (the half that would be handled with unwashed hands)
• Washed without help
• Washed with timer (set a timer for 20 seconds, watched to make sure washed thoroughly)

Kids’ Science Experiment: Growing Germs

As soon as A returned from school, I cut 2 apples in half on a sanitized cutting board, giving us 4 apple halves. I explained to A that we were going to use these apples to see what kind of germs were on her hands.

First, I carefully placed one apple half in a clean glass jar without touching it by sliding it off the cutting board with the knife.  Then I screwed on the lid and explained to A that this apple would be the control – the apple to which we didn’t add any germs or bacteria.  “This will help us see the difference between a regular rotting apple and one you put germs on,” I explained.

Next, I asked A to rub her unwashed, straight-from-preschool hands all over one apple half and then plop it into the second jar.  She screwed the lid labeled “dirty” on and then I asked her to wash her hands for lunch.  This kids’ science experiment is a great lesson in controls and variables!

When she returned a mere 30 seconds later, I asked her to rub her hands on the 3rd apple half and put it in a jar.  I handed her the lid labeled “washed w/o help.” She screwed it on and placed it next to the other jars.

When A asked about the last apple, I explained that we needed to wait until her hands got dirty again to finish it.

After lunch and a potty break, A was ready to wash her hand again.  This time, I joined her in the bathroom and watched to make sure she lathered the tops and bottoms of her hands and between her fingers for a full 20 seconds before rinsing.  Then, she ran to grab the last apple half, rubbed her hands all over it and placed it in the final jar. With the lids on, I placed the jars on a shelf and we went about playing.

We checked on the apples everyday and didn’t see much besides a little browning for over a week.  A was just about to lose interest in the whole experiment (and I was shocked nothing was growing as expected) when we noticed something – a little something showed up on the dirty apple: MOLD!

A few days later, the gray mold on the dirty apple had grown bigger.  A took one look in the jar and, with a scrunched up face, declared, “That’s disgusting!” She pushed the jar across the table.

This got the attention of A’s little brother, Q, who wanted to know what was so gross. After explaining what the black and gray stuff on the dirty apple was a big pile of germs, I had no more arguments from either child when asked to wash their hands.  All I have to say now is say, “Remember the germs we saw on the apple?” and both of them will race to the bathroom.  This kids’ science experiment was all I needed!

The apples continued rotting, but the apple with the most mold and bacteria growing on it was, by far, the dirty apple.  The control and washed with timer apples pretty much fared the same so a mere 20 seconds of good scrubbing really does make a difference.  The washed without help apple did have some nasty stuff growing on it, but it wasn’t quite as bad as the dirty apple.  Toward the end of the experiment, I took the kids out of town and my husband tossed the apple before I could snap a truly disgusting shot.  You can thank him for sparing you those photos.

All in all, I’d say this experiment served its purpose and brings a whole new meaning to the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

More Science Fun

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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With just a few supplies, children can build their own floatable boat, too!  Want even more kids’ science!? Grab our 30 Science Experiments in our shop and continue the fun!

While taking the ferry on a recent summer road trip, my 5 year-old, A,  asked how a big heavy metal boat loaded with so many cars could float. So naturally, I had to find a science experiment she could do that would show her just how a heavy material like steel (or clay) could be made to float. While this experiment only takes a half hour to complete, my kiddos were so fascinated that they spent hours making and testing various boats.

Getting Ready

First, I grabbed a large bowl of water and clay.  We used a non-toxic, oil-based modeling clay, but you could also use a polymer clay like Sculpey. Playdough and ceramic clay will not work for this activity since they will soften and eventually dissolve in water.

For a little extra fun, I also grabbed a piece of wax paper, some toothpicks and tape to make sails.

Kids’ Science Experiment: Making Clay Boats

I handed each kid a ball of clay and asked them if they thought they would float.  Both of them shook their head.  I had them test their guess by placing the clay ball into a tub of water.

Yep, it sunk!

I asked my 5 year-old what she thought helped something float.  After a little thought, A decided things that float are light.  I reminded her that we often see heavy logs floating at the beach and A changed her mind and said something has to be less dense than water to float.

Then, I asked her to think about how she floats in a pool.  She showed me how she spreads out like a sea star.  So she added, “The shape of the object could help something float, too.”

With those ideas in mind, I asked her if she could change her ball of clay to make it float.

She started out by simply flattening the ball out, but the water quickly ran over the edge of the clay and sunk.

Next, she tried making edges to keep the water out.  It was a bit tricky, but after a few tries she was able to make the clay float!

(Warm clay is easier to manipulate, so it helped to soften the clay a bit by rolling it in her hands to warm it up.)

She wanted to make a kayak, so she rolled the clay into a log shape, and then I helped press it flat with my thumb.  Once the clay was flattened enough, A squeezed the edges of the clay to make walls for the boat.  I helped A pinch the ends together to keep the walls more upright.

Over the next hour or so, she constructed many more boats in varying shapes including a leaf boat, heart boat and a rectangle barge.  Her 3 year-old little brother, Q, was equally fascinated but found it difficult to make a water-tight ship, so I had to help him a bit.

They loved placing in a few passengers and gently blowing the sails to make them float across the tub.  I’m sure they would have filled the tub with various boats if we didn’t run out of clay.  This was one kids’ science experiment that kept them entertained for hours!

The Science Behind It

So why does simply changing the shape of an object allow it to float?

The answer is displacement.  When the clay ball is placed in the water, it displaces (or pushes aside) the water.  Whether the clay will be buoyant or float is determined by Archimedes’ Principle which states that any object in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.  When the clay is placed in water, there are two forces working upon it in opposite directions.  Gravitational force pulls the clay down, while buoyant force pushes it upwards.  Gravity pulls the clay down with a force equal to the weight of the clay, while buoyant force pushes the clay upwards with a force equal to the weight of the water that the clay displaced.  If the clay can displace a volume of water that equals (or is greater) than the weight of the clay, then it will be buoyant and float.

When the clay was in the form of a ball, it displaced only a small volume of water.  The weight of that volume of water was less than the weight of the clay and thus the buoyant force was less than the gravitational force.  The clay ball sunk.

Changing the shape of the clay didn’t change the weight of the clay, but did change how much water the clay could displace.  By pushing aside more water, the clay boat was able to displace a volume of water that weighed the same (or more) than the weight of the clay.  Thus, the buoyant force was equal (or greater) than the gravitational force, and therefore the clay boat floated.

In addition to the shape of the clay boat helping displace a lot of water, the boat was also filled with air.  This decreased the clay boats density, helping the boat to float.  Large ships like the ferry or cruise ships have wide U-shaped hulls that displace enormous volumes of water, but they also tend to be hollow.  This decreases the density of the ship and helps keep the ship afloat despite being loaded with cars, cargo and passengers.

Super Cool Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Clay Boat Kids’ Science Experiment appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Make sure to do this activity with an adult and then hop over and snag 30 more of our favorite science experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for the science demonstration, I gathered a few supplies:

• Rubbing alcohol {70%, 91%, 0r 99% all work}
• Water
• Table salt
• Small container
• Metal tongs
• Lighter
• Safety goggles
• Fire extinguisher (just in case!)

The prep for this demo couldn’t be easier.  We mixed together water, rubbing alcohol and a little salt.  The ratio of water to alcohol will depend on your rubbing alcohol percentage, so consult the measurements below:

• 1/4 cup of 99% isopropyl alcohol mixed with 1/4 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of 91% isopropyl alcohol mixed with 3 tablespoons of water
• 5 tablespoons of 70 % isopropyl alcohol with 2 tablespoons of water

We had 91% rubbing alcohol on hand, so we mixed together 3 tablespoons of water with 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of rubbing alcohol and about a teaspoon of salt.

Before I sacrificed any large bills in the name of science and I called the kids out to watch,  I tested this demo using a one dollar bill.  I soaked it for about 10 seconds in the alcohol mixture.

Then, I used the metal tongs to remove the money from the liquid, allowing the excess to drip off the bill.

Now came the moment of truth.  I used a barbecue lighter to light the bill at the bottom and watched as the bill produced a bright orange flame without burning the money at all!

It was time to use a bigger bill for more of a “wow” factor. I called my kids out to watch the magic.  It turned out I only had a 5 dollar bill, but luckily, that seemed like a lot to my 6 year-old!

I repeated the process of soaking, dripping and lighting the money, but I couldn’t get more than a tiny and unimpressive flame.  I kept trying to light the bill expecting a bigger reaction, but nothing happened.  That is, until I actually lit the bill on fire a bit.  Don’t let the authorities know!

I tried re-soaking the bill and lighting it pretty quickly after it came out of the liquid.  Whoa!  That seemed to do the trick!

I was allowing the money to drip off the extra liquid a little too long and the alcohol had been evaporating, making the reaction less impressive. Aside from the small spot where I almost lit the bill on fire, the bill was in perfect condition – even after being ablaze over a dozen times!

After the last trick, I had my 6 year-old reluctantly feel the 5 dollar bill.  She expected it to be hot, but it was actually cool to the touch.

My 3 year-old was begging to repeat the demo yet again and since it’s so simple to set up, we did!

Safety Notes

Our flame never got large enough to seem out of control but anytime you are using fire, safety is of the utmost importance.

Not only did I perform the demo before my kiddos were present to see how it would burn, but I had our kiddos wear safety glasses and stand several feet away to keep them safe.  I also performed this trick outside on a non-combustible stone patio with plenty of ventilation.

The Science Behind It

We know from my little blunder that money will actually burn.  So, what made it burst into flames without actually burning or even charring a bit?

The secret (or science) is in the mixture of alcohol with water.  Alcohol alone is extremely flammable and money soaked in pure alcohol will burn.

Water is what protected our money from actually igniting.  The water absorbed most of the heat energy that was generated when the bill was lit.

Remember how the bill was cool to the touch just after being ablaze?  The temperature of the paper money never rose above the temperature needed for the money to burn.  Before the money would ignite, the water first has to be heated to its boiling point and then be vaporized (turned into gas) by the heat of the burning alcohol.  If you add more alcohol or reduce the amount of water in the mixture, the paper will be ablaze for longer and may catch on fire.

Alcohol normally burns a light blue color.  The salt changes the color to a more visible orange.

More Kids’ Science

Love getting kids excited about science?! We do, too! That’s why we pulled together 30 of our favorite science experiments into The Super Cool Science. Grab your copy in our shop!

The post Burning Money appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Playing in pools, floating down rivers, and bobbing about the ocean in their PFDs…

This summer has given us plenty of opportunity to see buoyancy at work in everyday life.

My kiddos loved figuring out just what helps keep them afloat with this oh-so-simple twist on the classic sink or float experiment.

And I loved that this experiment took mere minutes to complete!

Getting Ready

This experiment was ridiculously easy to set up!

I grabbed a tall glass vase (a large bowl works, too), an orange, and water and we were ready to roll.

Kids’ Science: Sink or Float?

I called over my kids and asked them if they thought the orange would sink or float in water.  They both predicted that the orange was heavy and would sink.

Next, I had each child pour water in the vase until it was about 3/4 full.

Then, we plopped the orange in to see if their guess was correct.

The kiddos were pretty amazed to find out they were wrong and the orange actually floated!

After they tried to sink it by pushing and poking it under the water, I removed the orange and asked them to peel it.

I asked them if they thought the PEELED orange would sink or float and they both guessed that it would still float because it was now smaller with the peel removed.

Wrong again!  The orange sank to the bottom.

Now they were thoroughly confused.  They continued to take the peeled orange in and out of the water to see if they could somehow get it to float again but no matter how hard they tried, nothing worked.

The Science Behind It

Why is it that a peeled orange sinks even though it is lighter than an unpeeled orange?  The secret lies in its peel!

Buoyancy is the tendency of an object to float or sink in water or any other fluid.

Whether an object is buoyant is determined by Archimedes’ Principle which states that any object in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.

When the orange is placed in water, there are two forces working on it in opposite directions: gravitational force pulls the orange down while buoyant force pushes it up.

Gravity pulls the orange down with a force equal to the weight of the orange, while buoyant force pushes the orange upward with a force equal to the weight of the water that the orange displaced.

If the orange can displace a volume of water that equals (or is greater than) the weight of the orange, then it will be buoyant and float.

While making the orange weigh slightly more, the peel of an orange helps displace enough water to make the unpeeled orange buoyant.

The peel is also full of tiny pockets of air that make the unpeeled orange less dense than water – and the orange floats.

When you remove the peel, the orange no longer displaces enough water to overcome gravitational force. The orange becomes more dense than water and it sinks.

To really make this experiment relevant to my kiddos, I explained that the peeled orange was similar to them in a pool.  When they curl into a ball and make themselves smaller, they sink to the bottom.

But since their life jacket is made of foam and contains tons of air pockets, when they put one on, they can suddenly displace more water while becoming less dense, and they easily float.

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Orange Buoyancy Kids’ Science Experiment appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

With a few simple supplies and a little muscle power, you will be enjoying fresh butter in less than 10 minutes, too!

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To make the homemade butter, you’ll need at least 8oz of heavy whipping cream (room temp), a mason jar, 2 marbles (optional), and a medium-sized bowl.  It’s a simple as that.

How to Make Homemade Butter

First, I had my 5 year-old, A, fill the mason jar about half full of heavy whipping cream, leaving plenty of room for the cream to slosh up and down as you shake it.  Room temperature cream becomes butter more quickly than cold cream, so we left ours out for about 40 minutes before beginning this activity.

Next, I had my 2 year-old, Q,  plop in two marbles.  The marbles aren’t essential, but they do help agitate the cream and speed up the whole process.  We shook the jar pretty hard and never had any issues with broken glass.  Finally, I made sure the lid was on tight and handed the jar to A to begin the shaking.  Apparently, shaking cream is hysterical…

for about one minute!

After another minute or two of shaking, A noticed the marbles weren’t clinking as loudly.  We opened the jar for a peek and found whipped cream.  Of course, they both had to have a taste!

Once we made whipped cream, the shaking became a little harder.

Since the cream was thicker, it took more muscle to get it to really move up and down in the jar.  This was when I had to take over.

It looked a little like thick curdled milk.

We put the lid back on and shook for another minute.  The fat in the cream continued to clump together, forming butter as we shook.  By now, the buttermilk began to separate out.

Again, we screwed on the lid and shook for another 30 seconds or so. Soon, we had butter!  My kiddos couldn’t wait to taste the homemade butter but first we had to rinse it.  Q carefully poured off the buttermilk.  You can save the buttermilk for cooking, but my little scientists were too curious and wanted to taste it.

I then scraped the clump of butter into a medium-sized bowl and removed the two marbles for rinsing.  It’s important to rise any buttermilk trapped in your butter to prevent spoiling.

You can do this with the back of a wooden spoon, but where’s the fun in that?  I placed about a cup of ice cold water in the bowl with the butter and let the kids gently kneaded the butter to remove the buttermilk.  When the water became cloudy, we dumped the water and repeated until the water remained clear. The cold water helped to keep the butter from melting while kneading.  It took about 4 or 5 rinses.

Once the butter was rinsed, we added a little salt and we were ready to taste!

Mmmm…science sure tastes good!

The Science Behind It

Heavy cream is milk that contains a high percentage (35% or more) of milk fat in the form of fat globules.  Fat globules are microscopic membranes filled with fat molecules.  When shaken, the membranes smash into each other and burst, spilling out the fat molecules.

Now fat and water don’t mix, so as the fat molecules burst from the membranes, they seek out other fat molecules.  At first, not enough globules have burst and the fat molecules have to align themselves with somewhat neutral air molecules that have been forced into the cream as it’s been shaken.  When this happens, the air becomes trapped in the cream and whipped cream is formed.

As you continue to shake the whipped cream, more globules burst and the freed fat can now clump together with other fat molecules.  The once fluffy whipped cream releases the trapped air and the fat solidifies into butter while the liquid buttermilk separates out.

Simply agitating cream can take it from liquid to foam to a solid and liquid.  Science is simply delicious in its many forms!

More Inspiring Science

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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Go ahead! Raid your candy stash – and this time you can do it in the name of science!

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I gathered 2 small bowls, water, salt and gummy bears, of course.  It couldn’t get much simpler than that.

Growing Gummy Bears

In this candy science experiment, we compared gummy bears left in water to those placed in salt water.

To get started, we needed to make about a cup of supersaturated salt water solution.  So, we added salt, a little bit at a time, to a cup of boiling water until no more salt dissolved.  (Please use caution when allowing your little one to work with hot water.)

Once the water couldn’t hold anymore salt, we let it cool in the fridge.  If you use warm water for your experiment, you could melt your gummy bear.

When the salt water cooled, it was time to fill the bowls.  My kids poured a little salt water in one bowl and plain tap water in another.

Next, we gathered our gummy bears and compared them to pick ones of similar size.

They placed a couple gummy bears in the salt water and a couple in the plain water. They wanted to eat the remaining gummies, but I reminded them we needed to save them as the controls.  We wanted to be sure we could compare what happened to the ones we put in the different water solutions.

Now all we had to do was wait!

We started this experiment in the evening so we waited overnight.

You’ll need to let them soak for several hours, but I wouldn’t leave them for longer than overnight or they might fall apart on you.

My 5 year-old predicted the gummy bears in the plain water would expand and the ones in the salt water would shrink.

This is what we found the next morning….

The yellow bear was the control, the red was the salt water gummy and the green was soaked in plain water.

Both kiddos were surprised to see how much bigger the bears soaked in plain water had become.  They noticed the bears soaked in salt water were a little bit bigger but not that much.

My curious 3 year-old decided he needed to eat his gummy and popped a salt water gummy in his mouth. Oh, was he surprised when it was salty on the inside!

The Science Behind Growing Gummy Bears

To make gummy bears, sugar, gelatin and flavor are dissolved in a warm water solution.

As the solution cools, water leaves the gelatin solution and the bears become firm but chewy.  (Not all the water leaves the gelatin however, otherwise the gummy bears would be rock hard.)

It’s this little bit of water that makes the gummy bears act as a solution of water, one with a lot of sugar dissolved in it.

The plain water in the bowl, however, had very little dissolve in it.  We’ve learned from our egg experiment (the one with the dissolved shell) that different solutions of water will want to balance each other.

The plain water, with very little dissolved in it, will move toward the solution of water with a lot dissolved in it, the gummy bear.

This movement of a solvent from one of lower concentration to higher concentration is called osmosis.

The force behind that movement of water is called osmotic pressure.

In the bowl with the salt water, we tried to balance the amount of stuff (salt) dissolved in the water with the amount of sugar dissolved in the gummy bear.

Since our gummy bear placed in the salt water solution did expand a little bit, we knew our salt water solution did have a lot dissolved in it but not quite as much as the gummy bear did.

So, a little water moved into the gummy bear to balance the two solutions.

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These ideas are the perfect compliment to our 30 Science Experiments for kids in our shop!

Whip up a tornado in a jar!

Count and clip rainy day must-haves.

Discover where rain comes from with a simple prep Water Cycle in a Bag. {This one entertained my boys for DAYS!!}

Learn about the ten different kinds of clouds and then make your own cloud in a jar. // The Happy Housewife

Match numbered clouds to rain drops. // My Nearest and Dearest

In a crafty kinda’ mood?! Turn cotton balls into whispy, stormy or puffy clouds. // Primary Punch

Make a weather station to keep track of rain, temperature and sunshine. // Mr. Printables

Clip the temperatures on these adorable freebies from Leptir. // Photo by Sorting Sprinkles

Introduce young kids to different types of weather by playing with some DIY weather sensory bottles. Genius! // Tw0daloo

Read some weather-themed children’s books. // Buggy and Buddy

Create fog in a bottle. // What We Do All Day

Learn about wind by blowing a toy sailboat with your breath and shooting feathers through a straw. // Stir the Wonder

In need of a simple science experiment with a big wow factor? Create lightning-like sparks. // Learn Play Imagine

Set out some pinecones and start making some weather predictions. // Science Sparks

Make some fluffy, powdery, COLD snow with just two ingredients. // Growing a Jeweled Rose

And finally, find out how much water is really in snow by melting it. So easy and memorable!! // Simple Little Home

Continue the Fun

Learn so much more with our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!  It comes a no-prep science journal to keep track of their results – kids will beg to repeat them!

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Grab your copy below!  Ready for even more science fun!? Grab our 30 Science Experiments in our shop kids will beg to repeat!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed Outer Space Kids’ Bingo (below) on cardstock to give it extra strength and then cut along the grey lines to separate the pieces.

Note: If you’ll be using the game in a classroom, you may also want to laminate the set so it will hold up to plenty of reuse.

I grabbed 9 glass stones for each player and placed the bingo calling cards face down in the middle of the table.

(If you don’t have glass stones on hand, other cover up tokens that work well are coins, beans, dry pasta – even star buttons to go along with the space theme!)

Outer Space Kids’ Bingo

Middle Brother (age 4.5) was eager to get started! He turned over the top card in the pile and eagerly named the planet that appeared: Earth!

He grabbed one of his stones and placed it in the right spot on his gameboard.

The next two cards showed the moon and Saturn, so he was THRILLED when card #4 displayed a bright red Mars. He’d covered three spots in a row just like that!

Middle Brother happily cleared off his board, mixed up the calling cards and started playing a new round.

Grab Your Download

Ready to join in the fun?! Click the blue button below to grab your free Outer Space Kids’ Bingo and then check out our 30 Science Experiments, complete with a kids’ no-prep science journal to keep track of results!

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For more STEM-related activities, check out our Epic STEM Bundle in our shop!

Rainbow Activities – Science

Use just a few simple ingredients to build a walking water rainbow. // The STEM Laboratory

Have you made a rainbow jar yet?! It’s a definite must for kids AND grown ups.

Make a crystal rainbow. // Little Bins for Little Hands

Pull out your stash of candy and make a Skittles rainbow.

Melt a rainbow ice tower! // Fun at Home with Kids

Whip up some magic rainbow milk.

Grab just three ingredients and make your own rainbow paper. // Science Kiddo

In the mood for an engineering project?! Build rainbow marshmallow toothpick structures. // The Imagination Tree

Rainbow Activities – Literacy

Make words magically appear with a set of rainbow colored markers.

Find the matching alphabet sound! 

Work on matching upper and lowercase alphabet letters with a sticker match up. // Mom Inspired Life

Practice reading and writing sight words by creating a sight word rainbow!

Build a magnetic rainbow name box. // Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Spell sight words (or names or word families) with rainbow beads threaded through pipe cleaners. // Preschool Inspirations

Make a letter R craft. // The Measured Mom

Go on a rainbow name hunt! // Toddler Approved

Rainbow Activities – Math

Roll a rainbow! // The STEM Laboratory

Print hundred charts on bright, rainbow colored paper and make DIY math puzzles.

Learn about addition facts by painting number bond rainbows. // Math Geek Mama

Roll a rainbow snack as you practice the numbers 1 to 10.

Grab a bag of colored popsicle sticks, print some free activity cards, and solve missing patterns.

Practice color and shape recognition as kids piece together rainbow puzzles. // Itsy Bitsy Fun

Match up number puzzles! // From ABCs to ACTs

Race to fill a rainbow with a fun dice game. // Housing a Forest

Play with some free printable counting bear cards. // Life Over C’s

For more STEM fun, check out our Epic STEM Bundle in our shop!

The post 25 Rainbow Activities for Kids appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

My 3 year-old loved that he could do this activity almost on his own and I loved that he was completely engaged from start to finish.  Requiring just a few minutes of prep and a 99 cent pack of Peeps, this activity is a huge winner in my book!

For more science fun, snag our 30 Science Experiments (including a no-prep science journal to keep track of results) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for this kids’ science experiment, I grabbed a glass dish, water, some cornstarch to help prevent sticky hands, and of course, Peeps.  It took me less than 2 minutes and we were ready to roll.

Sink and Float Test

My 3 year-old loves to do things himself so while it would have been easy to simply fill our dish at the sink, I allowed him to fill a measuring cup with water and pour it into our dish at the table.  I also had him add a drop of food coloring so the water would be easier to see in the photographs.

I handed my son a Peep and asked him what he would predict, or guess, would happen when he put it in the water.  “It’s going to melt away,” he said pointing to the sugar.

He plopped it in the water and was surprised to see it float on top.  I explained that the marshmallow Peep floated because it was less dense than the water. We took turns thinking of other things we knew were less dense than water: oil, his toy boat, oranges with a peel…

Next, I asked my son if he could get his Peep to sink without adding any weight to the top of it.

He thought about it for a minute then said he would hold it under.  He thought if he submerged it long enough it would simply stay on the bottom.  Nope! Even after half a dozen tries, it still floated.  This sink and float activity was turning out to be a great lesson in trial and error!

He decided he need to make it smaller by tearing it into pieces to get it to sink.

Even the tiny bits still floated.

Still determined to sink that Peep, Q tried squashing the Peep flat like a pancake.  For this step, I gave him a little cornstarch to coat his hands.  Our Peeps were super squishy and sticky so any squeezing made it stick like crazy.

I don’t know what lead Q to think squeezing his Peep would get it to sink, but he was on the right track.  For him, flattening it was the easiest way for him to squeeze it, but the flat shape made it pretty buoyant and it still floated.

Ever determined, Q, kept thinking until he said, “I’m going to roll it into a small ball like a rock. Rocks sink.”

So I gave him a new Peep (the flat one was pretty slimy now) and helped him roll it into a ball.

And, can I get a drumroll please…

It SUNK!

Success!  My son was tickled!  It’s hard to see the Peep ball on the bottom because Q also thought adding his starchy hands to the water was a good idea so the water became pretty murky.

I loved that this activity got Q really thinking and testing his ideas all by himself.  I knew he was engaged because he didn’t ask if he could eat his Peep until AFTER he performed the whole activity twice.  That’s a long time for my little sugar monster!

The Science Behind It

Marshmallows are sugar based candy that is formed when sugar, gelatin and water are whipped until they are light and airy.

All that whipping spreads out the sugar and traps tiny air bubbles inside the marshmallow giving it a sponge-like texture.  It’s those tiny air bubbles that make the marshmallow less dense than the water and the marshmallow Peep floats!

So how did we make the marshmallow more dense so it would sink?  We took the air out of it by squeezing it.  The marshmallow compacted as the air was pressed out of it.  It became more dense than the water and it sunk.

Free Sink or Float Sheet

Want to try this experiment with other household objects (like candy or waterproof toys), too?! Grab our free printable sink or float printable HERE!  Then, hope over to our shop for our 30 Science Experiments!

The post Sink and Float Peeps appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

For this STEM activity, I gathered a few supplies we already had around the house:

• 10 pencils
• 16 rubber bands
• A spoon
• Peeps (any small item like jelly beans, gum drops or pennies will work too)
• Ruler or measuring tape {optional, used to measure how far the projectile launched)

STEM Activity: Building the Catapult

The type of catapult we made is called a mangonel and ours used tension from a stretched rubber band to hurl the Peeps across the room.

We began by building the base, which was simply a square made from pencils secured together with rubber bands.  You’ll need your base to lay flat so make sure the parallel pencils are both in the same position.  In the photo below, the left and right pencils are both above the top and bottom pencils.

Next, we tackled the sides of the catapult.  For this part, my 6 year-old, A, simply grabbed 2 pencils and bound them together on one end with a rubber band and repeated the steps for the other side.

Twisting the rubber bands and turning the pencils to secure the pencils together proved to be quite the fine motor task for A.  Can you sense the frustration!?

Attaching the sides (our light green pencils) to the base frame (the pink pencils) ended up being a two person job.

I took a pair of side pencils and spread them to form an upside down V-shape.  Then, I placed one end in a corner of the base frame while A secured them with a purple rubber band.  We repeated this process for the other end of the side pencil.  We sure were earning this STEM activity!

When both sides were attached, we added a pencil to the top to make the catapult more sturdy.  To do this, we simply slid a pencil into the point of the upside-down V and secured it with a yellow rubber band.  This pencil also acted as a crossbar to stop the lever arm and launch the projectile.

Finally, it came time to attach the part that makes a catapult work: the lever arm.  The easiest way to do this was to attach the spoon (the lever arm) right in the middle of the last pencil using a rubber band.

This is the fulcrum, or anchor point, of the lever so make sure that rubber band is nice and tight.

Next, we attached the end of the pencil to the sides of the frame.  We had to tweak where we secured the lever to make sure the bowl of the spoon cleared the top of the crossbar.

Finally, we added the last rubber band to provide the tension needed to move the lever arm.  First, A twisted the purple rubber band around the spoon just under the bowl a couple times.  Then, she stretched the rubber band over each point on the top of the frame.

STEM Activity: Launching the Peeps

Now we were ready to launch! My daughter loaded the bowl with the load, or Peep, pulled back on the rubber band and let that little chicky fly.

The first Peep landed right on my head as I was trying to get a shot of its flight.  Surprisingly, this mangonel catapult was fairly accurate and I had my fair share of direct hits.  Giggles galore!

After trying to catch a few Peeps in our mouths, A tried to see how far she could launch the Peep.  This naturally lead her to test different objects to see which flew the furthest.

After testing a jelly bean, a pom pom and a penny she determined the small but heavy jelly bean and penny flew better than a light pom pom.

The Science Behind It

While the kiddos took turns launching various items and laughing about where they ended up, I asked them how they thought the catapult worked.  My 6 year-old knew it all came down the the lever and the rubber band.

I explained that when the rubber band was pulled back, it had potential energy (stored energy) just waiting to be released.  Once they let go of the spoon, the rubber band released the tension in the form of kinetic energy (the energy of motion).

Other than naming the parts of the catapult while building it, I pretty much let the kiddos have fun with this activity.  Based on the amount of laughter coming from my kids, I think we’ll have many more opportunities to get into the nitty gritty science of catapults in the future.  For now, we’ll just enjoy watching those puffy little Peeps fly!

More Jaw-Dropping Science

Make measurement and weight concepts exciting with these STEM Challenge Cards! They’re an easy, interactive way to get students thinking critically about balance, mass, and estimation.

The post Peep Catapults STEM Activity appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

For more science fun, hop over to the shop to snag our 30 Science Experiments for kids!

Getting Ready

Any candy would work for this science activity, but I grabbed several different kinds we had sitting around from the candy lab science class I taught a few weeks ago: Gobstoppers, gummy worms, Laffy Taffies, Skittles, M&M’s, mints and Smarties.

I printed one sink or float sheet (below) for each of my boys, grabbed a cup of water and invited them over to join me.

Sink or Float Candy Science

We worked together to write the name of each candy in the left-hand column of their charts. Then, each boy made a prediction about whether the objects would sink to the bottom when they dropped it in the water or float on top. They marked their guesses with X’s.

Middle Brother (age 3.5) eagerly grabbed the first candy: a bright orange Skittle. He dropped it in the water and watched it sink straight to the bottom.

Both boys grabbed their crayon and placed a big O in the “sink” column so they could easily compare their predictions (marked with an X) and the result.

One candy after another, they tested whether the objects would sink or float. When the experiment was finished, I passed along an extra challenge: making a Laffy Taffy that would typically drop to the bottom of the cup instead float on top of the water.

It took a little while, but they eventually found a solution.

The Science Behind It

Everything is made up of molecules – teeny tiny particles that can only be seen with a microscope. If those molecules are packed very closely together like an M & M, they are more dense than the water molecules and sink. If the molecules are spread apart and have space between them like a marshmallow, they are less dense than the water and float.

Grab Your Record Sheet

Click the blue download button below to snag your free record sheet. Then snag our mega pack of insanely cool science experiments for kids. Turn an egg to rubber, whip up a tornado in a jar, separate the colors of M&M’s and much, much more.

The post Sink or Float Candy Science appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments (including a no-prep science journal to keep track of results) in our shop!

Peeps Activities for Kids

Ready for some fun?! These Peeps science experiments are sure to put smiles on kids’ faces.

Use pencils, rubber bands and a spoon to catapult Peeps across the room. F-U-N!

Challenge kids to find a way to make Peeps sink.

Find out if heat and cold affect Peeps. // Coffee Cups and Crayons

Learn about states of matter with a batch of homemade Peeps slime. // The STEM Laboratory

Talk about the five senses by describing how Peeps taste, smell, sound, feel and look.

Build some colorful Peeps boats! // Kids Play Box

Test whether Peeps dissolve in different liquids. // Simply Kinder

Make new colors appear by mixing Peeps. // Schooling a Monkey

Whip up some Peeps playdough. // Growing a Jeweled Rose

Grab some toothpicks and start building structures. // Schooling a Monkey

30 Must-Try Science Experiments

Continue the fun with 30 of our favorite science experiments for kids. And the best part?! They only require common household supplies. No science lab needed.

The post 10 Peeps Science Experiments appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Make some magic inflating conversation hearts just in time for Valentine’s Day and then hop over to snag more science experiments kids will love!

Getting Ready

To prep this magic kids’ science experiment, I grabbed my supplies:

• An empty bottle
• 4 Alka Seltzer tablets for each round
• 1/2 cup water for each round
• A couple balloons
• A Sharpie

Big Brother helped me break two of the Alka Seltzer tablets into small pieces and dropped them into the bottom of the bottle.

Then, we brainstormed a couple of our favorite conversation heart messages and I used the Sharpie to draw them on the balloons.

TIP: After a little experimenting, I realized that the conversation heart was more crisp and clear if I first blew it up with air, temporarily pinched it closed with my fingers and then drew the picture.

When I tried drawing the conversation heart while it was flat and empty, the image stretched too much when the balloon inflated.

The Science Experiment

After making a prediction about what was going to happen, Big Brother carefully poured the water into the bottle.

Then, I speedily stretched the mouth of the balloon with my fingers and stretched it over the rim of the bottle.

We eagerly watched the kids’ science experiment happen!  Or was it magic!?

We repeated the science experiment over and over again until our pack of Alka Seltzer tablets was empty.

The Science Behind It

Similar to the reaction that occurs when you mix baking soda and vinegar, when you pour water on Alka Seltzer tablets, carbon dioxide gas bubbles begin forming.

These gas bubbles rise up in the bottle, filling the balloon with carbon dioxide gas.

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Magic Inflating Conversation Hearts appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for the science experiments, I grabbed a few supplies:

• Raw eggs (we did multiples, in case one broke when being handled)
• Vinegar
• Corn syrup
• Water
• Food dye
• Glasses or Jars (lids can help keep the vinegar smell in check)

Disappearing Egg Shell

For the first experiment, I handed my daughter a raw egg and asked her what she thought would happen if we placed it in vinegar.  “It would get dyed,” she replied, remembering how last spring we used vinegar and food coloring to dye eggs.

I had her label 2 cups, one for water and one for vinegar.  I carefully placed an egg in each and my daughter covered one with vinegar and one with water (the control).  Right away, there was a reaction in the vinegar glass.  Tiny bubbles formed all over the egg and caused the egg to rise to the surface.  Both my 2.5 and 5 year-old were fascinated.  Within a few hours, you could see the vinegar eating away the egg shell.

We left the eggs overnight and in the morning, almost all the shell was eaten away and the top of the vinegar was foamy.

We used both brown and white eggs and the brown eggs had more visible results.  You could see the remains of brown shell floating in the foam and it was much easier for my kids to see that the shell was being broken down by the vinegar.

Next, I carefully rinsed the vinegar egg under a gentle stream of water, rubbing away any broken down shell with my fingers.  There was still a thin layer of shell on the egg so we placed the egg back in the glass, added fresh vinegar and let the eggs sit overnight.

On the third day, the shell was completely gone and my kids could not wait to get their hands on the rubbery, naked egg.  I handed A the egg and, while she gently squeezed and rolled the egg around, I asked her what she noticed.  She held the translucent egg up to the sunlight to see the yoke and the thick white strand, called the chalazae, that anchors the yolk and holds it in place within the egg. She observed that it didn’t have a shell, was “squeezy”, stunk and was bigger.  I explained that the acid in the vinegar broke down the calcium carbonate shell, producing the tiny carbon dioxide gas bubbles we saw.  The egg got bigger because the membrane is semi-permeable and because of a process called osmosis.

To illustrate how the membrane allows gases or liquids to pass through it, I had A blow through the fabric on her sleeve.  “Did you feel your breath?” I asked.  When she nodded yes, I explained that her shirt has tiny holes that allow her breath (a gas) to pass through.  The egg membrane is like that, too – it allows some things to pass through it.

I explained that osmosis is the movement of a liquid, like water, across a membrane.  I explained that membranes like to be balanced on both sides.  The vinegar solution is mostly water with only a little vinegar in it, while inside the membrane is protein with a little water. So the water molecules travel from the vinegar into the egg to try to balance the concentrations, and the egg expands.

I then told A she could try to bounce the egg a few inches off the table.  She was expecting an explosive mess as you can see, but the egg did indeed bounce. Awesome!

The Shrinking Egg

After a few more bounces, we moved on to the second part of the experiment: making the naked egg shrink.  For this part,  A simply filled a glass with corn syrup and placed in the shell-less egg.  The egg floated to the surface but, don’t worry, it didn’t affect the experiment.

I explained to A that corn syrup is very sugary with a little water dissolved in it.  I asked A what she thought would happen to the egg, reminding her how the membrane likes to stay balanced on both sides and will move water to do so.  “The egg will get smaller,” she replied.

When we came back the next day, we could see the egg had shrunk and the corn syrup had a thinner layer on top.  This was where the water left the egg, causing the shrinking.

We very carefully removed the shriveled looking egg from the corn syrup and rinsed the stickiness away under a gentle stream of water.  Again, A rolled and squeezed the deflated egg in her hands.  “You can feel the yolk,” she said excitedly.  The yolk felt surprisingly hard.

During this experiment I left the control egg in the water and another in the vinegar.  I got both these eggs out for A to examine side-by-side and observe the different changes that occurred.  We could have left the shrunken egg in the corn syrup for even more dramatic results but A got the idea of osmosis so we moved on.

The Expanding Colored Egg

For the last part of the experiment, A added several drops of food coloring to a glass of water and plopped in the deflated egg.

The following morning, the egg was once again round, bouncy, and bright pink!  I asked A if we should see how high the egg can be dropped and still bounce.  She was reluctant to risk her shiny pink egg but eventually gave in.  

We examined the popped egg and A noticed the whites of the egg seemed watery and pink! “The pink water DID go into the egg!” she exclaimed.

Seriously egg-citing!

More Egg-citing Science Experiments

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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Of course, we had to test a few bath bombs first.  And now that my 5 year-old has seen just how the hidden messages float out from the fizzy eruption, she can barely wait to surprise her friends with her own Valentine’s Day homemade bath bombs.  For more creative and fun science, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To make 6 large heart-shaped bath bombs, we first gathered a few supplies:

• 1 cup of baking soda
• 3/4 cup of corn starch
• 1/4 cup of Epsom salt or cane sugar
• 1/2 cup of citric acid (available in natural food stores or online for canning)
• Food coloring (optional)
• Essential oils (we used rose, lavender and jasmine)
• Jojoba or almond oil (optional, but leaves skin soft)
• Large bowl
• Measuring cups (not pictured)
• Whisk
• Spray bottle
• Silicone heart-shaped muffin mold (pictured below)

For the messages, we needed:

• Colored foam sheets (available at the dollar store or craft stores)
• Fine line permanent marker
• Cardstock
• Scissors

Making the Messages

To make the hidden messages, I made a template by folding a piece of cardstock in half and cutting a heart shape to fit in my muffin mold.  I just eye-balled the size of the heart, making sure it was small enough to fit nicely in the muffin mold but big enough to allow my 5 year-old to write her message on.  Once I had a template, I had A use it to trace the shape onto a piece of colored foam.  We were making 18 bath bombs, so I had her trace 20 hearts in case we needed an extra or two.

After A cut out all the foam hearts, she turned her attention to choosing just the right message for each friend and carefully writing it on a foam heart with permanent marker.  You want to make sure your marker is waterproof as it will get wet.

Homemade Bath Bombs

Next came the fun part: mixing up the homemade bath bombs! As I read off the ingredients, A excitedly gathered all the supplies and got right to work. First, she measured out the baking soda, cornstarch, Epsom salt and citric acid and mixed them in a large bowl.  This recipe is pretty forgiving and makes a perfect measuring activity for young kids.

I asked A what scent we should make for our first batch and she chose rose. While she measured and mixed the dry ingredients,  I filled the spray bottle with about 1/4 cup of water, several drops of rose essential oil and a squirt of pink gel food coloring.  I handed A the bottle and asked her to spray a few squirts at a time into the bowl, stopping to whisk the mixture.  A loved watching the mixture fizz each time she sprayed it.

It’s pretty important to lightly spray the mixture, wetting it enough that the mixture forms a clump when squeezed but not so much that it continues fizzing.  Go slow, spraying only a few sprays then testing it with a squeeze.

Once our mixture clumped, A add a tablespoon or so of jojoba oil and wicked the mixture thoroughly.  Since we were making gifts, we used jojoba oil instead of almond oil in case some of A’s friends had a nut allergy we were unaware of.

If you add too much water, the citric acid will continue fizzing and the mixture puff up in your mold.  If you notice this happening, you could try to salvage the mix by adding more baking powder and/or cornstarch a tablespoon at a time to help absorb some of the extra water.

Now A was ready to add the homemade bath bomb mixture to the heart-shaped muffin mold.  She used a tablespoon to scoop a little of the mixture into the bottom of each mold, filling it about half way.

Next, she pressed the mixture down and added more until the compressed mix filled about half the heart.

She placed one foam heart message in each mold and covered the message with more mixture.

Then, she pressed the mixture firmly down with her hands.  She repeated adding mixture and pressing down until each fizzy couldn’t be compressed any more.

We left the homemade bath bombs to dry over night then carefully popped them out in the morning to further dry.  I did notice on the first batch that the fizzy cracked a little where the message was.  I fixed this by making the next messages a wee bit smaller allowing there to be more area where the top and bottom layer of the fizzy joins.

Once they were completely dry, we packaged them up to await V-day and headed back to the kitchen to make the next batches: lavender and jasmine.

This Valentine’s kid’s science activity combined a few of my kids favorite things: fizzing, mystery and little mess making.  It also makes for a super cute but easy kid-made Valentine that any kid (and some grown-ups too!) would love to receive.

The Science Behind It

When you drop your heart bath bomb into the tub, the water sets off a chemical reaction between the citric acid and the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).  That’s why the dry mixture fizzed when it was sprayed with water. When citric acid and baking soda react in the water, carbon dioxide gas is created, making those relaxing fizzing bubbles.

Want even more amazing science!? Check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

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For more science kids will love, check out our 30 Science Experiments, including a no prep science journal to keep track of results, in our shop!

Getting Ready

As a kid, I remember homemade valentines being just as fun to make as they were to receive and these oh-so-easy invisible ink valentines don’t disappoint.  To make these magic invisible ink valentines, you’ll need just a few simple supplies:

• White paper (we used cardstock)
• Colored paper (optional)
• Lemon juice
• Q-tip or small paint brush
• Heat source (candle, light bulb or blow dryer)

Making the Invisible Ink Valentines

For super simple valentines, you can write your secret message on plain white paper and slip it into a bottle or envelope filled with heart confetti.

My 6 year-old, however, wanted to cut out heart shapes to make more classic-looking cards.

She traced heart shapes on pink, red and white cardstock.  It was a bit of a challenge at first as she figured out how to keep the pencil right along the side of the heart she was tracing.

Then, she cut out all of the hearts.  It’s a good thing she loves cutting because she had a few dozen to cut out!  I had her make several extra in case she made a mistake when writing with the invisible ink.

After squeezing a lemon to get its juice, my daughter dipped the Q-tip into the juice and wrote her secret messages on the hearts. It took her several hearts to figure out how to fit her message without running out of space.

Once the lemon juice dried, it was time to reveal the magic.  At first, my daughter was a little apprehensive about holding paper over a candle but, once she saw her message slowly appear, her face was all smiles.

Obviously, these invisible ink valentines require an adult’s help and you’ll want to keep the heart several inches from the flame.  It’s a good idea to keep a bowl of water close by, too.  If you accidentally light your heart on fire, you can simply toss it in the bowl to extinguish your burning heart.

It’s best to take this part slow and be patient.  The heat from the flame reveals the message and eventually enough heat will build up under the valentine.  Don’t be tempted to rush the process by holding the card too close to the flame.

You can also use a light bulb or hair dryer to reveal the hidden message.  We tried using a light bulb at first since it seemed safer than an open flame, but it took a really long time and the letters were really faint.  The candle was notably quicker (it still takes a few minutes) but it was easy for my daughter to get relatively close and see the letters appear.

We opted not to try the hair dryer as the loud hot blasting air just seemed to take away from the magic of it all.  These invisible ink valentines were a huge hit!

The Science Behind It

Lemon juice is an organic substance, meaning that it contains carbon molecules.  When you paint the lemon juice solution onto the paper, the carbon-based compounds absorb into the paper’s fibers.

When you heat the paper, the heat causes some of the chemical bonds to break down, freeing the carbon.

Once the carbon comes into contact with the air, it goes through a process called oxidation.  When oxidation has occurred, it turns the paper brown, revealing the message.

Oxidation doesn’t always need heat to occur. Can you think of some fruits or vegetables that turn brown when left out on the counter?

Jaw-Dropping Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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Looking for more cool science?  Grab our 30 Science Experiments in our shop – including a no prep journal to keep track of results!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links for children’s books.

With winter in full swing, my 5-year-old has been reading a lot about how some animals deal with the cold. Some animals avoid the cold by migrating, others grow thick winter coats, store fat and hibernate. However, a few kinds of hibernating frogs and turtles can’t burrow deep enough to avoid sub-zero temperatures.

With a few common household items, we were able to explore this frozen frog experiment and exactly how they can survive such cold temps. my 5-year-old, A, was able to see exactly how these critters are able to withstand freezing and thawing with this fun life science experiment.

Frog Life Science: Day One

The prep for this life science activity couldn’t have been easier. I grabbed 2 plastic containers with lids (empty yogurt containers work perfectly), a glass of water, a jug of maple syrup and called both my kids over. It was that easy!

I handed A the glass of water and had her fill the container to the line made by the lip. I wanted her to be able to look at the frozen water and tell if it had changed in volume so I made it a point to pour to a defined line.

A grabbed the second container and repeated the process with the maple syrup. My 2-year-old, Q, was more than eager to help so I quickly grabbed two more containers so he could do the experiment too.

The kids snapped on the lids and popped them in the freezer. Then came the hardest part of the experiment: waiting.

Frog Life Science: Day Two

The next day, the kids ran to the freezer to see what had happened to their containers.  Before opening them, I explained that the water represented the cell of an animal. It would show us what would happen to most animals (including people) if they were left unprotected in freezing temperatures. Both A and Q opened their water containers, turned them upside-down, then poked the hard ice saying, “it’s frozen!”

I asked A to look at the ice closely and see if she could tell if the water got bigger or smaller when it froze.  “Bigger,” she exclaimed.  I explained that as the water froze, ice crystals formed and caused the water to expand. The ice crystals damage the cells in most animals’ bodies if they freeze and that is why most animals don’t survive.

Next, I handed both Q and A a bowl and passed them their containers of syrup with the lids removed.  Immediately they turned their containers upside down to see if the syrup had frozen and watched as the sweet thick syrup streamed into their bowls.

“It didn’t freeze!” exclaimed a very surprised A.

The Science Behind It

I explained that the syrup is a sugar like glucose.  Certain hibernating animals, like the wood frog, make a ton of glucose in their liver then send this glucose through their bloodstream to every tissue in their bodies.  The glucose-rich cells (like the syrup) don’t freeze like normal body cells (like the water) and thus the frog can survive once thawed.  A thought that it was a pretty darn cool life science activity.

For more about hibernation and other ways animals survive winter, my kiddos really enjoyed reading these books:

More Inspiring Science

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Life Science: Why Don’t Frogs Freeze? appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Crystal names are one of our favorite science experiments EVER.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Even though my 5 year-old can easily write her name, she never tires of seeing it, especially when it sparkles and glistens.

We decided to use the same technique used to make crystal snowflakes using borax, a common household laundry product, to make crystal names.  The results were gorgeous and soon everyone in the family wanted their names in crystal too!

Getting Ready

To prep for this science activity, I gathered a few supplies:

• Pipe cleaners
• Fishing line (twine or yarn will work too_
• Pencils or wooden skewers
• Scissors
• Glasses or plastic container {one for each color}
• A container large enough to hold your name (if doing your name as a single piece written in cursive)
• Borax
• Food coloring (optional, if you want colored letters you can dye the borax solution or use colored pipe cleaners)
• Liquid measuring cup
• Tablespoon
• Heat safe mixing bowl

Shaping the Crystal Names

Once I gathered all my supplies, I called my daughter, A, over and explained that we were going to make the letters of her name and then grow crystals on them.

I had her take white pipe cleaners and use them to form the letters of her name.

I showed her the plastic container we were going to use to suspend the pipe cleaner letter in and explained that the letter had to fit in the container without touching any sides.

I wanted A to work on noticing what lines and curves made up each individual letter, so I intentionally had her form the letters one by one.

(Older children could connect a few pipe cleaners to form their name in cursive, making this activity even easier.)

Once formed, we used fishing line to suspend each letter a few inches from wooden skewers.

Making the Solution

While A finished making her letters, I began heating a large pot of water.

I knew my 5 year-old would want to do the measuring and mixing, so I made sure the water was as hot as possible to help dissolve the borax quickly, without being hot enough to scald her.

A decided she wanted to make each letter a different color, so I set out 5 quart sized plastic containers and had A measure out 3 tablespoons of borax per cup of hot water (we used 9 tablespoons per container).

Once all the borax was measured, I poured 3 cups of almost boiling water into each of the 5 containers.

A, armed with a long wooden spoon, mixed each container until the borax dissolved.  She felt like a real scientist in this kids’ science experiment!

Next, she added several drops of food coloring to every container and carefully lowered each letter into the color of choice.

Waiting for the Crystals

Next came the hardest part of the kids’ science experiment – waiting!

I put the containers on a shelf and let them sit overnight where they wouldn’t be disturbed by curious hands.

After a couple hours, we saw some changes – mostly crystals forming on the sides of the container and also settling onto the bottom.

It was difficult to see what was happening to the pipe cleaners through the dark food coloring solution.

A and her little brother Q couldn’t wait to see how each of their names turned out and spent nearly an hour touching, arranging, and holding their letters up to the windows to see the crystals sparkle.

Once they were finished exploring their glistening letters, I carefully taped each child’s name up in a sunny window so they could be admired in all their sparkling glory.  This kids’ science experiment was fun because it was so personal!

The Science Behind It

When borax is dissolved in water a suspension is created. A suspension is a mixture that has solid particles (the borax) that are large enough for sedimentation (settling out).

As the borax begins to settle, it starts to crystalize on all the surfaces it comes in contact with – including the pipe cleaner letters.

As the borax continues to settle out, it builds crystals on top of other borax crystals creating a thick layer.

More Kids’ Science Experiments

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Crystal Names – Kids’ Science Experiment appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Your kids will love this squiggly project!  And speaking of projects, check out our awesome 30 Science Experiments in our shop that your kids will beg to repeat!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links for worm books.

It seems any spare moment our family has we’ve been spending it digging in the garden.  With all that digging, we’ve unearthed more than our fair share of those marvelous wiggly little earthworms.  My 4 year-old loves reading about our slimy subterranean friends, so we decided to really see what worms do by building a worm bin.

I wanted a simple, cheap, under-the-sink bin to introduce vermicomposting (or composting using worms) to the kids.  With just a few supplies, a tub of red wigglers, the leftovers from lunch and a little less than an hour we had our own worm farm right under our kitchen sink.

Getting Ready

To make our worm bin, we first gathered a few supplies:

• Three 5 gallon buckets (available at most hardware stores)
• One 5 gallon bucket lid
• Newspaper
• Cardboard
• Bowl/bucket of water {not shown, used to wet newspaper}
• Scissors
• Drill with a 3/8″ and 1/8″ bit
• Safety glasses {especially if a child will be drilling}
• 1/3 pound of red worms (available at some feed stores or online)

First, we took two of the buckets and drilled a bunch of 3/8 inch holes in the bottom, about an inch apart.  My daughter, A, was a bit nervous about using a drill at first but then quickly learned how much fun power tools can be!

We DID NOT drill holes in the third bucket.  This bucket will catch any moisture, known as compost tea, from the other buckets and prevent any damage to the cabinets. If you do get any compost tea, save it to use in your garden.

Next, we drilled a line of 1/8 inch holes near the top of each bucket and around the lid.  These holes provide air flow to the worms and prevent the bins from becoming too wet.  Keeping the holes on the small side helps keep pests like fruit flies from getting into your bin.

We stacked the buckets, making sure the one without holes was on the bottom and moved on to preparing the worms bedding.  I grabbed a stack of newspaper and invited both kids over to help shred the paper into strips.  Shredding paper is a great workout for the kids’ pincer grasp so I just let them shred till the entire stack was gone.  The cardboard was a little tougher so I helped them shred the cardboard into 2-3 inch pieces.

While they shredded the paper, I took a piece of cardboard and traced a circle using the bucket as a guide.  I cut it out and made sure it fit snugly in the bucket.  This circle would be placed on top of the worms and the food scraps to help prevent flies or other pests from getting into our bin.

(In case you’re unsure about having worms under your sink, I should mention that we’ve had our bin for 2 months now and even though we have fruit flies in our fruit bowl we have had no pests or odor coming from our worm bin.)

Once the kids finished shredding, they added the newspaper to the bucket a few inches at a time, stopping to moisten the paper with the hose.  The paper should be about as wet as a wrung out sponge.  They repeated this until there was about 4 inches of moistened paper and cardboard bits.

“Can I add the food now?” A eagerly asked as she danced around with a bucket full of table scraps.

Worms can eat most food scraps but should never be fed meat, dairy or fatty foods.  It’s been fun to peek in the bin to see what foods the worms prefer and thus break down quickly (non-citrus fruit, cucumbers, breads/pasta, coffee grinds, leafy greens) and what they don’t (potato skins, onion, avocado peel and citrus).

Finally, the fun part came, adding the worms.  My kids were practically fighting over who got to dump the worms into the bucket. We got our worms from our local feed co-op and they came with a fair amount of the original bedding and vermicompost.  You actually want this, as it can introduce baby worms and worm eggs, as well as other beneficial microorganisms that can help jump start the composting process.

After the kids watched the worms wiggle out of the light, we added another couple inches of moist bedding on top of the food and lowered the cardboard circle on top.  (The extra layer of bedding on top of the food and worms helps prevent smells and pests.)

Finally, we added the lid and let the worms get to work.

Using the Worm Bin

Since this is a small scale worm bin, we didn’t want to add all of our kitchen scraps and overload the worms.  We placed a small clean bucket on the dining table so the kids could put their food scraps in it after each meal.  At the end of the day, we open the bin and gently push the top layer of bedding aside to add the food.  We add the food just next to the previous day’s pile, usually getting about 4 days of scraps in a single layer before having to dump scraps on top of the older layer.

The kids both love checking on and feeding the worms.  We noticed a small amount of vermicompost, or worm poop, in just a couple days.  Other than misting the bedding every couple weeks so that the worms don’t dry out, the bin has been extremely low maintenance.  After a month the whole bottom layer had become a mass of what we like to call “black gold”.

In addition to a ton of new worms, we had a lot of cocoons, each containing as many as 20 eggs!

Now that the contents of this first layer are pretty broken down, we will start adding fresh bedding and food to the second bucket and place it on top of the first bucket.  The worms should start migrating up to the top bucket for fresh food.  We’ll give the worms a few weeks to move to the new layer before harvesting the first layer for our garden.

The Science Behind It

The worms eat and digest organic matter.  Organic matter is anything that is alive or was made from something that was alive (animal or plant).  Apple cores, cotton socks, a wooden toy, hair clippings, egg shells are all organic matter and can all be digested by worms and microorganisms in the soil.

Organic matter in the soil begins to be broken down by a host of microorganisms.  Worms then eat the decaying matter and soil. The soil and microorganisms mix together in the worms gut and further break down the organic matter, which is then excreted as castings or manure.  The worm castings are held together in a sheath that holds the digested organic matter together and provides a slow release fertilizer that does wonders for plants!

Worm Books for Kids

The more we have learned about worms the more fascinating they have become.  Some of our favorite books on the subject are:

Yucky Worms by Vivian French

Wiggling Worms by Wendy Pfeffer

Compost, By Gosh by Michelle Eva Portman

Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals

There is also ton of info about vermicomposting with kids online if you are looking for additional information about worms, caring for your worms or troubleshooting.  I hope this cheap and simple worm bin will inspire you to start your own mini worm farm in your home!

P.S.

For more hands-on science fun, check out some awesome science in our 30 Science Experiments – including a no prep journal to keep track of results!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I gathered our supplies:

• 4 Alka Seltzer tablets.
• 1 cup of sparkling water (ordinary tap water works too)
• A box of conversation hearts
• A glass

We tried this experiment several times using different numbers of Alka Seltzer tablets and either tap or sparkling water.

Since conversation hearts are a little heavy candy-wise, the winning combination was a whopping four Alka Seltzer tablets and some sparkling water. It really took their shimmies and shakes to the next level. It’s not required though – the science activity worked with ordinary tap water, too.

Dancing Conversation Hearts Kids’ Science Experiment

We were now ready for the bubbly kids’ science experiment to begin! Middle Brother crushed up the Alka Seltzer tablets and placed them in the bottom of our glass.

Then, he carefully picked out a handful of his favorite conversation hearts and laid them on top of the tablets.

Grabbing the sparkling water bottle with both hands, he slowly poured in about 1 cup of water.

Then he sat back and watched with super excitement as the hearts began bobbing up, down and all around the cup.  Definitely a successful kids’ science experiment at our house!

The Science Behind It

Similar to the reaction that occurs when you mix baking soda and vinegar, when you pour water on the Alka Seltzer tablets, carbon dioxide gas bubbles begin forming.  

These gas bubbles stick to the conversation hearts, pulling them up as they rise to the surface. When the gas bubbles burst, the hearts fall back down until enough bubbles form to pull it back up again.

The up and down movement makes it appear as though the hearts are wriggling and dancing.

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Inspire kids to LOVE science with 30 more jaw dropping experiments they’ll beg to repeat! Grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

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Grab your outer space instant download in our shop!  Then, for more fun science, check out our 30 Science Experiments your kids will beg to repeat!

Science

To help aspiring Buzz Aldrins and Sally Rides learn about our solar system, the pack leads kids through loads of hands-on outer space activities.

Students make solar system hats to learn the order of planets from the sun. (My kids were CRAZY about this craftivity!)

Then they review the order with a fun puzzle.

Children learn about each planet one at a time with ready-to-read fact cards and planet fact sheets.

They use Oreos to learn about the phases of the moon.

And they run a simple experiment to see whether Earth has more water or land.

Perhaps the ultimate outer space activity: a flip book! Kids complete an in-depth space book exploring the sun, moon and planets.

Older kids can work on it independently while younger kiddos can complete it as a class.

For quick review, students can also play Planet Match Up and work on a batch of motivating planet clip cards.

Literacy

To make it easy for you to add a splash of intergalactic fun to literacy time, the pack includes plenty of writing and word work activities.

Children can write fiction stories in several no-prep space books.

They will take a trip to the moon to work on telling sequenced stories.

And then they’ll practice reading and writing sight words with two EDITABLE games.

Kids can even work on five different word families with a set of playful spin and color sheets!

Math

For some out-of-this-world math fun, students use dice to practice recognizing 1 to 6 or adding two or three numbers together.

They work on AB, ABB and ABC patterns.

And then children work on 2-dimensional AND 3-dimensional shapes with a couple of motivating games.

And that’s just the beginning!

There are 25 out of this world math, literacy and science activities in all.

Grab Your Pack

Ready to blast into space?! Download all 25 outer space activities in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

More Inspiring Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post 25 Outer Space Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop – complete with a no prep science journal to keep track of results!

Getting Ready

To make volcano eggs, we first gathered a few supplies:

• Small jars or glasses (one for each color you want)
• Measuring spoons
• Baking soda
• Food coloring or liquid colors
• Vinegar
• Large glass or clear plastic container
• Paint brushes
• Baking dish (or something with a edge to catch any overflow)
• Hard boiled eggs

Mixing Up The Paint

My kiddos decided they needed every color of the rainbow for the volcano eggs, so I grabbed 6 empty baby food jars and had my 3 year-old measure 2 tablespoons of baking soda into each jar.  Since amounts don’t need to be exact, this activity provides the perfect opportunity for little ones to practice measuring.

My 5 year-old then added a few drops of food coloring to each jar.  Then they added water to the jar  a few drops at a time using a dropper. It took some serious fine motor control on my 3 year-old’s part – he kept wanting to squeeze the entire dropper in at a time.

They used the paint brushes to mix up the slurry and stopped adding water when it became a think paste.

Volcano Eggs

We find the most fun activities tend to be the messiest and this one definitely needs to be done outside.  These volcano eggs were no exception!  We grabbed our paint, eggs, vinegar, large glasses and the baking dishes and headed out to our patio.

Just a note, vinegar will kill plants so make sure any over flow is away from your plants and grass.  I was careless last summer when making volcanoes and we still have a big brown spot on the lawn a year later!

The kiddos dove right in, grabbing an egg and painting away.  As you can see, my little ones had dyed hands even before the painting began, so dress your kiddos for a mess that could stain.

Once the eggs were painted, it was time for fizzy volcano egg fun!  My 5 year-old, A, carefully lowered her paste covered egg into the vinegar.

She was all smiles as the baking soda caused the vinegar to bubble and fizz over the edge of the glass.

My daughter used a wire egg lifter to carefully lift out the volcano egg and see the magical results.  The reaction causes some of the colors to change a bit so you never really know what you’ll get.  That’s just part of the fun!

Once, they saw the reaction, they immediately reached for the next egg.  We had made two dozen eggs, but the kids were so excited that I had to quickly grab a few for myself before they snagged them all!

We had a blast experimenting with different color combinations and seeing how different amounts of paint affected the color.

We discovered that a good thick coat of paint not only caused a big eruption but also made the most vibrant eggs.  It also helped to let the paint sit on the egg for a minute before plopping them in the vinegar.

The Science Behind It

When you add the egg to the vinegar, the acetic acid in the vinegar reacts with the bicarbonate in the baking soda paint.  Voila – a volcano egg!

When an acid and base are mixed they react to form carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These gas bubbles rise to the surface but, since carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air, the bubbles stay on the surface of the vinegar creating all that foam.

More Science That Rocks

Keep the scientific fun going with our Super Cool Science Kit – 30 jaw dropping experiments that use simple ingredients like salt and baking soda PLUS a no prep science journal to record the results! Grab your instant download HERE.

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And speaking of science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments in our shop – complete with a no prep science journal to keep track of results!

Teach kids about the layers of the earth with a batch of Earth playdough. (It’s surprisingly easy to make!)

Turn ordinary eggs into uber adorable egg head planters that teach kids about the plant life cycle.

Make gorgeous window art from coffee filters. // I Can Teach My Child

Up for a little challenge for an Earth Day activity? Piece together some Earth Day puzzles.

Feeling crafty? Create some awesome handprint art. // Crafty Morning

Make a batch of homemade Earth Day crayons for friends. // Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Want an Earth Day activity that isn’t a mess?  Try some mess-free Earth Day painting. // Still Playing School

Bake some tasty Earth cake pops. // A Night Owl Blog

Make pretty “I Promise” Earth Day posters. // The Applicious Teacher

Play with some hands-on Earth Day discovery bottles. // Little Bins for Little Hands

Brainstorm ways you can reduce, reuse and recycle with this freebie from Educating Everyone 4 Life.

Make an E is for Earth Day craft. // Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Peel back the layers of the earth (literally!) with a felt puzzle. // Powerful Mothering

Go on an easy outdoor scavenger hunt.

Make a Rainbow in a Jar.

Create some adorable tissue paper globes. // Mama Miss on Kiwi Crate

Watch the water cycle in a bag.

Whip up some squirrel snacks to hang outside.

Grab some watercolors and a crayon and create a pretty painting. // Kindercraze

That’s 20 kid-approved Earth Day activities in all.  And don’t forget to snag our 30 Science Experiments in our shop to keep the science fun going!

More Inspiring Science 

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post 20 Earth Day Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

For this activity, I first gathered a few supplies:

• Eggs
• Seeds
• Soil (we just scooped some up from the back yard)
• Permanent markers (we used Sharpies and Sharpie paint pens)
• Cardstock

In past years, we’ve made these silly egg heads using wheat grass and alfalfa, both of which sprout quickly and work well for this kids’ science project.  Recently, however, my 2.5-year-old has been curious about what some of his foods look like while growing.

So, we visited our natural foods store and I let the kids choose a few items that they were curious about from the bulk section.  They chose lentils, chia and mung beans.  You only need a small handful of seeds to make several egg heads so buying bulk (or looking in your pantry) is much cheaper than buying a packet of sprouting seeds.

Making the Egg Heads

To being the planting activity, we made the egg planters.  I made a small hole in the top of the egg by tapping it gently with the edge of a butter knife.

I then carefully picked the small bits of shell off until I had a hole the size of a quarter.

After I removed the egg, I gently rubbed the inside of the eggshell with my pointer finger to remove the egg’s membrane.  This step is a bit tedious and isn’t necessary but, if the membrane is left on, it could cause mold to grow on your sprouts as it decomposes.

Planting Activity: Sowing the Seeds

Once the shells were rinsed, we were ready to plant.  We started by drawing the faces on the eggs with a permanent marker.  It’s a good idea to have a few extra shells on hand in case one cracks.

I then asked my 5-year-old, A, and little brother, Q, what seeds need to grow.

“Water and dirt!” they replied.

We decided they needed dirt first so they used a teaspoon to fill the eggshell about halfway full of soil.

Then, they spooned the seeds into each shell.  This planting activity was a great way to practice learning step-by-step instructions.

For the larger seeds like mung beans and lentils, we used about a teaspoon full.  For tiny seeds like chia or alfalfa a little (1/4 teaspoon) goes a long way.

Q, eager to pour something, quickly reminded us the seeds needed water to grow.

A spray bottle works well for this step or simply use a tablespoon to spoon a little water over the seeds.

Be careful not to overwater the seeds.  Since there is no drainage, the seeds can rot pretty quick if overwatered.

On the flip side, if your seeds dry out, they may not sprout.  If you are worried about this, sprinkling a small amount of soil over your seeds will help them stay moist.

Finally, I asked the kids if there were anything else seeds needed to grow beside soil and water.  A quickly shouted out, “the sun!” So, we carefully carried the egg heads to a sunny window.

I made simple egg holders to help them stand upright from 1/2 x 5-inch strips of card stock taped into a ring shape.  Our planting activity was complete!  Now all we had to do was wait.

I asked the kids to predict which seeds would sprout first.

Every morning they ran out to see whose egg head sprouted first and we were all amazed to see what the seeds actually looked like when they really started growing.

It took about 3 days to first see some growth and a week to get some really funny looking sprout hair on our egg heads.  We all giggled at the crazy-looking ones.

It’s been two weeks since our planting activity and the sprouts are getting a little too big for the eggshells. Despite resistance from some very attached kiddos, we are planning on transplanting them in a larger container to see what they look like as they grow bigger.  We’ll just have to see what we have in the pantry to sprout next.

Happy Planting!

More Science Experiments You’ll Love

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Egg Head Planting Activity appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

I grabbed a Ziploc sandwich bag from our pantry and used a black Sharpie to draw a sun, cloud and water.

Then, I filled a small measuring cup with 1/4 cup of water and pulled out our blue food coloring.

Water Cycle in a Bag

Big Brother carefully unscrewed the lid to the food coloring and squeezed four big drops into the water.

Then, Middle Brother slowly poured the now blue water into the Ziploc while Big Brother held it open for him.

Big Brother ran his fingers along the seal several times to make sure it was closed tight and then passed the bag over to me so that I could give it a double check.

When I was certain that it wouldn’t leak, we used tape to hang the bag on the window and then sat back and watched it work.

The Science Behind It

Since the Earth has a limited amount of water, it has to change around and around in something called the water cycle.

Over the next few days, the boys saw the water warm in the sunlight and evaporate into vapor.

As that vapor cooled, it began changing back into liquid (condensed) just like a cloud.

And when enough water condensed, the air couldn’t hold it anymore and the water fell down in the form of precipitation.

In the real water cycle, rain, sleet or snow might land in a body of water like a river or ocean. But it also might fall on dirt where it soaks into the soil and either becomes ground water that animals and plants drink or it runs over the soil and falls into rivers, oceans or lakes {aka collection}.

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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Adults accept and understand that air exists, sure, but children are different. Young children need to see and to feel the concrete. Explaining that air exists is an abstract idea since we can’t actually see it. We know that it exists and takes up space. So how do we show that to young kids?

There are many kid-friendly science experiments that show air does exist even though we can’t see it but this hands-on demonstration is sure to be a hit.  Check out our 30 Science Experiments for kids that’s sure to be a hit!

Getting Ready

First, I collected our supplies:

1. Paper towel
2. Glass
3. Water
4. Bowl
5. Food coloring or liquid water color (optional)

Learning About Air

To start, we filled a bowl 3/4 with water. (You can use a small pitcher to get your child involved in the pouring.) Then, I had my child crumple the paper towel and place it into the bottom of the glass so that it wouldn’t fall out when we tipped it upside down.

We placed a few drops of food coloring into the bowl so that when air escaped the cup later and water took its place, we’d be able to easily see it as the food coloring soaked the paper towel.

It was time to learn about air!  I asked my son what he thought would happen when we pushed the glass into the water.  Then, we turned the glass upside down and pushed it into the water.

As we pulled the cup from the water and the paper towel from the glass, I asked, “What do you notice about the paper towel?”

“It’s dry,” he replied.

I followed up, “How did the paper towel remain dry?”

“The air takes up space,” he replied proudly.  He was learning about air!

We ended by tipping the glass a bit and watching as the water entered the glass and the air bubbled to the top. The colored water quickly absorbed into the paper towel.

Further Learning

• Talk about how air is made of a mixture of gases. This mixture blankets the Earth 400 miles high making our “atmosphere.” Air actually protects Earth by absorbing radiation and reducing heat differences between night and day.

• Introduce the topic of “air pollution” to children.

• Explain that all living things need air. Animals take in air, use the oxygen and then release another gas called carbon dioxide.

• Feel the wind and observe trees moving as examples of being able to feel air while not seeing it.

• Blow bubbles and balloons as examples of air taking up space.

More Fun

Can’t get enough of kids’ science?! Check out our 30 Science Experiments that kids will beg to repeat!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To grow seeds, I gathered together a few simple supplies:

• Several tall, clear plastic containers I could find (make sure it has a lid if you have a toddler.)
• Paper towels
• Cotton balls
• Glue
• Spray bottle with water
• Seeds

Growing Seeds

It took me a matter of minutes to prep for this activity.  I grabbed a couple of old take-out containers with lids and several packets of leftover seeds and called my 1.5 and 4.5 year-olds over.

I asked each child to pick the 3 seeds they wanted to plant in their container and then helped lay them out so they could observe them.  We talked about the different sizes, shapes, colors and even texture of the seeds.  My 4 year-old, A, loved showing her little brother which seeds grow foods we eat (pumpkin, green beans, corn, and peas) and which seeds grow leaves or roots we eat (cilantro and carrots).

Of course my son, Q, instantly tried to eat the green bean seeds – thus the need for finding a container with a lid if you’re doing this with toddlers!

Next, I folded a paper towel in half and placed 3 dots of glue (one for each type of seed) a couple inches from the bottom of the paper towel.  The kids then glued a seed (or two) on each one of the glue dots to prevent the seeds from falling to the bottom of the container.

After allowing the glue to dry a little, I placed their paper towels in the plastic containers.  The kids thoroughly misted the paper towel and added moistened cotton balls to help hold the paper towel in place.

Finally, we snapped on the lid and labeled the seeds and the planting date.  It was time for growing seeds! I knew I wanted this to be toddler-friendly, so I chose a plastic containers instead of a crystal clear glass one.  I also wanted to prevent Q’s curious little hands from pulling out the seeds, so we put lids on them.

The kids ended up carrying around the containers to watch the seeds, so I’m glad I made the containers kid-safe.

A and Q were delighted when the first seeds sprouted a few days later.  The green beans, peas and corn sprouted first.  Followed a few days later by the pumpkin, cilantro and carrots.  They were amazed that the beans, pea and corn seedlings grew so fast and we were all shocked to see corn had bright red roots.

After 2 weeks, the bean, pea and corn seedlings became too tall for the container and we removed the lids.  A continued to check and mist the seedlings every morning.   One day, she was commenting on the “tons of hairy roots” when she noticed some small black dots on the pea seed.  She asked what they were and was saddened when I told her  the pea seedling had begun to grow mold.

A few days later, A decided the plants needed soil.  This wasn’t part of my plan but since we used a plastic container it was easy to do.  I simply poked several drainage holes in the bottom with a nail and we gently removed the paper towel and cotton balls before adding soil. Now we are just waiting until the weather is warm enough to plant the seedlings outside – although I’m not sure we’ll be able to untangle all those roots!

More Science Kids Will Love

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Kids’ Science – Growing Seeds! appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

To find the answer, just walk on eggs. Like our Rainbow Jar activity, it’s a perfect kids science experiment for spring – or anytime!

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

The prep for this activity just takes a few minutes. First, I gathered together my supplies:

• • 4-8 dozen eggs (I bought 5 dozen for less than $9.00, the more the better!)
  • Plastic garbage bags or plastic sheeting (to protect the floor)
  • Towel (to wipe any gooey feet before my daughter ran off the plastic mat.)
  • Socks (optional, but it really helped prevent the eggs from sticking to my daughter’s sticky feet.)
  • A camera (I definitely wanted to take a few shots of my child’s egg-static face!)

I used an oil cloth tablecloth to protect the floors from any potential mishaps and with my fidgety four year-old, I was expecting epic proportions of scrambled eggs.

Next, I inspected the eggs for any cracks and placed them all with the pointy side down.  I wanted to make sure they were all facing the same direction to make a level walking surface.   I thought the rounder side up would be slightly more comfortable for walking.

Finally, I laid the two flats of eggs I bought at the local grocery store side-by-side to make a little egg runway.  (You could also use individual cartons – just place them in two rows  with the lids facing away from the middle.)

Although the set up for this simple kids’ science activity only took 5 minutes, it seemed like f-o-r-e-v-e-r for my very eager daughter.

Kids’ Science: Walking on Eggs

Before letting A walk on the eggs, I explained how eggs work.  I asked her what she thought would happen if she squeezed an egg.  “It would crack all over the place,” she replied.  I had her hold a raw egg and give it a good hard squeeze.  She was pretty surprised when it didn’t break.

Then, I had her knock the egg against the edge of a bowl and just as it has every time we baked together, it cracked.  “Why do you think that happened?  What was the difference between the bowl and your hand?” I asked A.

“My hand is soft and the bowl is hard,” she said.

“True,” I replied.  Then, I explained that her hand squeezed the egg evenly over the shell and the shell was able to withstand the pressure of the force.  The bowl hit just one part of the shell and the force wasn’t spread out, causing it to break.  When a hen sits on her eggs, she applies an even pressure (like her hand did) but when a chick pecks its way out, it applies force to a small part of the egg with its hard beak (just like the bowl).

“Now, what do you think will happen if you stand on the eggs?” I asked A.

“They will crack,” she replied, nodding her head knowingly.

“What if you stand with flat feet and apply even pressure like a hen?” I questioned.  A just laughed and asked if she could stand on them now.  She couldn’t take the suspense any longer!

As her dad helped her up, I reminded her to keep her feet flat and not dig her heels down.  She gingerly placed one foot on the eggs and then the other. She carefully stood balanced on the eggs with the biggest “I can’t believe this” grin on her face.

“Can I walk now?” she asked.  Finally, the years of gymnastics lessons paid off as she slowly but easily walked down the egg runway.  She hopped off the end, stepped right back up and walked up and down the eggs again – laughing the whole time.  There were creaking sounds coming from the egg carton, but it was nothing to worry about.  (It did make the whole thing a little more suspenseful though!)

A was so excited, she couldn’t wait to share this amazing feat with the girls next door, who had heard we were going to walk on eggs and couldn’t wait to try the kids’ science experiment themselves.  Everyone who tried it, even A’s dad, had a blast walking back and forth on the eggs.  And we only had one casualty! It happened when A got overly excited to show off and hit an egg with her heel. Oh well.

The Science Behind It

After putting the eggs in a safe spot, A and I sat down to talk about the science behind the experiment. Eggs have a dome or three-dimensional arch shape.  The arch evenly distributes the pressure, making the egg strong despite its thinness.  We  looked at pictures of arches and domes in buildings and bridges on the computer to show how people copied the eggs little secret weapon for strength.  Now when we drive through the city, she likes to point out the arches where ever she can find them – in doorways, bridges, even the Seahawks’ Stadium!

More Super Cool Science

Grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

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For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep science journal to keep track of results) in our shop!

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Getting Ready

To prep, Middle Brother (age 4.5) helped me gather our supplies:

• Life cycle coloring sheet (below)
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Stapler
• 3 inches wide x 24 inches long strip of green construction paper (To make ours, I stapled together the ends of two 3 x 12 strips to make it just the right length.)

Butterfly Life Cycle Hats

Once we had everything ready to go, Middle Brother began coloring each stage of the butterfly’s life: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly.

Then, I helped him carefully cut around each picture and its corresponding label.

We recently read the National Geographic easy reader “Caterpillar to Butterfly”, so Middle Brother was able to arrange the butterfly life cycle stages in order pretty quickly.

After I quickly checked his sequence, he began gluing the pictures and labels onto the green construction paper.

Then, I stapled the two ends of the hat together in a circle to make the brim of his hat.

He couldn’t wait another second to put it on his head!

Grab Your Hat

Ready to get your craft on too?! Click the blue button below to download your butterfly life cycle hat. 

More Inspiring Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Butterfly Life Cycle Hats appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Get inspired below and then grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

These Frozen-inspired science experiments are perfect for a winter unit, science fair project or afternoon experiment. As Elsa summed up so perfectly, “Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway!”

Let’s take a look at some amazing frozen science experiments!

Use baking soda and vinegar to pour ice that’s hot to the touch!

Combine art and science with some simple watercolor ice melting. // The Artful Parent

Make alphabet letters that look like they’re covered in frost.

Whip up everyone’s favorite frozen treat: ice cream in a bag!

Make a batch of fizzy ice. // Toddler Approved

Head outside and build a snow volcano that really erupts. // Science-Sparks

Melt frozen hands that are just like Elsa’s. // Happy Hooligans

Catch frozen bubbles. // Housing a Forest

Experiment with ice and watercolor paints. // Teaching 2 and 3 Year-Olds

Make ice that sticks! 

Free Elsa from a block of ice. // No Time for Flashcards

Discover how arctic animals (and the loyal reindeer, Sven) stay warm when it’s freezing. // I Can Teach My Child

Test what will freeze first. // No Time for Flashcards

Measure the warmth brought by a mitten. // Classroom Magic

Learn about density by asking whether objects will freeze on top or down below. // PBS.org

Make some fizzing melting ice castles. // Little Bins for Little Hands

Discover what type of molecules move faster: hot or cold. // Planet Smarty Pants

Blow some frozen bubbles. // Fireflies and Mud Pies

Grow snowflakes! // Paging Fun Mums

And finally, make a snowstorm in a jar. // Growing a Jeweled Rose

We hope you enjoy these frozen science experiments as much as we did!

Kid-Friendly Science Experiments

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Frozen Science Experiments appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

First, I grabbed a bag of gummy worms and a few common household items:

• Gummy worms
• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• 2 clear cups

Then, I cut the gummy worms in quarters.  (I found it easier to do with a wet knife or one dusted with baking soda to prevent the worm from sticking to the knife.)

Next, I had my 4 year-old, A, measure out 3 tablespoons of baking soda and stir them into a glass filled with 1 cup of warm water.  I handed her the pile of cut worms (we cut 3 worms in 12 pieces) and had her mix them into the baking soda and water concoction.

Now came the hard part.  A had to wait a whole 15 minutes for the worms to soak in the baking soda mixture.

While we waited, we filled the second clear glass with vinegar.

As soon as the timer buzzed, A ran to the worms and very carefully fished them out with a fork.

We started by placing just a couple worms in the vinegar and they instantly started forming bubbles.

After a few seconds, the worms were covered in enough bubbles that they started rising from the bottom, writhing their way to the surface.

After several minutes, A wanted to add more – even though the first worms were still dancing about.

It turns out the extra worms just sat on the bottom, too weighted down by the other worms to rise.

So, in this kids’ science experiment, less is actually more, with about 4 worms being the best.

A, delighted she could make gummy worms come to life, couldn’t wait to show her little brother.  He really thought they were alive and stared at them trying to figure out how we did it, then refusing to eat any of the remaining worms from the bag.  Quick and simple with lots of “oohs” and “aahs”, this kids’ science experiment is sweet in more ways than one!

The Science Behind It

When you add the worms soaked in baking soda, the acetic acid in the vinegar reacts with the bicarbonate in the baking soda.

And when an acid and base react, carbon dioxide gas bubbles form.

These gas bubbles form on the gummy worm and as the gas bubbles rise to the surface, they pull the gummy worm up with them, making them wriggle and dance.

As the gas bubbles burst, the worm falls back down until enough bubbles form to pull it back up.

The bubbles will continue to form until all the baking soda on the worm is used up and the worm will stop wiggling.

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Dancing Frankenworms Kids’ Science Experiment appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments (including a no prep science journal to keep track of results) in our shop!

Getting Started

To prep for this activity, I gathered a few supplies that can be found in the pantry or most grocery stores:

• Clear bottle, jar or glass (tall and narrow works best)
• Corn syrup
• Milk
• Dish soap (we picked a lavender color)
• Water
• Baby oil
• Rubbing alcohol
• Food coloring (red, pink, purple)
• Measuring cup
• Squirt bottle, syringe or baster

Valentine’s Day Science Activity: Layered Love Potion

I called over my 3 year-old, Q, and  told him we’d be making love potion by adding a little bit of each liquid into a glass bottle.  Q loves mixing up different “potions”, so he couldn’t wait to start.

First, I had him pour a little corn syrup into a liquid measuring cup.   The amount that you’ll need will depend on the size of your container.  He dyed it red with just a few drops of food coloring.

While he was mixing the dye and watching it swirl, he commented that the corn syrup was thick.

What’s a Valentine’s Day science activity without a little lesson?  “It is thick,” I replied.  “We call that viscous.”  I gave him a funnel and he poured the red corn syrup into the bottle.

For the second layer, I grabbed a squirt bottle and added about a half cup of whole milk.   Q then dyed it purple with a drop or two of food color, screwed on the lid, and swirled it to mix the color through.

I showed Q how to slowly squirt the milk onto the side of the potion bottle so that the layers wouldn’t mix.   I haven’t tried making layered Love Potion with non-fat milk, but I imagine the layers might not be as well defined since skim milk isn’t as dense as whole milk.

The key to keeping your layers separate is to pour your liquids very slowly.  You can also use a syringe or baster if you don’t have a squirt bottle.  I’ve even had success just tilting the glass bottle slightly to the side and slowly pouring down the inside of the glass.  Whatever way you choose, pour slow!

For the next layer, I helped Q tilt the bottle and squirt in about an inch layer of lavender colored liquid dish soap.  It was fairly easy to control the flow directly from the bottle.  By this point, our Love Potion was looking lovely!  The Valentine’s Day science activity was really coming together.

After the dish soap came plain old water.  Q decided he wanted the water to be red, so after rinsing the milk out of the squirt bottle, we added a little water and a few drops of food coloring.  Again, he slowly poured the water down the inside of the bottle.

The next to last layer, the baby oil, is the easiest to pour since it won’t mix with water or water-based liquids no matter how quickly you pour.  You’ll still want to take this one fairly slowly since any movement from the pouring could cause the red water layer and the lavender soap layer to mix.

For the final layer,  I poured about 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol into the squirt bottle and Q added a drop of pink food coloring.  After swishing the alcohol around to stir in the color, he topped off his love potion and added the cap.

For a little extra fun, you could add a sprinkling of glitter.  Take a guess at which layer it will settle in!

The Science Behind It

Density

The best part of this Valentine’s Day science activity is what you learn while creating it!  After finishing, Q commented that the layers weren’t mixing, and he was pretty confused.  I asked him to recall how his observation about how “thick” the corn syrup was.  I explained that the thick corn syrup was really dense, meaning that if we had the same amount  (volume) of each of the liquids, the corn syrup would weigh the most.  In other words, it would have the most mass.

The liquid with the most mass per volume has the highest density.  This dense liquid stays at the bottom while the least dense alcohol stays at the top. All liquids stay separate because they have slightly different densities.

Now, if you stirred the liquids together, with the exception of the oil, they would eventually become one mixed solution. But since we poured each layer slowly, each liquid remained in a separate layer.

Polarity of Water

The oil layer will eventually separate out again because of the chemical structure of oil versus water.  This is due to the polarity of water molecules.

Polarity means a molecule has a positive charge at one end and a negative charge at the other, kind of like a magnet.  Water is a polar molecule and, like a magnet, the positive and negative ends of water molecules are attracted to each other.

Oil molecules are nonpolar and only have a shell of negative charges.

Only other polar molecules can dissolve in water because polar molecules dissolve only in polar solvents  and nonpolar molecules dissolve only in non-polar solvents.  And so, nonpolar oil will not dissolve or mix into polar water.

More Jaw-Dropping Science Experiments for Kids

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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Getting Ready

The prep for this Sharpie tie-dye activity couldn’t be easier.  I grabbed a couple pre-washed white cotton t-shirts, Sharpies in several colors, an eye dropper and squirt bottle of isopropyl rubbing alcohol. I also used a flexible cutting board (thick cardboard works well, too) to place inside the shirt to keep the marker from bleeding through to the back of the shirt.

Sharpie Tie-Dye Magic

Before starting, I asked my daughter, A,  to think of what design she wanted before picking up a Sharpie.  She decided she wanted a firework and seemed pretty determined to complete her design completely on her own. I did show her how to hold the marker down on the shirt and count to three to make a larger size dot.  The larger the dot, the more vibrant the color after the alcohol is added.

Once my daughter completed her design, I showed her how to use alcohol as a solvent to dissolve and spread the dye.  For smaller designs, she dripped a few drops of alcohol on the design using an eye dropper and watched the color slowly bleed. For the larger fireworks, A wanted a lot of spread, so she used the squirt bottle to add a little more alcohol.

She didn’t mind if her firework bled together, but if you do, wait about 15 minutes until the first design is mostly dry before adding alcohol to the next design.

Once done, my daughter couldn’t wait to design the next Sharpie tie-dye shirt.  We placed the first t-shirt outside to dry.  With permanent marker and alcohol, this activity can get a little smelly so if you can’t do it outside, make sure you have good ventilation.

For the second shirt, A wanted a heart design.  I helped her by making a light heart shape with pencil on the shirt and reminded her to count to three to get large dots of color.  A loved squirting on the alcohol solvent and watching it dissolve the colors across the t-shirt.  I had to remind her that if she too much alcohol, her colors wouldn’t be bright.

Once both shirts were dry (about 15 minutes) I popped them in the dryer on high for 10-15 minutes and they were ready to wear.  The hot dryer set the colors, but I still washed ours separately on delicate for the first few washes.

The Science Behind It

Sharpie tie-dye isn’t magic without a little science!  A solvent is any substance that dissolves a solute.  A solute is any substance, gas liquid, or solid, that is dissolved by a solvent.

Permanent markers, like Sharpies, are hydrophobic.  Hydrophobic, or “water-fearing”, substances that will not dissolve in water.  That’s why permanent markers won’t wash away with water.

The ink molecules in the Sharpies, however, are soluble {they will dissolve} in a different solvent.  The solvent {rubbing alcohol} you dropped over the dye dissolved the ink molecules and carried them with it as it spread across the t-shirt.

Extensions with Sharpie Tie-Dye

Experiment in the kitchen by trying to dissolve salt in oil and water.

Try dissolving lip balm or wax in water and oil (You’ll need to warm this.)

Try dropping a few drops of food coloring in water and oil to watch if and how it dissolves.

Add the same amount of salt to water and alcohol and observe the differences in solubility.

The Super Cool Science Kit

For even more fun, check out our mega pack of insanely cool science experiments for kids. Turn an egg to rubber, whip up a tornado in a jar, separate the colors of M&M’s and much, much more!

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For more STEM fun, check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop!

Getting Ready

Prep for this thaumatrope activity was sweet and simple.  All you need to make these STEM toys are cardstock, rubber bands or wooden skewers, glue, a hole punch and markers.

Before making the thaumatropes, I had my 6 year-old think of a few simple Valentine’s messages she wanted to put on her card (hearts, Valentine’s Day jokes, etc.).

Then she grabbed two pieces of cardstock and on one piece drew a large heart.  On the second piece, I helped her figure out where she could write her message so that when the thaumatrope spun, her words would appear inside the heart.

Aligning the two images really is the trickiest part of this thaumatrope activity.  I drew lines with pencil very lightly on the cardstock so she could write her message on it and then erase the pencil marks.

Making the Thaumatropes

Once she had both sides complete, we simply glued the two sides together and punched a hole at top and bottom of the thaumatrope.  I wove a rubber band through the holes and we were ready to see her Valentine creation in action.

We’ve made thaumatropes in the past using a wooden skewer sandwiched between 2 layers of cardstock, but for my 5 year-old, they were a little difficult to spin quickly enough to get the magical moving picture effect.

This time around, we used rubber bands and all my kiddo had to do was hold the ends and let the twisted rubber bands do all the spinning.  Even though the wooden skewers make super cute thaumatropes, I’d recommend using rubber bands or string for children younger than 8.

I had my daughter hold both ends of the rubber bands while I twisted the thaumatrope.  Once the rubber bands were twisted enough, all that was left to do was stand back and let the thaumatrope spin.  My kiddo was all smiles when she saw her message magically appear inside the heart.  Once she got the idea down, she couldn’t wait to make more optical illusions for all of her friends.  This thaumatrope activity was a huge hit!

The Science Behind It

A thaumatrope is a simple optical illusion toy that was popular in the 19th century.  It is simply a piece of strong paper with a image drawn on both sides and attached to a stick or two pieces of string as a means to spin it.  When spun, the two images appear to merge or blend due to the persistence of vision.

Persistence of vision refers to the optical illusion whereby multiple discrete images are perceived as a single image in the brain.  The retina in your eye sends visual information to your brain but the image produced by the retina lingers for 1/10 to 1/20th of a second.  The traumatrope tricks your brain by switching images faster than 1/10th of a second.  The first image is still lingering on the retina when the second image is seen, thus the two images blend and are seen as one.  This is called “the principle of the persistence of vision.”

The thaumatrope was just one of many optical illusion toys popular in the 1800s.  It is also credited with being the first cinematographic device and inspired the creation of moving pictures.  Just like the thaumatropes we made, movies and cartoons use the persistence of vision to make flashing pictures appear to move.

More Awesome Science for Kids

Looking for an easy way to boost critical thinking and problem-solving in your classroom? These free LEGO Challenge Cards are perfect for engaging students in hands-on STEM exploration!

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Getting Ready

Oh how I love simple activities – and this one delivers.  I quickly grabbed a piece of string and three bowls.  Next, I filled one bowl with a little water, one with ice and one with salt.  Then, we were ready to make some ice experiment magic!

Ice Science Experiment

I called my 5 year-old over and asked her is she could lift a piece of ice from a bowl of water using only the string.  I could tell she thought I must be up to something as she giggled and shrugged.  I had her place a few ice cubes in the water and handed her the string.  She placed it in the bowl and tried to lasso a cube without success.

Next I passed her the bowl of magic powder salt and asked her what she thought would happen if she sprinkled it on the ice.  Having recently used salt to make homemade ice cream, A told me it would melt the ice.  “Let’s see,” I replied.  A sprinkled on the salt and it indeed melted the ice.

Next, I had A place the string on the ice and sprinkle salt over the string.  Now came the hard part, waiting!  We counted together to help pass the time.

“…58, 59, 60!”  A carefully lifted the string with the utmost concentration and – voila!

I think her face says it all!  She was so intrigued we repeated the magical ice science experiment 4 more times.  While we waited during the other experiments, I explained to A what was happening we talked about other ways people use salt to melt ice (ice on roads, making ice cream), and whether the size of the salt would have an effect on the ice.

The Science Behind Sticky Ice

The salt sprinkled on the ice causes it to start melting, just as salt added to icy roads does in winter.  Water freezes at 32 degrees F (0 degrees Celsius) but when salt touches the ice, it lowers the freezing point to much lower than that.  In order for the ice to melt, however, it has to absorb heat.  The heat that it absorbs comes from what’s around it, which in this case was the water near the ice cube.  Some of this water becomes so cold that it refreezes and the string becomes trapped.  The string is now stuck and you can lift the cube out of the water.

Extensions

• Try using different sized salt {rock salt, epsom, and table salt} to see if has an effect on the time it take the water to refreeze around the string.
• Try using a different type of salt {sodium bicarbonate aka baking soda} to see if it is as effective as table salt {sodium chloride}
• Set up a control bowl of just ice and water as well as the salty ice water, use a thermometer or simply your finger to see if the addition of salt lowers the overall water temperature.
• Use salt and ice to make homemade ice cream.

P.S.

Be sure you check out our awesome 30 Science Experiments just for kids!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

This project requires quite a few supplies, but most of them are probably things you already have in your pantry.

To get ready for the science activity, I grabbed my materials:

• A tall, see-through container (I used a clean mason jar.)
• Honey
• Light corn syrup
• Dish soap (either blue like Dawn or green like Palmolive)
• Olive oil
• Rubbing alcohol
• Water
• Food coloring
• A dropper

I also grabbed two identical containers and some marbles so that I could give my son a brief explanation about density.

The Science Behind It

As always, my son was really excited when I told him we were going to do some kids’ science with a rainbow jar! Before we jumped into the project though, I wanted him to understand what was about to happen, so I decided to introduce him to the concept of density first.

I explained that different liquids have different weights.

“Everything is made up of teeny tiny things called molecules,” I said.  “Some of these liquids have a lot of molecules in them and some of them have only a few.”

I showed him two containers that were the same size.  One had a bunch of marbles in it, one only had six.

I had my son hold the two containers and asked him which one was heavier.

“The one with more marbles,” he said.   I explained that it was the same with our liquids — the ones with more “marbles” (molecules) were heavier and would stay at the bottom of the jar.

Pour a Rainbow in a Jar

Now it was time to make our rainbow jar!  First, my son poured in the honey, being sure to pour it into the middle of our container. He was careful not to let it touch the sides.

Next, he poured in the corn syrup. (We’d colored it purple using the food coloring.) Again, my son poured it into the middle of the container, not touching the sides.

The dish soap came next.

We poured in regular water that we colored blue. (If you’re using blue dish soap, obviously color your water something different. Again, in the middle, in the middle!)

The olive oil went in the rainbow jar next. Do you know what I’m going to say? That’s right, we poured it in the middle! Also, I recommend pouring a fairly thick layer of oil – it will come in handy for the next step.

This is where the dropper comes in.  If you pour the alcohol straight in, it’ll probably pick up the blue food coloring you used in the water and your rainbow will be ruined.

We found the best way to add it was by dropping the alcohol along the side of the container using a dropper.  The key was not “breaking through” the oil layer into the blue water layer beneath it – that’s why I suggested putting a thick layer of oil.

Our rainbow was done!  We held it up carefully to the light, making sure not to shake it, and admired our beautiful creation.

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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Grab more than 150+ motivating STEM challenges in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.  And to keep the fun going, check out our 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep journal to keep track of results) in our shop!

Simple STEM Supplies

I swear I’m not a hoarder but I DO collect empty paper towel rolls and toilet paper tubes…

In fact, I have a whole DRAWER of them.

When you think of STEM supplies, cardboard tubes probably AREN’T the first thing to pop into your mind. Most people picture fancier tools like special-order science supplies and expensive engineering kits.

But for kids – especially YOUNG kids – we actually have most of the supplies we need already!

We can use simple box of toothpicks and playdough to create 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes.

(The STEM challenge is a simple but powerful way to help kids learn about vertices, edges, faces and other geometry terms.)

Or pull out LEGOS and challenge students to create replicas of famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Egyptian Pyramids…

STEM isn’t about being fancy – it’s about learning how to make predictions, problem solve, build and refine. It’s about the PROCESS, not the product.

And that means that we can hoard collect as many toilet paper tubes as our drawers will fit. #KiddingNotKidding

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–> Solve craft stick puzzles,

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–> Solve weight and length challenges,

–> Complete dozens of holiday and seasonal STEM challenges….

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150+ STEM Challenges

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Pull out common classroom supplies like counting bears and crayons to learn about nonstandard weight.

Challenge kids’ logic and reasoning with a batch of craft stick puzzles.

Use geoboards to build engineering skills including counting, scaling, and geometry.

You can even add STEM into your holiday celebrations!

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Getting Ready

There are two versions of the cards – one focusing on 2-dimensional shapes and a second set working on 3-dimensional shapes.

Since I was prepping the activity for Big Brother (age 6.5) and Middle Brother (age 5), I printed both sets and made copies of the follow up record sheets.

I cut along the faint grey lines to separate the challenge cards and then laminated them to make the set reusable.

We’re notorious for losing pieces, so I punched a hole in the lefth-and corner of each card and bound them together with a ring.

Then, I grabbed a box of toothpicks, some playdough and a dry erase marker. We were ready to build the toothpick STEM structures!

Building Toothpick STEM Structures

I introduced the activity by giving the boys the red and white striped 2-dimensional cards so they could gain confidence and get a solid grasp of the activity.

They used the toothpicks and playdough to build each shape.

Then they counted the number of sides and vertices and wrote the number of each in the blank boxes.

It took quite awhile to build all fourteen 2D shapes but, when they did, I pointed out the alphabet letters in the upper left-hand corner of each card and showed them how to transfer their answers onto their record sheets.

The next day, the boys were eager to take the challenge one step further! I handed over the cards again and had them flip to the 3-dimensional shapes.  These were going to be even bigger toothpick STEM structures!

They were thrilled with the challenge of building unusual cubes, pyramids and prisms!

Just like before, they labeled the number of edges and vertices for each shape and then transferred their answers to the record sheet when they were finished.

Grab Your Set

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then snag 30 more science experiments kids will beg to repeat in our shop!

Getting Ready

While my daughter rooted through her trick-or-treat bag for some Skittles, I quickly grabbed a few additional supplies:

• 5 small glasses
• a glass of hot water (hot but not scalding)
• a tablespoon
• A pipet or syringe

Skittles Science Experiment

When she returned with the Skittles, I had her begin by measuring out 2 tablespoons of hot water into each of the 5 glasses.

Next, I opened the Skittles and explained that each glass would have different color Skittles in them, but not the same number of Skittles in each glass. We chose to use:

• 2 red
• 4 orange
• 6 yellow
• 8 green
• 10 purple

My daughter counted out the correct number for each color and placed them in the glasses of hot water.

NOTE: The hot water helps dissolve the Skittles quickly.  If you notice that the candies aren’t dissolving after stirring the candies, try microwaving the glass for 30 seconds to reheat the water.

Once the candy dissolved, we let the water cool to room temperature.  Cool water is more dense than warm water and we wanted all our glasses to be the same temperature.

While the liquids cooled, I asked my daughter some questions about this Skittles science experiment:

What color she thought had the most sugar in it?  She instantly pointed to the glass with the purple Skittles.

What color was the most dense? (Which one had the most sugar molecules in it?) Again, she pointed to the purple.

I  had her put the colors in order from most dense (purple) to least dense (red).

Next, I asked my daughter if she thought the most dense or least dense solution should go on the bottom of the rainbow jar.

“The purple goes on the bottom because the most dense sinks to the bottom,” she replied.  So I passed her a clean baby food jar and a pipet and she carefully transferred the purple sugar water to the jar.

I took over adding the remaining layers starting with green, then yellow, then orange and ending with red.

My daughter’s pipette worked really well to slowly dribble the colored water down the side of the glass. If you try pouring the different colors in, they will mix leaving you with a jar of muddy brown sugar water. If you don’t have a pipette, you can use a syringe and slowly dribble the sugar water down the inside of the jar.

Even with using a pipette and adding the liquid slowly, we could still see the less dense layer move down into the lower layer and then rise back up again.  My daughter liked to sit and watch the less dense layer “pop” back up to its own color.

Once all the layers were added, we placed the jar in the window and admired the colors as the sun shone through them.  I asked if she thought the colors would stay separate forever.

“No,” she said, “they will all mix together.”  She was right!  After a few days, the Skittles science experiment rainbow looked like a muddy puddle.

Much like real rainbows, the Skittles rainbow should be admired while you have the chance!

The Science Behind It

Each glass had the same amount of water but a different amount of sugar (Skittles) so the solution layers from least dense (the red water that had only two Skittles) to most dense (the purple water that contained ten Skittles).

Find More

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

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Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the simple kids’ science experiment, I invited my five year-old to play with a candy cane for a few minutes.

We talked about what it felt like (hard, smooth), what it looked like (red, white, curvy) and what happened when we tried to bend it (the candy cracked).

Disappearing Candy Cane Stripes

Next, we made predictions about what would happen when we placed it in a simple bowl of warm water!

I grabbed a new candy cane and handed it to my son.

We walked over to the sink and turned it to hot.

After waiting for it to warm up enough, we filled a small bowl with water.

We dropped the candy cane into the bowl and watched to see what would happen next.

After just a few seconds, we noticed small red clouds forming around the candy cane.

Those clouds grew and grew over the next minute, melting away the stripes.

Once all of the stripes disappeared, we pulled the now white candy cane out of the water and placed it next to some fresh ones.

Pretty cool, huh?!

My son and I talked about the predictions we made at the beginning – comparing them to the actual results – an important step in helping kids learn the scientific process.  Then, we grabbed another cane and started all over again!

The Science Behind It

Candy canes are made with sugar. When sugar is placed in water, it dissolves – changing from a solid to a liquid.

30 More Inspiring Science Experiments for Kids

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Getting Ready to Grow Crystals

The hardest part of growing crystals, besides waiting, is finding the key ingredient, Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing. (Other brands won’t work for this demo.)

Bluing is a laundry additive used to brighten whites and sometimes can be found in the laundry section of the grocery store.  I avoided the frustration of hunting it down and simply ordered it from Amazon here.

Once my bluing arrived, I gathered my materials:

• Cardboard (the back of a paper pad works best)
• Dish (large enough to hold your tree, with room for the crystal to grow)
• Water
• Table salt
• Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing
• Ammonia (optional, but speeds up evaporation)
• Green food coloring (optional)

(The first time we tried this, I just eyeballed how big I wanted the tree to be.  It ended up being 6 inches wide at the base and 8 inches tall. I later learned that a tree this height is way too tall for growing crystals.)

After I cut out the triangles, I cut out the branches and used the first tree to trace the branches on the second tree.

Making the Magic Crystal Solution

• 4 tablespoons warm water
• 4 tablespoons table salt
• 4 tablespoons Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing
• 2 tablespoons ammonia

Several days later, the trees were covered in delicate needle-like crystals.  My daughter thought they looked a lot like cauliflower.

My kiddos were so curious what the growing crystals felt like and since the white tree was getting pretty droopy, I let them go for it.

The Science Behind It

The solution we mixed up created a suspension, a mixture that has solid particles that are large enough for sedimentation (settling out).  Our solid particles settled out on the cardboard tree due to a couple of processes.

First, the liquid suspension is drawn up the cardboard tree through a process called capillary action.  Capillary action is the ability of a liquid to defy gravity and flow upwards.

In narrow areas, the combination of surface tension of water and the adhesive forces between the container and the liquid help to lift the liquid.  This effect can be seen when a plant like celery draws up colored water through its capillaries, when paint is drawn up between the bristles of a paint brush and when porous materials like cardboard draw up water.

The next process is evaporation, where liquid molecules escape from the solution as gas molecules.

Ammonia evaporates much quicker than water and we added it to the solution to speed up the evaporation process.  Once the solution travelled up the cardboard and evaporated, the next process could occur.

The final process, crystallization, occurred as the water and ammonia molecules leave the solution through evaporation.  The bluing and salt that remain can no longer be supported in the remaining solution and begin to crystalize.

Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing is a colloidal suspension of extremely minute particles of blue powder (Ferric Hexacyanoferrate).  These minute particles act as nuclei, or seeds, for crystallization to take place.  This is similar to the process that occurs in cloud formation.

The Super Cool Science Kit

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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The prep is quick and simple but the results are pure magic! Your kids are going to want to repeat this science experiment over and over again.

Grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the science experiment, I gathered a few common supplies:

• 4 cups of white vinegar (acetic acid)
• 4 tablespoons of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
• A pot
• A glass measuring cup or mason jar (make sure it’s heat safe glass)
• A dish
• A spoon

Making Hot Ice

After I collected the supplies, my kids measured 4 cups of vinegar and poured it into a medium-sized pot.

Then they took turns adding 4 tablespoons of baking soda (one tablespoon at a time) to the pot.

The sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and acetic acid (vinegar) fizzed like crazy forming sodium acetate.

NOTE: The key is to add the baking soda slowly so it doesn’t erupt over the edges of your pot.

Next, we stirred the mixture until all the baking soda dissolved and stopped fizzing.

Then we slowly boiled the solution over medium-low heat for a little over an hour to remove the extra water.

The solution reduced by about 75% so there was just 3/4 cup remaining. I could see white powdery crystals forming on the sides of the pot near the top of the solution when the solution.

NOTE: If you boil your solution at a higher temperature it may turn yellow-brownish but don’t worry, the experiment will still work!

Next, I poured the concentrated sodium acetate into a glass pyrex measuring cup and placed it in the fridge to cool and scraped a little bit of the dried sodium acetate powder off the inside of the pot to use later.

After about 30-45 minutes, the solution was cool enough to turn into ice.

I grabbed my glass dish and placed a small pile of the sodium acetate powder from the pot in the center.  This would act as a seed for the crystals to start forming.

I very carefully took the cooled solution out of the fridge because any bump could start the crystallizing process.

I began pouring the solution very slowly into the pan and crystals began instantly forming.

We all gasped, it was like magic!

As soon as the clear liquid hit the plate white crystals would form like tiny fireworks.  I continued to pour and the liquid crystallized forming a solid as soon as it touched the growing “ice”.

The kids wanted a really tall crystal tower so I poured as slowly as I could.

It kept growing…

and growing.

In the end it was over 6 inches tall!

Of course we all just had to touch it. It was hard like ice but was hot!

NOTE: This form of sodium acetate while non-hazardous can irritate skin and eyes just like vinegar can.  So be careful when handling the crystal.  Both of my kiddos ended up crumbling the crystal and didn’t have any reaction but I imagine it wouldn’t feel too good if your kiddo had a cut on his/her hands.

Once you are done creating and exploring the crystallized salt you can remelt it to use again and again.

We ended up repeating the experiment a few more times and every time the cooled solution was ready, the kids came running with excitement!

Extensions

• After explaining nucleation, ask your students if they can think of any other processes that begin with nucleation. (Hint: rock candy, borax crystals, clouds and carbon dioxide bubbles in soda.)
• Ask students if they can think of other reactions that release heat like hand warmers and burning candles.
• Try adding a drop of food coloring to see if you can make colored crystals.

The Science Behind Hot Ice

The sodium acetate solution in the refrigerator is what is called a supercooled liquid.  That means the sodium acetate is in liquid form below its usual melting point.

Once you touch, bump, or add a small crystal that is not liquid, crystallization will begin and the liquid will change to a solid.

When the molecules in the solute (sodium acetate) are in a solution, they normally are surrounded by a solvent (in this case water molecules).

Occasionally, a few solute molecules will bump into each other and stick together for a little while but they will eventually break apart.

If enough solute molecules stick together, they can overcome the forces in the solvent that would normally break the solute molecules apart.

When that happens, the clump of solute molecules serves as a seed (or nucleation site) for other solute molecules to cling to so the crystallization process can take off again.

The sodium acetate powder we placed on the plate acted as a nucleation site for the dissolved sodium acetate in the solutions.

The crystallizing sodium acetate releases energy in the form of heat and is an example of an exothermic process. Sodium acetate is often used in hand warmers as it release heat when crystallizing!

More Simple Science Kids Will Love

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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Snag your free snowflake center and then grab more STEM activities your kids will love with our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

Q-tip Snowflake STEM Center

Making this print-and-play Q-tip STEM center was quick and easy!

To prep, I printed the snowflake tracing cards on cardstock for extra durability and cut them apart.

Then I grabbed a handful of Q-tips and slid them into a Ziploc bag.

That’s it. See?! I promised it was easy.

Playing the Q-tip STEM Center

A little while later, I pulled out the Q-tip bag and invited my 5-year-old to pick a card and start tracing it with Q-tips.

Since every snowflake is different in the real world, I made a variety of designs for my mini-engineer. There were easy ones like this cross….

And more challenging ones like this square and X combo.

He loved the hands-on game and I loved the grab-and-go fine motor activity.

Grab Your Download

Click the blue download button to snag your free Q-tip STEM center and then grab more Winter STEM activities your kids will beg to repeat with our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

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Grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

For this reindeer toothpaste demo, you’ll need to make a quick run to the beauty supply store as well as gather a few supplies from around the house:

• A clean 12-16 oz plastic bottle (one with a narrow opening is best)
• 1/2 cup of  20-volume (6%) hydrogen peroxide liquid (This is a higher concentrated hydrogen peroxide than you can find at a beauty supply store. It is often called “developer”.)
• 1 tablespoon of dish soap
• Food coloring (optional, about 8-10 drops)
• Plastic glitter (optional, metal glitter may react with the peroxide so make sure it is plastic glitter)
• Peppermint essential oil (a few drops for that wintery smell)
• 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast (1 packet)
• Warm water
• Small cup or bowl
• Funnel (optional)
• Baking pan or something to catch the foam
• Safety goggles

Making the Reindeer Toothpaste

Once we had all of our supplies, I called my kiddos over and explained we were going to make reindeer toothpaste.

We started by mixing the 1 tablespoon of yeast with 4 tablespoons of warm water until most of the clumps were gone.

While we waited for the yeast to bubble a bit, we turned our attention to the plastic bottle.  My 3 year old added a squirt of dish soap, while my 5 year old added several drops of wintery blue food coloring.

Next, we added several good shakes of plastic silver glitter to the bottle using a funnel.

I added a few drops of peppermint essential oil to give the solution a wintry scent.

Finally, I added a 1/2 cup of the 6% hydrogen peroxide solution to the bottle and gently swirled it around to mix it.

We couldn’t find our kiddos’ safety goggles so I quickly poured the yeast solution into the bottle using a funnel.  The reaction was immediate! I could barely get the funnel out before the foam had reached the mouth of the bottle.

You can see how fast the reaction is in during our second time making the reindeer toothpaste.  There’s no funnel this time to get in the way of all of that foam!

Both of my children were amazed and couldn’t stop staring as the foam oozed over the edge of the bottle and down the side, filling the pan.

Of course they couldn’t resist touching the sparkly foam!

While they were playing with it, they noticed that the bottle was warm. and while playing with it noticed the bottle was warm!

After I explained that it was safe, they both demanded that we do it again.  Good thing I got the large bottle of peroxide!

The Science Behind It

The yeast we added to the hydrogen peroxide acted as a catalyst (a helper) that sped up the breaking down of the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen.

The oxygen gas became trapped by the soap and made the massive amount of bubbly foam that oozed out of the top of the bottle.

The bottle felt warm because the breaking down of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen is an exothermic reaction that produces heat.

The specific enzyme that acts a a catalyst in yeast is called catalase – a common enzyme found in almost all living organisms exposed to oxygen including people.

So what do you think will happen when you pour hydrogen peroxide on a cut? It reacts with the catalase enzyme in your body and the hydrogen peroxide breaks down forming oxygen bubbles on your skin!

Super Cool Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Minty Reindeer Toothpaste appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Make a Tornado in a Jar

To whip up our mini tornado,  we grabbed a clean mason jar and our supplies:

• 3 cups of tap water
• 1 teaspoon of dish soap
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• Glitter or other small objects {optional}

We filled the mason jar with water – making sure to leave about an inch of space at the top.

Then we poured in the dish soap and vinegar and closed the lid.

NOTE: I gave the cap a double check just to make sure that our tornado wouldn’t get free and make a big mess.

Holding one hand on top and one below, we swirled the jar for about 5 seconds and then set it down on the table to watch the tornado do its thing. So simple and easy.

To add some extra “wow,” try adding glitter or mini Legos to the jar!

The Science Behind It

When you spin the water in the jar, it creates a vortex in the center.

As the water spins, centripetal force causes the water to spin around that vortex making a mini tornado. Hurricanes have a vortex, too!

More Playful Kids’ Science

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For more fun kids’ science, check out our awesome 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep science journal to record results) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To make the candy cane maze, I first grabbed our supplies:

• Serving tray or cardboard lid (Something with an edge to hold in the marble.)
• 25-30 candy cane sticks (I used soft mint candy sticks from the Dollar Store so they would be easier to break by hand.)
• Hot glue gun
• Marble
• Colored paper

Making the Candy Cane Maze

I began by lining my serving tray with colored paper.  This step was optional but I liked the festive pop of color it gave the final result later.

Then my 7 year old and I began laying out the candy cane sticks – snapping them to make them shorter as we needed.

I bought soft candy cane sticks, which is like a cross between a butter mint and a regular candy cane in texture.  It made them super easy to snap to the desired length with just our fingers.

Making the candy cane maze was a challenge for my 1st grader so she had to plan where she wanted the marble to go.  I helped her make the maze a little more difficult by showing her how to make dead ends and tricky little traps.

We ended up using about 25 sticks – almost three bags.

Once we had everything laid out, I used my hot glue gun on the low setting to quickly glue the candy sticks down to the colored paper.

After waiting a couple minutes, my little elves were ready to play!  Even though being able to control the marble proved challenging for my 4 year old, he was still all smiles.

I’d say this engineering challenge was a sweet success!

Want More Science?

Try out our 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep journal to keep track of results) in our shop for more fun!

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They’re hands-on, motivating ways to practice math, literacy, engineering… even science! So grab your bucket of bricks and get ready for some serious LEGO learning fun.

And for more fun, check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

Before jumping in to the LEGO activities (below), the kids grabbed our growing collection of bricks. Although we have a variety of sets, we always seem to pull out DUPLOs most often. They’re not too big for Big Brother (age 6.5) to complain that they’re for babies and not too small for Little Sister (age 3) to swallow them. They’re a win-win!

LEGO Activities

Introduce kids to addition with these awesome LEGO addition cards.

Make a batch of clever picture puzzles. // I Can Teach My Child

Work on counting, number recognition, addition and subtraction with this colorful LEGO Math Mat.

Stretch kids’ problem solving with a batch of LEGO challenge cards! // The STEM Laboratory

Practice adding and reading color words with these free LEGO Addition Cards. // The STEM Laboratory

Memorize those tricky teens as you Race to Twenty.

Make a fizzing, foaming, erupting volcano. // The STEM Laboratory

Build a LEGO balance that really works! // Frugal Fun 4 Boys

Strengthen vocabulary with a fun round of Where’s LEGO Man?

Build a LEGO camping lantern that actually lights up. // LalyMom

Read, build and write sight words. // This Reading Mama

Measure tables, chairs, shoes… everything!

Whip up a sensory bin for future builders. // Toddler Approved

Stick together LEGO word families.

Work on fractions. // JDaniel4s Mom

Add and subtract with this fun LEGO game!

Learn about magnetism with a homemade maze. // Science-Sparks

Study the famous artist Piet Mondrian with some free art printables. // Mama Miss

Piece together some colorful LEGO names.

Design a symmetrical butterfly. // Fun at Home with Kids

Build the numbers 0 to 9. // One Beautiful Home

Practice patterns!

Enjoy a fun afternoon of science with a LEGO  ice excavation. // Lemon Lime Adventures

Place the days of the week in order. // 1 Plus 1 Plus 1 Equals 1

Build a LEGO zipline. // Frugal Fun 4 Boys

Use LEGOS to measure and compare!

And create a batch of uppercase letters. {There’s a lowercase set too!} // Wildflower Ramblings

That’s 25 awesome, must-try LEGO activities in all.

More Building Fun

Add some motivating STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to your next play session with our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

The post 25 Must-Try LEGO Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Get inspired below and then grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Grab some baking soda and vinegar and make an uber exciting volcano.

Make a batch of dancing gummy worms.

Teach kids about weather by making a tornado in a jar.

Learn how clouds make rain with some shaving cream, food coloring and water.

Make a mini submarine that really floats with this easy buoyancy activity.

Use the power of the sun to change ordinary grapes into raisins.

Learn about magnetism with an empty bottle, a refrigerator magnet and some pipe cleaners.

Brilliant! Take an insider’s peek at the parts of a plant by growing seeds in a cd case.

Explore air pressure by sucking an egg into a jar. So cool!

Mix together a few common household ingredients {including peroxide, yeast and water} to make a batch of elephant toothpaste.

Make a penny turn green!

Turn an ordinary flower into TWO different colors.

Teach kids about how arches distribute pressure. Just grab some eggs and start walking.

And speaking of walking, watch water “walk” from one cup to the next, with just a few cups or jars, some food coloring, water and paper towels.

Have some Skittles lying around? Teach kids about density by making a Skittles’ rainbow.

Mix up a batch of glow in the dark slime.

Make mini tea bag ghosts that really fly!!

Pick up an ice cube with a piece of string.

Balance a can on its side.

Stick a pencil through a Ziploc filled with water and figure out why it doesn’t leak.

30 More Kid-Friendly Science Experiments

Inspire kids to LOVE science with 30 more jaw dropping experiments they’ll beg to repeat! Grab the easy-to-follow directions (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

The post 20 Kids’ Home Science Experiments appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The STEAM Kids’ Christmas eBook is sure to keep little elves entertained and learning all December long. Grab your copy HERE!  Want more!? Head to our shop and check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

This post contains STEAM book affiliate links.

STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) is all the rage in education and it’s no wonder. The boredom busting activities are crucial preparation for kids’ techy future. STEAM is no longer an “add on” – it’s a “must”.

To make it easy for you to keep kids engaged in STEAM activities this Christmas season, some of my favorite education bloggers and I teamed up to bring you a power packed eBook that would even make the Grinch smile.

Peek Inside the Christmas STEAM Pack

The mega pack includes 25 days of  STEAM holiday projects for kids. Build Christmas trees with nuts and bolts, paint psychedelic snowflakes, magically dissolve candy canes…

To keep prep simple for you, the eBook includes easy to follow directions and a printable shopping list so you can make sure you’re completely prepared.

The pack even includes a printable advent calendar kids can actually build,

Christmas STEAM challenge cards and so. much. more.

Bonus

Plus, during the first week only, you will also receive our STEAM Christmas coloring book (a $4.99 value) absolutely free!

I love bonuses, don’t you?!

Download Your Copy

Ready to start planning your STEAM-filled December too?! Snag two must-have books (the STEAM Kids’ Christmas eBook and the coloring eBook) by clicking the blue “Purchase Here” button below.  Then, keep the fun going with our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

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There are so many spook-tacular science experiments your kids will BEG to repeat! Try some of your favorite Halloween science experiments below and then snag our mega pack of science experiments (and record sheets they can use to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Spooky Experiments

To kick things off, teach kids about convection and air pressure with these super awesome (and surprisingly easy!) tea bag ghosts.

Set up an easy salt and ice experiments with a batch of homemade haunted hands.

Whip up a batch of crowd pleasing ghost rockets.

Draw a ghost face on a white balloon and make it magically inflate.

Have a slime fan? Mix a batch of our easy glow in the dark slime.

Teach kids about bones with a toddler skeleton puzzle.

Want to try something crazy cool?! Grab a bag of ghost marshmallow Peeps and make these exploding geysers.

Pumpkin Science Experiments

Want a Halloween science experiment with major WOW factor? Whip up a pumpkin volcano that really erupts.

Complete a pumpkin investigation!

Make a bubbling boo bomb. (The name ALONE sounds cool, doesn’t it?!)

Hang onto your jack-o-lantern after Halloween and see what happens as it rots.

Swap out a white ghost balloon for an orange jack-o-lantern variety and magically inflate it.

Whip together a batch of pumpkin oobleck.

Halloween Candy Science Experiments

Use leftover candy to test what will sink and what will float.

Grab a bag of ordinary gummy worms and turn them into super cool dancing Frankenworms.

Use a bag of Reese’s Pieces to make a magically growing pumpkin.

Make candy pumpkins magically disappear.

Have some candy corn lying around? Try these three easy candy corn science experiments.

Dissolve the M off of an M & M.

Grab a handful of gummy bears and make them magically grow.

Mix together some fizzing candy corn foam dough.

More Science Experiments for Kids

This is just the beginning!

Little Einsteins will love making a tornado in a jar, growing crystals and experimenting with magic balloons. Snag our mega pack of science experiments (and record sheets they can use to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

The post 20+ Must-Try Halloween Science Experiments for Kids appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Ready for more science fun? Check out our amazing 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep journal to record results) kids will love!

I began by asking my 5 year old, A, what she thought Earth was made up of.  “Rocks, water, and gases like air,” she replied.  She was thinking of the ground and atmosphere – I was impressed.  We read a couple books to find out exactly what the inside was made of and then I told A, and little brother, Q, we were going to make the layers of the earth using playdough. Their faces lit up!

Making the Playdough

For this activity, we simply cooked up a batch of our favorite One-Pot Playdough and divided the dough to make six different colors: blue, green, red, orange, yellow and brown.

To make the dough, we added all the ingredients to a pot:

• 3 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 6 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 3 cups of water

We mixed until all the lumps were gone and then I moved the pot to the stove and cooked over low heat, stirring often. The dough started to thicken in a few minutes.

I turned off the heat once the batch started pulling away from the sides (but was still a little sticky) and allowed it to cool in the pot. Once cool, the stickiness disappeared and the dough could be kneaded and dyed.

We divided our cooked playdough into six parts: two small (golf ball-sized), two medium and two large balls. We dropped several drops of food coloring into each ball. The two small balls became red and green, the medium balls were dyed orange and brown and the large ones we dyed yellow and blue.

Building the Layers of Earth

Now it was time to create the layers of the earth!  We started by rolling the small red dough into a ball.  This served as Earth’s solid inner core, which is almost as hot as the sun!

For the next layer, my 5 year-old flattened the medium-sized orange dough and placed it around the red ball.  I helped her pinch the sides closed, removing any extra dough in the process.  This layer is the liquid outer core that spins creating Earth’s magnetic field.

Next,  A flattened the large yellow ball to create the mantle. This is the thickest layer and is made of very, very hot rocks.

A flattened the medium brown ball and placed it over the yellow ball.  The thin brown layer represented Earth’s crust made up of rocks.

Finally, A flattened the blue ball and covered the earth in ocean.  I helped A form the continents (the land we walk on) using the small green ball of dough.  A giddily held Earth up while singing, “I’ve got the whole world in my hands.”

Now came the really fun part – cutting the planet in two.  The easiest way to do this is using dental floss.  Both A and her little brother were amazed when I cut through the Earth.

At this point we could have stopped to label the layers, but since A corrected me when I made a mistake naming a layer, I knew she didn’t need the labels.  Plus, my 2.5 year-old just wanted to play with his half of Earth.  With all those colors, who could blame him?!

Print and Play Pack

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Layers of the Earth Playdough appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To make rainbow milk, you can choose to keep it super simple and use only one kind of milk, or you can really get those scientific wheels turning and compare what happens with various kinds of milk.  Whatever you choose, the set up only takes a few minutes.

To prep, I gathered a few supplies:

• A pint of 2% or whole milk
• A pint of fat free and heavy cream (if you choose to compare milks)
• A shallow pan or plate for each type of milk
• Non-gel food coloring
• Q-tips
• A measuring cup
• Dish soap

  Making Rainbow Milk

  As soon as I walked outside with the armful of supplies, my 4 year-old came running over.  I lined up the three pie pans and placed a carton of milk in front of each pan.  Then, I asked her to measure two cups of fat free milk for the first pan.  She carefully measured, poured and then repeated with the whole milk and heavy cream.

  

  Starting with the center pan of whole milk, I placed two drops of each color (red, yellow, green, blue) in the center of the pan.  I handed her a clean Q-tip and asked her, “What do you predict will happen if you place the Q-tip in the center of the milk but don’t mix it?”

  “It will all mix together,” she quickly replied.

  “Let’s see if your prediction is right,” I said as I helped her insert the Q-tip into the milk without mixing.

  “It didn’t do anything,” A said with disappointment.

  

  Next, I added a drop of dish soap to a new Q-tip and asked A what she thought would happen if she placed the Q-tip with soap into the milk.  “Nothing,” she answered.  A was fascinated when she carefully put the Q-tip into the milk and the colors instantly swirled around.  Rainbow milk!  She kept placing the Q-tip in and out of the milk to watch the colors race into a swirly rainbow.

  

  “What do you think happened to the rainbow milk?” I asked A.

  “The soap made the colors move,” A answered.  I explained how milk is made up of many things including water and fats and that fats act like oil.  We have done experiments with oil and water before so she knows water and oil don’t like each other.  I then explained how one side of soap like oil/fat and one side likes water, so when the soap was added to the milk, the soap molecules moved through the milk, looking for fat.

  “The soap moving through the milk made the colors move,” I said to A.  “Now if we did this with milk that had no fat, what do you predict will happen?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she replied.

  “If there is no fat to search for, do you think the soap will move?” I asked.

  “No,” A said.  So, we repeated adding the dye to the fat free milk to attempt rainbow milk again.  This time when I handed her the clean Q-tip I asked her why we are trying it with a clean Q-tip.  I explained we had to see if a plain Q-tip would cause a reaction.  Since we know it didn’t do anything, we know that it was the soap that was causing the colors to move.  “The plain Q-tip is what scientists call the control, ” I told A.  We repeated the experiment with a soapy Q-tip and was surprised when the dye actually moved.

  “Hey, it moved!” A exclaimed.  Turns out fat free milk isn’t truly fat free.

  “Does that one have fat in it?” she asked pointing to the heavy cream.  “Yes, it has a lot of fat,” I replied.  We predicted the dye would move a lot.  Again, we were surprised when the dye didn’t move at all.  “What do you think happened?” I asked.  “Did you notice something about the cream when you poured it?” I questioned.

  “It was thick,” A said as she stuck her finger in.  “Do you think the thickness made it hard for the soap to move?”  She leaned over the pan to look closer and noticed the soap was still sitting in a little drop in the cream.

  “The soap is right there, it didn’t move at all,” she said.  Then, she quickly moved back to the first pan to dip her Q-tip back in.

  

  We ended up pouring out the pans and repeating the experiment with the whole milk for A and her little brother to make the magic rainbows swirl.  This experiment was a hit and a easy way to introduce some science terms like prediction, control, reaction, and result.  We’ll be repeating it again and again as it was simply magical!

  Get 30 More Science Experiments!

  Grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

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I soooo wish I had these challenge cards back then!⁣
⁣
Just print them out and slide them into your STEM or literacy center to stretch kids’ design, engineering, and measurement skills. You can even have students draw mini models of their creations on the record sheet to practice scaling! It’s such an easy challenge for those kids who need to be pushed a little further.⁣

Snag your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! Looking for more STEM fun!? Check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

These alphabet geoboard challenges build problem solving and design skills while working on geometry, counting, perimeter, angles, comparing, scaling AND letter recognition at the same time. They’re jam packed with learning!

Just print the cards on cardstock, cut them apart, and grab a geoboard and rubber band set. Kids will love building all 26 uppercase letters and their 26 lowercase pairs.

You can easily stretch the activity for kids who are ready for a challenge by giving them the set of harder challenges or simplify it for students who are new to geoboards by pulling out the easier one.

As a bonus, the set also includes record sheets and challenge worksheets for kids who are ready for a next step.

Inside You’ll Find…

–> 2 versions of uppercase letter cards (easier + harder)

–> 2 versions of lowercase letter cards (easier + harder)

–> Record sheets

–> A bonus challenge asking kids to build 4 geoboard designs of their own.

Download Your Set

Snag your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! Then, snag our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop!

The post Alphabet Geoboard Challenges appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Get inspired with the list below and then grab 30 easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Candy Science Experiments

Head to the store to pick up a few bags of candy or dig through your leftover Halloween stash and get ready for some guaranteed fun.

Mix up some magical dancing gummy worms.

Discover the colors candy makers use to make M and Ms with a round of chromatography.

Grab some toothpicks and candy drops and build STEM structures. // The STEM Laboratory

Make an exploding Peep geyser. // Housing a Forest

Dissolve the M off of an M and M. // Coffee Cups and Crayons

Watch conversation hearts dance and boogy.

Find out whether ants prefer sweet or sour.

Turn a handful of Skittles into a colorful rainbow.

Test whether different candies melt in the sun.

Have mini engineers make Gobstopper tracks.

Build homemade pop rockets that really soar!

Whip up a batch of oh-so-simple mint fireworks.

Test whether candies sink or float.

Make a bright and bold M and M rainbow.

Melt the stripes off candy canes.

Make a Mentos geyser. // I Can Teach My Child

Cook a batch of homemade rock candy. // Gluesticks Blog

Watch Lifesavers magically flash in the dark! // Candy Experiments

Dissolve a gummy pumpkin. // Lemon Lime Adventures

Figure out how to sink a marshmallow. // Steve Spangler Science

Turn ordinary Skittles into clamshells. // Parenting

And launch candy pumpkins across the room with a homemade catapult!

More Inspiring Kids’ Science

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post 21 Candy Science Experiments appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Try it out and then hop over to grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

Prepping the activity couldn’t have been any easier!

I grabbed the bag of Reese’s Pieces I picked up at the store the day before and filled a measuring cup with hot tap water. Then I asked my kids to grab a white plate and join me.

That’s it! We were ready to jump in and get started.

Making Our Magic Pumpkin

The kids helped me arrange our Reese’s Pieces in the shape of a pumpkin on our plate.

We placed the orange candies in a circle to form the sides and used four brown candies to make the stem at the top.

Then we slowly poured some hot water on the outside edge of the pumpkin. We needed just enough to cover the bottom of the plate.

That’s when the REAL fun began! We sat back and watched the water work its magic.

The kids couldn’t wait to grab a fresh plate and try the experiment again!

The Science Behind It

The shell of the Reese Pieces are made with food coloring and sugar.

When the candies come in contact with the hot water, that sugar dissolves into the water and the colors spread across the plate, filling the pumpkin.

The activity is such a simple way to introduce states of matter to kids.

More Jaw-Dropping Science

Continue the fun with our mega pack of 30 must-try science experiments for kids! All of the activities use common household supplies like salt and baking soda. You won’t believe how easy they are to prep!

The post Magic Pumpkin Science appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

And, since this kids’ science activity is oh-so-simple to set up, you won’t mind repeating it over and over again.  And speaking of science, check out our jaw-dropping 30 Science Experiments for kids in our shop!

Follow the simple step-by-step below and then grab 30 more easy-to-follow science experiments kids will beg to repeat (plus a no prep science journal to keep track of their results!) in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Getting Ready

To prepare for this activity, I grabbed a stack of tea bags, scissors, a non-flammable plate, a black marker, and a lighter.  I handed my four year old daughter, A, a tea bag and the scissors and asked her to cut the staple end off the top.

After A carefully dumped out the tea,  I quickly drew a simple ghost face on the now cylindrical tea bag and balanced it upright on the plate.  I asked a very anxious A to sit a few feet away and then lit the top of the ghost.

The tea bag burned down quickly and we were prepared to see our little ghost fly but he simply vanished into a pile of ash on the plate.  It took us several attempts using a variety of tea brands to learn that thinner bags like Lipton’s simply turn to ash.  We had the most success with slightly thicker Stash and Tazo Tea bags.  Once we figured this out we had lift off!

My little ghostbuster just couldn’t get enough and she couldn’t wait to share her discovery with the rest of the family.

The Science Behind It

To explain this kids’ science activity to my four year old I explained that air takes up space inside and outside of the tea bag cylinder.  Then I asked,  “What do you think happens to the air when we light the tea bag on fire?”

“It gets hot,” she replied.

“Yes, and when air molecules get hot they move around more and take up more space,” I explained.  We then pretended to be hot air molecules dancing around the room to the Ghostbusters theme song.  We needed a lot of space to move without bonking each other.

Next, we pretended to be cold air molecules slowly walking around the room.  I asked A if we could fit more cold air molecules into the room without crashing into each other.  “Yes, we could fit a lot of us in here if we move slowly,” she replied.

“If you have a lot of molecules in a space it is denser than if you have less molecules.  So the hot air inside the cylinder spreads out and is less dense than the cooler air outside the cylinder,” I explained.  “The less dense hot air rises above the cooler, more dense air. “

“Heating the cylinder also caused a convection current,” I continued.  “This is why ash flies up from a campfire.  When the air gets hot and spreads out it leaves space for the cooler air molecules to rush in.  This movement of air molecules creates a current that helps push the nearly ash tea bag {or campfire ash} into the air.”

“And that my little ghostbuster is how you make little ghosts fly!”

More Super Cool Science

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These Star Wars STEM activities include 25 must-try science, technology, engineering, and math activities for kids. They encourage critical, creative thinking and show kids that learning can be irresistibly fun.

For more STEM fun, check out our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle in our shop!

Star Wars Science Activities

Kids will learn about more than the balance of the force in these fun and educational Star Wars science activities!

Whip up a batch of Star Wars soap – just the motivation kids need to wash their hands every. single. time. // Lemon Lime Adventures

Learn about chemical reactions with this simple baking soda and vinegar experiment. // Fun-A-Day

Make some Star Wars Lightsaber Slime. Soooo cool! // Little Bins for Little Hands

And find out how long it will take to melt the Death Star. // Planet Smarty

Mix up a magically fizzy Death Star. // Little Bins for Little Hands

Make a batch of squishy, gooey Star Wars Oobleck. // Nerdy Mama

Or some Death Star Playdough. // Little Bins for Little Hands

And then continue the fun with fiery red Star Wars Lava Slime. We promise it won’t burn! // Fun-A-Day

Star Wars Technology Activities

Use your smart phone to guide this Star Wars BB-8 Droid robot. So. Much. Fun // Amazon

Grab all of the supplies you need for a DIY lightsaber from the Dollar Store. // Lemon Lime Adventures

Design homemade light saber circuits! // Left Brain Craft Brain

Star Wars Engineering Activities

Build a set of jaw dropping LEGO Star Wars characters. // Little Bins for Little Hands

Challenge friends to a Star Wars paper airplane competition. // Royal Baloo

Build LEGO droids that look just like the official ones. // Little Bins for Little Hands

Solve a batch of Star Wars STEM challenge cards! // Left Brain Craft Brain

Use office supplies (yes, office supplies!) to make an X-Wing. // Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

Then challenge yourself to solve fun-filled Star Wars engineering cards. // Sunshine and Hurricanes

Star Wars Math Activities

Learn about numbers… Star Wars style! // 3 Dinosaurs

Practice some hands-on addition with a motivating Star Wars math game. // Inspiration Laboratories

For some serious fun, try lightsaber counting. // The OT Toolbox

And then pull out a batch of free Star Wars addition mats. // Royal Baloo

Print off a batch of Star Wars counting clip cards.// Raising Little Superheroes

Play a colorful multiplication or addition Star Wars math game. // Royal Baloo

Work on counting and writing numbers with free Star Wars number printables. // 3 Dinosaurs

And then compare Stormtrooper Fractions! // 3 Dinosaurs

More STEM Challenges

Looking for an easy way to boost critical thinking and problem-solving in your classroom? These free LEGO Challenge Cards are perfect for engaging students in hands-on STEM exploration!

The post Star Wars STEM Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Don’t want to stop the STEM fun?  Check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop!

Peek Inside

The 60 hands-on task cards and corresponding record sheets give kids practice measuring and comparing length using unifix cubes.

In the first 45 cards, children compare two piles of objects to determine which set is longer.

What is longer? 2 unifix cubes or 5 paper clips?

11 unifix cubes or 5 pencils?

When they’re ready for a challenge, students then move on to the 15 extension cards.

Children:
-> Find objects in the room that are longer or shorter than a given set,
-> Estimate and then measure the length of objects,
-> And decide what type of measuring tool (ruler, measuring tape or yard stick/meter stick) would be best to use in different situations.

Finally, in the final challenge included in the pack, (and my kids’ favorite activity of all!) children race Matchbox cars to determine which one travels the farthest.

The STEM challenge pack is so motivating, hands-on and playful, kids will ask to complete it over and over again.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play?! Grab your pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Then, snag our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop!

The post Linear Measurement STEM Cards appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Then, for even more STEM challenges, snag our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

What is STEM?

STEM activities (science, technology, engineering and math) are all the rage in education. And for good reason! Kids need to be prepared for their STEM filled future.

Researchers will need to find cures to illnesses.

Engineers will need to design faster, more Earth friendly cars.

Computer coders will need to build cutting edge apps…

Introducing kids to STEM activities now develops a foundation of skills that they’ll use for a lifetime.

And making those STEM activities FUN grows a love for the field.

Geoboard STEM Challenges

These geoboard STEM challenges build problem solving and design skills while working on geometry, counting, perimeter, angles, comparing and scaling at the same time. They’re jam packed with learning!

To prep the activity, I just printed the cards on cardstock, cut them apart, and grabbed a geoboard and rubber band set. (I grabbed ours HERE.)

I wanted to keep the cards together so I punched a hole in the upper lefthand corner and hooked them with a binder ring like the ones HERE.

Middle Brother (age 5) was eager to jump right in so he flipped to the first card in the set (a boat!) and started recreating it on his board.

Over the course of the next few days, he worked his way through all 45 designs. 

Although he wasn’t quite ready for the next step, I included a record sheet students can use to work on scaling. It’s a great challenge for older kids!

Plus an open-ended design sheet so children can stretch their creativity.

Grab Your Set

Ready to add the geoboard cards to your STEM boxes or Makerspace? Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

And don’t forget to check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle, too!

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Grab your Super Cool Science Kit in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  And when you’re ready for more science, check out our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

Getting Ready

This super cool science pack is bursting with jaw dropping, easy to follow activities for kids.

To get started, print one NO PREP science journal for each child so that she can keep all of her results in one spot.

Then print the experiment cards on cardstock to give them extra durability. {If you’ll be using them in a classroom, you may also want to laminate them.}

Most of the activities use common household supplies that you likely already have like vinegar, baking soda, eggs and salt but, to help ensure you’re ready for all 30 experiments, I also included a supply list you can check off and take with you to the store.

Cool Science Experiments

All 30 cool science experiments are sure to be a hit with kids. They’ll whip up some magic rainbow milk, make raisins dance, create some fluffy Ivory Soap souffle, fish for ice, shine pennies and make water walk…

But that’s just the beginning!

Young scientists will also capture a tornado in a jar,

Turn their name into crystals,

Create a water cycle in a bag,

Make tea bags fly into the air,

Turn an ordinary Ziploc sandwich bag into an adorable little sprout house…

Make the same orange sink and float,

And so. much. more. There are 30 super cool science experiments in all.

Experiments Include

• The Disappearing Egg Shell
• Walking Water
• Tornado in a Jar
• Flying Tea Bags
• Magic Balloons
• Disappearing Skittles S
• Dancing Raisins
• Volcano in a Jar
• Rainbow Milk
• Candy Chromatography
• Water Cycle in a Bag
• Crystal Names
• Fireworks in a Jar
• States of Matter Balloons
• Dying Flowers
• Fluffy Soap
• Shining Pennies
• Fishing for Ice
• Sink or Float
• Little Sprout House
• Making Grapes
• Lava in a Cup
• Running Pepper
• Sink and Float Oranges
• Will it Melt?
• Peppermint Fireworks
• Sunscreen Science
• Is it Magnetic?
• Phases of the Moon

Grab it Now

Ready to jump in?! Grab your Super Cool Science Kit in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Then, while you’re there, snag our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

The post 30 Super Cool Science Experiments appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

And don’t forget to snag our 30 Science Experiments for kids in our shop!  It comes complete with a no prep journal to keep track of results, too!

Peek Inside

The Force and Motion Activity Pack includes 10 colorful posters that introduce young scientists to important physics vocabulary including force, motion, magnetism, push, and pull.

Using the posters as an introduction to each activity, kids jump into six science experiments. They test whether objects roll,

And then build and test Matchbox car ramps with different slopes.

Students learn the difference between push and pull and then apply it to solve a motivating dabbing sheet.

They complete two domino experiments to test the affect of different strengths of force.

Then kids learn about magnetism by exploring whether objects are magnetic,

And then solving magnet mazes. So fun!

Grab Your Set

Jump into Force and Motion and grab your instant download in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

And don’t forget to check out our jaw-dropping 30 Science Experiments, as well!

The post Force and Motion Activity Pack appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Interested in building and creating!? Your little engineers will love our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

100+ LEGO Projects

When my super talented blogging friend, Sarah over on Frugal Fun for Boys, announced that she was putting together a collection of brand new LEGO projects, I knew it would be a must-buy. LEGOS are her “thing” after all. My boys could spend hours pouring through her amazing collection of LEGO designs.

But once her much anticipated book published, the projects surpassed my expectations.

The designs are incredibly creative and the detailed parts list makes it easy for my boys to find exactly what they need to build them.

My builders’ (ages 5 and 6.5) decided to start small and build a vehicle that would really move.

We didn’t have the exact colors and parts we needed to make the final product match the picture in the book but the boys didn’t mind – it actually spurred great discussions about how they could improvise.

Sarah’s Awesome LEGO Creations book inspired a MAJOR building session and I know the fun has just begun. The book includes robots, knights and dragons, trucks and things that fly, a LEGO town, creatures and even games you can actually play with like table top foosball and spinning tops!

Grab Your Copy

Join in the fun and creativity and add the Awesome LEGO Creations book to your building area, too!

And while you’re at it, check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop for more building fun!

The post The Ultimate LEGO Book appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Download your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

And for more STEM fun, check out our awesome Epic STEM Challenge Bundle!

Craft Stick Puzzles

Since it was Big Brother’s (age 6.5) first time solving the brain puzzles, I sat by his side so we could walk through the problem solving process together.

He grabbed a card from the pile and got to work building the picture with his craft sticks.

Then came the fun: reading the challenge and finding the solution!

In this first problem, he needed to take away just two sticks to change the picture from five squares (four small ones and the large one around the outside border) to TWO squares.

Finding the answer took plenty of trial and error but, eventually, he discovered a solution that worked.

The brainy challenge required lots of perseverance but the result was well worth it and he was eager to grab the next card in the pile.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play?! Download your pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.   And don’t forget to snag our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle for endless centers!

The post Craft Stick Puzzles appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your Atom and Molecule Activity Pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! Then, for more STEM fun for kids, snag our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle in our shop!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Paper Plate Atoms

To get started, I grabbed a paper plate, a marker, glue, and three different sets of 7 pom poms so Big Brother (age 6.5) could make a model of an atom.

We talked about the nucleus that holds the positively charged protons and the neutrally charged neutrons.

Then, since we were making a nitrogen atom this time around, he glued seven orange protons in the center of the plate along with seven blue neutrons. That clump of protons and neutrons made his nucleus.

Next, it was time to add our negatively charged electrons so I showed Big Brother how electrons orbit rapidly around the nucleus.

In a nitrogen atom like the one that we were building, there are two primary paths – an inner orbit with two electrons and an outer orbit with five.

He took his marker and drew circles to make both orbits. We used Chinet brand paper plates that already had rings cut into the mold for easy tracing – an unplanned but appreciated bonus.

Big Brother glued two electrons along the inner orbit and five on the outer.

Viola! Our paper plate atom was complete.

Gumdrop Molecules

After playing a fun Mystery Element Game with the Periodic Table (included in the activity pack), we jumped into learning how atoms combine together to make molecules like water and carbon dioxide.

Grabbing one card at a time, I helped Big Brother read the common name (for example, water) and the molecular name (H2O). Then he jumped in and started building the structural formula (the picture) out of toothpicks and gumdrops.

The activities made learning about atoms and molecules so motivating and fun! They would be great to use as science centers, STEM activities or Makerspaces.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play too?! Grab your Atom and Molecule Activity Pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  And don’t forget to check out our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle in our shop!

Want More Science 

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

The post Atom and Molecule Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Download your STEM cookie challenges in our store or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Looking for even more STEM fun!? Snag our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop!

Five Awesome STEM Activities

The easy to follow teacher directions, STEM center cards and activity record sheets give you all the details you need to add STEM into your schedule. Just grab a bag of Oreos or other flat-topped cookie and invite kids to start thinking!

Tackling one project at a time, children design a parachute that safely flies a cookie without breaking.

They create a bridge that can hold a cup of pennies.

Kids make tall skyscrapers,

And garages that are large enough to hold a Matchbox car.

Plus, to add in math practice, STEMers estimate the number of cookies in ten cookie jars and then count to see if they were correct.

That’s five hands-on STEM projects in all!

Grab Your Pack

Download your STEM cookie challenges in our store or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Then don’t forget to hop over and grab our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle in our shop!

The post STEM Cookie Challenges appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

We need scientists to find cures to diseases.

We need computer developers to program the next “big thing”.

We need pilots to fly airplanes… and space ships.

STEM is no longer an “add-on”, it’s a “must.”

By why not take it one step further? With just one simple letter, we can prepare even more well rounded students – children who are ready to think outside the box and turn their creativity into reality.

Introducing STEAM: science, technology, engineering, ART and math.

I was so excited to team up with some of my favorite teaching bloggers to give you an irresistibly fun collection of simple prep, motivating STEAM activities for kids.  And for more motivating fun, check out our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle in our shop!

Whip up a foaming, fizzing rainbow with just a few ingredients.

Turn an ordinary dixie cup into a pendulum painter.

Play math games kids will beg to do over and over again…

There’s so much included in this eBook!

Instantly download all 50 activities for just $14.99 HERE.

Then, head to our shop for our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

The post The Ultimate STEAM Activities appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Thankfully, teaching kids computer code has never been easier! This STEM challenge pack explains what “binary code” means and how computers, CDs, DVDs and apps use it to communicate.  Then students jump in and start writing code of their own!

The pack is a perfect STEM challenge or MakerSpace for late kindergarten, first grade or second grade.  Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  And check out our Epic STEM Challenge Bundle for more fun!

What is Binary Code?

You can think of binary code as a second language. Computers, CDs, DVDs and apps can communicate numbers, letters, symbols… even sounds and video to one another using just two digits: 0 and 1. (The prefix “bi” is Latin for “two”.)

In a binary string with 8 digits (also called “bits”), there are 256 possible order combinations for the 0s and 1s. For instance, an uppercase A is written with the binary code 01000001 but a lowercase a is written 01100001.

In this activity, students are “translating” written words into strings of 8 bit binary code.

Getting Ready

To prep, I simply printed the binary code key on cardstock and cut along the middle line to separate the halves. Then I ran it through the laminator to give it extra durability.

The challenge cards came next. There were 3 sets of pre-written cards for beginners in the set and 10 blanks for kids who were ready for more difficulty.

Since this would be Big Brother’s (age 6.5) first time coding, I printed one of the pre-written sets on cardstock, cut apart the cards and ran them through the laminator so I could easily wipe the answers clean when he was finished.

I grabbed a vis-a-vis marker and invited him over to join me. Easy peasy.

Binary Coding for Kids

After talking about what binary coding means, Big Brother was eager to jump in and give it a try.

Using the key, he grabbed a card and carefully filled in the missing binary code. H was 01001000, E was 01000101 and so on.

When he’d worked his way through the stack, Big Brother came over to check his answers with my master key. Needing only a few very minor tweaks, his coding was nearly 100% correct.

Differentiating

Although Big Brother wasn’t ready for the extra challenge yet, I included a set of 10 blank cards in the pack so children could make up their own puzzles for friends to solve.

And, for classroom teachers who need an easy way to collect answers, I also created printable record sheets students can turn in for checking.

Grab Your Pack

Help kids get ready for their techy future! Download the Binary Coding Pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

More Inspiring Science

Make measurement and weight concepts exciting with these STEM Challenge Cards! They’re an easy, interactive way to get students thinking critically about balance, mass, and estimation. 

The post STEM Challenge: Write Computer Code appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

These ideas are the perfect addition to our 30 Science Experiments in our shop that kids will love!

Getting Ready

For this demonstration I first grabbed a few things we already had in the house. (No extra trips to the store required!)

• glass jar with lid or a glass cup with a small plate
• matches or hairspray
• hot water
• ice

Making the Cloud

This demo couldn’t be easier and really could be done by your kiddo from start to finish.  To get started, we added a couple inches of warm-hot water to our jar. (We originally followed the directions we’d found on other sites suggesting boiling water but that created so much condensation on the inside of the jar that we couldn’t actually see the cloud forming. Hot tap water worked much better.)

Next, we took the lid to the jar, turned it upside down, and filled it with ice.

The final step was to add condensation nuclei or a seed- some tiny particles of dust, salt, pollution, or smoke that the water vapor can condense on in the air.  We used the smoke from matches as our seed but for a kid-friendly version, you could  use a spritz of aerosol hairspray instead.

We found it worked best to blow the match out inside the jar so most of the smoke would become trapped inside. So I lit the match, placed it inside the jar and Q blew out the match before he quickly placed the lid with ice on top of the jar.  (If you are using a glass cup, use a plate with ice to cover your cup.)

You can see at first the glass is clear because no condensation has formed yet.  Within seconds, however, faint swirls of cloud form.

After a minute or two comes the best part of the whole process: letting out the cloud.

It’s hard to capture how cool we both thought this was.  No joke, we repeated this demonstration over a dozen times until we ran out of matches.  So simple, but so awesome!

The Science Behind It

For clouds to form they need 3 things; water, cool air, and condensation nuclei.

Water vapor evaporates from the surface water.  As it rises, the air cools.  The cooler air higher in the atmosphere cannot hold as much water vapor as the warmer air near the surface of the earth.

Some of the water vapor wants to condense, but in order to change from a gas to a liquid, water needs a non-gaseous surface.  Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) or cloud seeds provide that surface.  CCN’s can be any tiny solid or liquid found in the atmosphere, usually salt from the ocean, dust, or pollution.

In this demonstration you added water vapor to the jar by using warm water.  The smoke or hairspray acted as the cloud seed.  When you added the ice filled lid on top you cooled the warm air causing it to condense on the the surface of the cloud seed particles, forming a cloud!

More Science Fun for Kids

Want a simple, low-prep science experiment that wows students? The Walking Water Rainbow is a colorful way to explore capillary action and color mixing!

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