Fun Science Day
Today is Science Day!
My name is Sarah Isaacs and I am an author and a teacher.
How exciting it is to be able to do our own amazing experiments at home! I just can’t wait! All the ingredients for the experiments can be found around the house or even just a the local supermarket!
You will need to help your child at various aspects during this activity day. It all depends of course how old your child is and how able they are but let them have a go themselves and help them along the way. Make sure that you have the ingredients available and to hand. Talk to your child about which order things need to be done for the experiment to work.
Dancing Raisins
Have you ever seen raisins dance? Well, you will do with this experiment! You need plain tap water, soda water or lemonade and of course raisins.
Talk to your child about why the raisins are floating up and then sinking down. Your child can help pop the raisins into the water and help measure out the amount of water they need.
Baking soda and vinegar experiment
What happens when two ingredients are mixed together? Let’s find out with this experiment! There is a lot of fizzing going on in this activity so wear your apron or some old clothes. Let’s get fizzing!
Talk to your child about why the raisins are floating up and then sinking down. Your child can help pop the raisins into the water and help measure out the amount of water they need.
Pepper and Water Science Trick
This is a water surface tension science experiment using a white plate, water, ground black pepper or ground ginger and soap or washing up liquid. Watch the black pepper scatter as you break down the water surface tension using soap. This is an easy-to-follow demonstration which makes a fun magic trick you could show all your friends!
This is an easy experiment to do with simple ingredients which can be found in your kitchen. You child will be able to take part in adding each of the ingredients and they will also find it amazing to watch the pepper swiftly move from the centre of the plate. Can your child remember what order things need to be done in the experiment?
Water and Oil Experiment
For this experiment you will need baby oil, food colouring, two or three small dishes and pipettes or a small spoon Put the oil into a clear container so you can see what happens. Slowly add small droplets of food colouring (previously mixed with some water) into the oil. Watch them sink slowly to the bottom but notice that the water never completely mixes with the oil. Watch the colours mingle and look at those beautiful patterns they make!
You need to help your child with measuring out the oil and the food colouring. Your child can guess what will happen when the water mixes with the oil. Were they correct? They will have plenty of fun trying to get the two ingredients to mix.
Extension
This is a great experiment! Try asking your child what they think will happen. Give them the job of adding the food colouring carefully to the milk. Take photographs of the results or before and after pictures.