Thursday, March 7, 2013

Science is Real!

So we did an amazing science project on Tuesday which is "School Day" for us.  This project was simple to set up, simple to clean up, and AMAZINGLY fun to do.

If you enjoyed the baking soda volcano of your elementary school days, then this project is definitely for you. 

Supplies:

Dropper bottles or some other type of liquid transport device
Vinegar
Food coloring
Baking Soda
Baking pan

 Put the baking soda in the pan and use the liquid transport devices of choice to mix vinegar w/food coloring.  It doesn't take much food coloring, and the less you use the less likely you are to have an Easter colored child at the end of the project.  You should be able to easily tell what color each bottle is.

Unsure of how messy this was going to be I dressed my child sparsely, and put a kiddie placemat under the pan.  Then I let her loose with the bottles of color. 






Nothing better than lots of colors and fizzing!  As the colors got low we mixed them and had a bottle of green, and a bottle of purple.  This was so much fun and was so easy.  I think we all gave it 5 stars, because even Dad the photographer jumped in a few times to play.

We also discussed with her that this was part of science.  How we were causing a chemical reaction that went FIZZ FIZZ FIZZ.  I don't think that part mattered to her much, but she enjoyed saying fizz, fizz, fizz.

I will say that the bottles I chose were hard for her to squeeze.  It prevented her from spraying it everywhere, but she also got a little flustered at times.




This project was all over the internet, but I stole it from HERE.
This woman is way more open to mess then I think I am - but I appreciate seeing her toddler projects and how honest her posts are.  Good or bad they are there with an honest opinion on how she felt it went. 

How it goes

So our attempt at a routine has been successful in some aspects, and not a complete failure in others.   One of our successes is that Mandie is starting to have a better concept of days of the week, she can also use her chart to tell us what we are going to be doing that day.  It has also been a good way of giving her something to look forward to, because as we put her to bed we remind her of what the activity is for  the next day and she doesn't even fight going to sleep.

Where we haven't done as well is in pre-planning projects and following through with ideas.  I knew we would have a hard time with this part, but I don't thing we have done horrible.  Either way she has had fun and done something related to the activity for each day.  We can work on the rest. 

One way to help with the pre-planning projects, especially when you are super busy with a work project that is sucking all your time, is craft kits.  I feel like it's cheating in a way, but Mandie loves them just as much as the kits I take the time to make.  So in the end we still accomplish the same thing, and I can grab it from her craft box and she doesn't have to miss a day because I didn't have time to put something together.  (I do have a goal of setting up several projects so they are ready to go - but that is still a work in progress.)

This is a Crayola Kit I found on sale at the toy store and not only does it come with everything I need right in the box, but it was fun, easy and SUPER CUTE.


It said it was for ages 3+ but it was easy to modify the steps so that she could do it.  I traced her hand and cut out all of the pieces.  Then I let her glue things into place.  For the tissue paper spots on the giraffe I drew on the circles and put dabs of glue down and let her crinkle the paper and stick it in place.  She loved sticking the green tissue paper on to make the tree.  (I just noticed now that the piece we put down as grass looks a little like poop...it still turned out cute.)

This kit came with several handprint projects, so I look forward to doing more with her.  I'll make sure to pre-cut the shapes though, because she quickly grew tired of waiting as I cut around each bump of the giraffe's mane. 

Our science project was amazing so that will get a post of its own!