Mad Scientist Mommas!
We put on our thinking caps and our mad scientist outfits and came up with some fun and simple ideas and activities to get the kids brains working while having fun at the same time! All done on a budget with supplies you might have laying around.
Hover Craft
This was a cross between air hockey and balloon races!! After the initial exploration of these hover crafts, my kids found the most fun batting them back and forth. It turned into quite a competition to see if they could beat the number of times tossed back and forth from the previous time!
Inspiration: Click here for our inspiration for this craft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY8koKuJgeA&feature=youtu.be
**Tip Alert- Gorilla Glue Epoxy worked best for this project and we found the best place to find the caps was just at The Dollar Store off of reusable jugs. We tried a few water bottles caps that we had but these didn’t provide a tight enough seal. We found this at Lowe's.
Raining Film Canisters
Fizzy Balloons
We know betting is totally illegal and wouldn’t want to encourage it BUT if you want to “challenge” your kids to see if they think you can blow up a balloon without using an air pump or your breath, you MAY just win this challenge. This is how it went in my house… “If I can blow this balloon up without an air pump or my breath, Mommy gets 15 minutes of uninterrupted time!” WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!
Inspiration: Click here for our inspiration for this craft.
Oobleck
We couldn’t let Read Across America week go by without this super fun science experiment often called Oobleck named after the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. I’ve done this several times while teaching and couldn’t believe that I have never shown my own kids this fun substance that’s not quite a liquid and not quite a solid!! Their faces were fabulous as they began to explore it!
Inspiration: Click here to find the inspiration for our craft.
**Tip Alert- Be careful not to put too much food coloring in this mixture or your hands will be that color.
Elephant Toothpaste
This one was so much fun and high impact!! Your kids will be amazed at JUST how much this actually foams. The trickiest part of this is finding the correct hydrogen peroxide! I’ve shown a picture of what I used and found at a beauty supply store. As the link states…. Make sure it’s NOT cream! From what I read on-line, traditional 3% hydrogen peroxide will work too but will produce a substance that looks looks more like bath bubbles and less like a thick foam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9vmzSrmQDM&feature=youtu.be
Inspiration: Click here to find the inspiration for our craft.
The hydrogen peroxide we used!
Film Canister Pop Rockets
This experiment is all about "pressure." It is EXACTLY what it says. You will be launching capped film canisters using the pressure created by a single Alka-Seltzer. This is most definitely an adult lead experiment. Children should be spectators. All involved should have safety goggles on and should stand a safe distance away. These canister lids fly off and go about 10 feet at least in the air. The canisters themselves stay put but it is possible to have rouge lid or canister!
Here is our inspiration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsayFUSwKfs
This is our video of the process!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxB7ThOOvAs
