Q is for Questions (year 2, week 36)

- May 14, 2016

This week, our theme was "Q is for Questions," so we focused on science experiments. None of the ones we did this week were unusual, but they were all new to my kids. They loved them, and I loved tapping into their wonder as we explored the world together. Because of their ages (4, 3, and 2), we focused on exploration instead of explanation.

The first thing that we did was the classic dissolving-an-egg-shell-in-acid experiment. We used every bit of vinegar in the house to fill our jar, so we didn't have an extras to do the job correctly. The directions on the internet said to change out the vinegar after 24 hours, since the the acid gets "saturated" with calcium and can no longer absorb more after that amount of time. We only did 24 hours, which didn't dissolve it all the way, but it did pickle it enough that the egg was completely spongey. Dragonfly was completely unimpressed and disappointed. She thought that the egg with disappear completely.

We recycled our vinegar to do another classic- the baking-soda-and-vinegar experiment. I gave each of the kids a sprinkle of baking soda on our "discovery trays," and a small creamer pitcher with vinegar. They were so surprised to see this "chemical reaction" (one of our new vocabulary phrases for the week) and asked if it could be part of our regular sensory fun. They enjoyed playing with the paste that they made as well.

We also looked at a variety of household objects to test their magnetism. The kids really didn't care about this one at all. Oh well.

We tested a new play dough recipe this week and tried our homemade "texture sticks" to see what impression they made. We also tried a new play dough recipe with kool-aid powder and glycerin. The glycerin made an extremely soft dough with a lovely texture that the kids wanted to run all over their bodies. I don't know that it will be our all-the-time dough recipe, but it's definitely one I'd like to keep in the rotation.

I had also intended to do the coke geyser experiment, but I only bought one-half of the ingredients. Oh well, it's not really warm enough for a full, cold, garden hose shower yet. We'll have to do it another time. It might be a good first experiment for our science notebooks next fall.