Colorful Celery: Kitchen science; AND Weekly Kid's Co-op

I've always thought that the science experiments looked super cool where cut stems are put in colored water and the plant itself eventually changes to that color.

Since my son has gotten so into gardening this year, I thought this experiment would be perfect to illustrate to him how plants incorporate water into their body.

We poured about an inch of water into 3 glass jars. My son added red, yellow and blue coloring.

Then we stuck in celery stalks. I thought the stalks with the leaves still intact would be more effective for this experiment.

 Then we waited.

We noticed that the different colors started showing up in the leaves within only 2 hours time!

 24 hours later the stalks and leaves were very noticeably colored.

 Here are the 3 together.

We talked about the term "capillary action", which is in essence the plants ability to pull water up through its stalk and into the leaves and flowers.

Thanks for stopping by! We had fun!


If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day.

Also it is Weekly Kids Co-op Link-up Party time!  I'm linking up the above post and our post on Painting like Jackson Pollock. Enjoy!

Ocean watercolor and crayon picture

I remember making these under the sea pictures when I was a child. A wash of watercolor over a crayon drawing lends itself perfectly to an underwater painting. It is always a delight to see how the watercolor resists the waxy area on the paper, and how the picture turns out when all is said and done. 

First I had my son draw creatures, plants and objects that he might find under the surface of the ocean. I encouraged him to press hard with the crayon, and to color in the objects.

My son referred to the tutorials in my favorite drawing book "Let's Draw Animals" by Ann Davidow, when drawing some of his sea creatures. This gem of a book is still available through Amazon here.

I also found the Hello Kids website which has many easy step-by-step tutorials on drawing sea animals as well as other kinds of animals.

I decided to draw my own picture alongside of him. I could tell by his energy that he really enjoyed his mama partaking in the activity rather than just directing it. That felt so good to me, and I made a mental note to "draw" more often with him. I made inquiries about my drawing out loud to stimulate his thought about ocean life. "Hmmm, I wonder what I would find at the bottom of the ocean. What should I draw?" He came up with creative answers, yet accurate, "volcanoes, anchors, seaweed". I taught him some facts that I know about the ocean, such as:

• In some places you might find coral at the bottom of the ocean. Some corals are hard, like a rock, but it really is a plant, and as such it breathes in carbon dioxide and lets out oxygen which we need to breathe. 
• Male seahorses give birth, not the females, as in most species.
• Fish can't close their eyes, because they have no eyelids
• An octopus can squirt out a dark ink to escape from predators
• Blue whales are the biggest living animal in the world — they weigh as much as 30 elephants put together

After he was done drawing his ocean scene, I then had him paint a wash of blue watercolor over the paper. He was thrilled with this part.

This is a fun, easy and highly gratifying craft. I recommend it to kids of all ages (even the grown-up kind)!

Thanks for coming by and checking this out. Remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page if you want to stay informed of more kid craft ideas I post or find around the blogosphere! Have a wonderful day!

Our Earth Day Pledge

Earth Day is an important day of celebration in my household.

I want my son to grow up with a sense of reverence for this great planet that we live on. I try my best to be a good role model to him in this regard — I bring my own bags to the market, I buy in bulk, & I try to consume less on the whole.  But despite my efforts, I know that I still need reminders, just as he needs to be taught good habits and behaviors. Earth Day may technically fall on a mere single day each year, but I would like my son and I to live consciously and make "Every Day Earth Day".

We spent the week that led up to Earth Day reading the following books on how we can take care of the Earth. Click on title below book to be led to Amazon site

The Earth Book, by Todd Parr

10 Things I Can Do To Help Save My World, by Melanie Walsh

Love your world, by Dawn Sirett

All of these books were wonderfully written and successfully engaged my son. They offered a multitude of ways we can care for the earth - by not littering, by using both sides of the paper, by growing a garden, by turning off the lights when leaving the room, etc. The Earth Book, by Todd Parr, offered a very silly way to take care of the Earth, and it got the biggest laugh from my son, thereby becoming the most requested. I recommend all of them highly.

Various views of our completed project

After reading the aforementioned books, we brainstormed ways that we would like to help the Earth throughout the year. We called this "Our Earth Day Pledge". I typed up the list on my computer (I found a kid font that I thought would be perfect called "rayando". Find it for free here). I printed out our intentions and cut them into strips. I mod podged them onto one of Earths we made out of paper mache (see the last post here for directions). *Note: for this Earth I used green paint for the land masses, not glitter.**If you don't know about Mod Podge yet, you should! It pretty much makes everything look better! Check out Mod Podge Rocks website for great tutorials on how to use it.

Close-up of tag hanging down

I then hung a strip of paper tied to a fishing line down from the bottom of the Earth that said "Earth Day Pledge" on one side, and "We love Mother Earth" on the other. The fishing line was suspended from a toothpick I pushed up through a drilled hole in the Earth.

Full shot of Earth and tag

We hung our finished Earth from the ceiling in my art studio, so that we can be reminded of our pledge each day.

Let us all try to embrace ecologically sensible habits. Efforts put forth by each of us can make a difference.

Thanks for visiting!

Science Activity: Blowing up a balloon using baking soda and vinegar

My son is so into making vinegar and baking soda volcanoes. We have made these a few times. Today he was begging me to make one again. This time, I thought that maybe we could try something different that would be equally as cool AND we could still use the same basic ingredients. This is an easy activity to do using simple materials and ingredients found in your kitchen, and the results are pretty fascinating (especially for a 4 year old).

Materials that we used:

• balloon
• funnel
• empty water bottle
• white vinegar
• baking soda 
• skewer 
• 3/4 cup measure

1. I had my son pour about 3/4 cup of vinegar into the bottle using the funnel.

2. After rinsing out the funnel, I poured baking soda into the balloon, filling it up. Make sure you stretch out the balloon first! I used the funnel and a skewer as tools to aid the process (see picture above).

3. I carefully sealed the opening of the balloon onto the bottle. I made sure the contents of the balloon didn't spill into the bottle during this step.

4. I then held the balloon up, while shaking the contents down into the balloon. Immediately the 2 ingredients formed a chemical reaction, releasing a gas, and the balloon started to inflate.

Bode thought it was so cool and wanted to do it again, and again!


Points I highlighted with him (keeping it simple for a 4 year old):

• When vinegar and baking soda are mixed together they create what is called a chemical reaction.

• A gas is formed (carbon dioxide) which takes up more space than the vinegar and baking soda. That is why the balloon inflates. 

Other points to share if doing this experiment with older children:

• The baking soda is a base while the vinegar is an acid.  (See here for a definition and examples of other bases and acids)

• When vinegar and baking soda react together they form "carbonic acid".  Carbonic Acid is very unstable and it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide. Fizzing is what happens when the water and carbon dioxide escape the solution.  

Have fun!
If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

Colorful window art on contact paper

This activity was inspired in part by Teach Preschool's post here and my determination to do something with the leftover plastic report covers from my post on Shamrock Color Viewers.

This activity was a BLAST! It was VERY ENGAGING and FUN! (I happen to know,  because after watching my son be in complete bliss partaking in it, I just had to jump in on the action!) Believe me and Beware! It is a little addicting!). I think this activity is suitable from toddler-age kids all the way up to 10 years, or even older! It was lovely to see the daylight shine through from behind and enhance the color.

The best part (that is, for the parent or teacher, who doesn't participate. LOL!) is that it was super easy to set up AND there was hardly any clean up!

Materials needed:

• Colored transparent plastic sheets in different colors (I used plastic report covers that I found at the college bookstore in town)
• Clear contact paper
• Packing tape
• black electrical tape (optional)
• scissors

Preparation: Adult tapes sheet of contact paper onto window, and peels off backing so that the sticky side is facing out.  Also adults cut report covers into strips, or in different shapes - circles, stars, squares, squiggles, etc. - it is, of course, open ended...

Have child start sticking colored plastic onto sticky surface. Let him or her explore designs, and placement. I was pleased to observe my son sink into a semi-trance as he carefully considered the placement of each piece - placing one for a moment in a certain spot, and then lifting it up only to place it somewhere else.

 

After some time had past, interestingly, I noticed that Bode had consistently placed the strips either vertically or horizontally, which gave me the opportunity to talk about what those words mean (surprisingly enough to me, he knew already...go figure!).

As I observed him being very involved and noticing things on his own, like how the overlapping colors made a different color, I found myself taking a backseat to his own self-motivated learning process; like for instance, it was he who was telling me "LOOK Mom, Look what happens when I put this one over this one! (TRANSLATION: the red over this blue makes this super cool purple!).

The Artist's work is done! The furry onlooker is none-too-pleased though, I am sure, as the artwork didn't miraculously spout out any kitty treats its way!

I am very pleased with the new "artwork" decorating our home. I put a black border of electrical tape around it so that it has a more finished look to it. I think it will grace our house for awhile to come.

If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

CD Color Spinners: basic color theory explored

Today Bode and I made CD color spinners.  Since my last post "Shamrock Color Viewer: A craft and a tool in one" I have wanted to continue exploring basic color theory with him. 

I enjoyed this craft because it was almost entirely made up of recycled materials. Fortunately, the town I live in is home to MECCA, a non-profit store that "is dedicated to diverting scrap materials from the waste stream and into the creative endeavors of [the] community". It is here that I found the ping pong balls, CDs and bottle cap lids used for the spinners.  Also, I found inspiration for this craft from Maya who blogs for the center. Please check out her post here. 

In addition to this craft being super cool in an environmental way, the resulting activity was fun and educational as well. We made a total of 3 spinners — a blue and red one, a blue and yellow one, and a red and yellow one. When each of these were spun around, the 2 colors blurred together and appeared to create a single color — purple, green and orange, respectively. 

Here are the materials you will need:

• CDs
• paper and a pen (or a print-out of the template below)
• markers in red, blue, yellow (or alternate media - paints, crayons, colored pencils, will work too!)
• Scissors
• Elmer's glue or Tacky glue 
• plastic bottle caps
• Ping pongs balls (marbles work too!)
• Hot glue and hot glue gun

 

First off, I used a CD and drew a circle around it, then drew 6 "pie pieces" within it. You can do the same, or click on the above image, control click (MAC) or right click (Windows), save to your computer, and print out.

I then had Bode fill each "pie piece" with alternating colors in each pie. For example, one pie had red and blue alternating colors, one pie had red and yellow, and one pie had yellow and blue. I outlined each triangular pie piece with a specific color so he knew which color to fill each pie piece with. The beauty of this project is that the coloring doesn't have to be perfectly in the lines (which is kind of difficult for a 4-year-old).

After my son drew a total of 3 "pies" in each of the 3 possible combinations of 2 primary colors each, I then cut the circles out, and had him glue them to the CDs.

Once the paper is glued down on each of CDs, I then hot-glued bottle caps to the center of the tops of each CD (this part is for the parent to do!). I applied the hot glue directly to the CD (eyeballing it), not the bottle cap, to avoid risk of burning myself.

And then I hot-glued a ping pong ball to the bottom (parent's job as well!). Again, I applied the hot glue directly to the CD and not to the ping pong ball.
Then we were set to go! Simple as that!

CD spinners completed

Spin away! Notice how the 2 colors "appear" to become one color when the movement blurs them! Yellow and red becomes orange. Red and blue becomes purple. Blue and yellow becomes green!  This was a great opportunity to talk about the terms "primary colors" (red, yellow, and blue) and "secondary colors" (purple, green and orange). The spinners proved to be very easy for little 4-year-old hands to handle and operate! Have fun!
If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!