Science of Baking Soda and Vinegar – Guest Post from Pragmatic Mom

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Ness

Today I’m welcoming Pragmatic Mom to the blog. At Pragmatic Mom you’ll find all sorts of ideas for making science fun as well as children’s book reviews and much more. I especially love Pragmatic Mom’s Gift Guide for Educational Toys featuring some of the best maths and science toys for kids. Take it away Pragmatic Mom!

~ Ness

Science of Baking Soda and Vinegar – Guest Post from Pragmatic Mom

I am personally on the bandwagon of STEM to STEAM which simply means that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) should include A for Art and hence the new moniker, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math). Adding the art component is also a way to connect girls to science and math, something that Science Teacher parents at my elementary school have warned me needs to happen before middle school.
I tried to get my girls interested in science and math. Their grandfather was, after all, a math professor. I signed them up for a week of summer Mad Science where they did fun experiments. It didn’t work. They said there was only one other girl in the class. They became friends but the girls felt outnumbered. Even the exploding volcano did not win them over.
We made many trips to Museum of Science in Boston where we live was, and visited other science museums when we traveled. They loved the hands-on activities but it didn’t spark longer term interest.
I think I went about it all wrong. Science should be DOING, the more informal the better. Messy is good, and winging it, even better. So, this past summer, we tried science as play. That worked much better.
Vinegar and baking soda are magical. Adding food coloring to white vinegar turns it into an art AND science experiment. I was even frugal enough to use the old boxes of baking soda that deoderised the freezer and refrigerator.
This is so easy and fun. Simply spread baking soda on a baking tray. Add a few drops of food coloring into 3 bowls of white vinegar. I used primary colors: yellow, blue and red. This way, mixing colors is part of the fun! A medicine dropper works best and makes the fun last longer.

What else can you do with white vinegar and baking soda?
Bubble Bomb
Expanding Balloon
Volcano

Science Vocabulary for Vinegar and Baking Soda Experiment

What is really happening between the vinegar and baking soda? It’s actually two reactions though it looks like one!!
What actually happens is this: the acetic acid (that’s what makes vinegar sour) reacts with sodium bicarbonate (a compound that’s in baking soda) to form carbonic acid.
It’s a double replacement reaction. Carbonic acid is unstable, and it immediately falls apart into carbon dioxide and water (it’s a decomposition reaction). The bubbles you see from the reaction come from the carbon dioxide escaping the solution that is left. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air, so, it flows almost like water when it overflows the container. It is a gas that you exhale (though in small amounts), because it is a product of the reactions that keep your body going.
What’s left is a dilute solution of sodium acetate in water.
For younger kids, I’d tell them: Vinegar + Baking Soda = Water and Carbon Dioxide plus something else in the water. Carbon dioxide is what plants absorb and humans give off when we breathe!!! And this leads right into the plant cycle … but that’s for another time!
Multi-step reaction: a reaction with many steps, each following each other, so that the reaction looks like it only has a single step.
Unstable compound: a material that does not stay in its form for long: it breaks down into component parts.

Books for more do-at-home science experiments

The Everything Kids’ Easy Science Experiments Book: Explore the world of science through quick and fun experiments! by J. Elizabeth Mills
Easy is good. Using household materials like soda bottles and flashlights, you can build bubbles, create plastic–even make raisins dance! For ages 9 and up.

Science in Seconds for Kids: Over 100 Experiments You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less by Jean Potter
Easy experiments for ages 8 and up such as making a rainbow right on your floor, popping a balloon with a magnifying glass, making a coffee can roll back to you after you’ve pushed it away.

Pragmatic Mom loves children’s books. When she covers education and parenting topics on her blog, KidLit somehow slips in. Did that happen again? You can find her on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook, and her blog.

Building Volcanoes ~ Fun (and a little science) at the Beach

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Ness

It’s often the simplest activities that end up being the most fun. We’ve been enjoying some gorgeous Spring sunshine this week so we decided to spend a morning at the beach. We spent some time collecting shells, driftwood and a few precious pieces of sea glass. We also had fun building volcanoes in the sand and even managed to incorporate some educational play into the activity. We began by piling the sand into a mountain and forming a crater at the top to create our volcano.

We then began pouring water into the crater so that our volcano erupted and lava begin pouring down the sides.

We watched as each new bucket of water created interesting rolls and mounds of “lava”. To achieve these types of formations the trick is to pour just a small amount of water at a time.

R (4) loved the idea that he had made his very own volcano. We even managed to add a science lesson to our play by talking about why the water stops part way down the volcano and forms these shapes and undulations in the wet sand. We talked about absorption and the reasons why the water didn’t simply pour all the way down the side of the volcano. There are so many opportunities for learning through play at the beach.

After we’d emptied our bucket of water, R was keen to shovel fresh dry sand over the volcano and start again.

He didn’t show any restraint with the “lava” this time ~ this was one very active volcano!

What are your favourite beach activities?

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A Fun Science Experiment for Kids {Contributor post at Quirky Momma}

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Ness

I am so thrilled to share with you that I was recently invited to become a contributor to Quirky Momma Kids Activities Blog. I’m honoured to be joining such an amazing group of Mommas! The Quirky Momma Kids Activities Blog is just bursting with fun and simple ways for kids to play and learn.

My very first contributor post is live today and I would love for you to pop on over and let me know what you think. Here’s a sneak peek of what R and I got up to for our first post. What do you think we might have been doing with chopsticks, rice and marbles? Click on the photo to find out!

You can also join in the fun by following Quirky Momma on Facebook . I hope to see you there!

Mixing oil and water – science experiment

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Ness

One of R(3)’s most favourite things to do at the moment is colour mixing. Whenever we play with paint lately, he inevitably has more fun experimenting with mixing the colours than actually putting paint on paper. I thought this little experiment of mixing oil, water and food colouring would really spark his imagination. He had so much fun with this and as usual, his play evolved from our first intention (the science experiment) to something else altogether – fine motor, sensory and imaginative play.

I found the idea for this experiment via this post over at Play Create Explore. Be sure to check them out. Jessie has some fantastic ideas for creative play.

This is so simple to put together. All you will need is water (at room temperature), vegetable oil, and food colouring.

Fill a vessel to about three quarters full with the water. We used a hurricane lamp simply because I wanted to use something large, but a vase, or even a larg drinking glass would work just as well. Next, pour in the vegetable oil. For this to work, you will need the layer of oil to be about two inches deep.

Even this first simple step was so much fun! Watching the oil bead together and drop down into the water, and then float back up to the top of the water was fascinating and very meditative.

We waited until the oil had settled into a single layer above the water.

Then it was time to add some colour! We added a few drops of food colouring to the oil. At first it seemed as though nothing was happening, until, slowly……

Slowly…

Things really start to explode in there…

Until at last, we ended up with this….

WOW!

SOME TIPS:

(or what we learned from doing this experiment twice because it was a great big fail the first time around!)

You only need a VERY small amount of food colouring. Just a few drops of each colour. The first time we tried this, we squirted the colouring from syringes and the colour just shot straight through the oil immediately and the water was just a murky mess.
The water needs to be at room temperature.
The larger your vessel, the thicker your layer of oil needs to be. For the large hurricane lamp that we were using, our layer of oil was approximately three inches thick.
Drop in one colour at a time for dramatic effect. Start with your lighter colours first and end with your darker colours, otherwise you won’t see the light colours dropping through. We started with yellow, then followed with red, green and finally blue.

After the colours had started to blend together, R announced that he wanted to mix the oil and water. I handed him a wooden spoon and he explained that he was making “magic jelly”.

I brought out some of his sensory tub tools and handed him a ladel and a bowl. He continued with his imaginative play and this time delcared that he was making a cake for Daddy. This was a wonderful opportunity for scooping and pouring, something R just loves to do. When I put him to bed that night and asked him what his favourite part of the day had been, he said “Ladelling!” It’s written all over his face….

At one point, the ladel fell deep into the oil and water mixture. I decided to hand him some tongs to retrieve it. We use tongs quite a lot with our Montessori trays. Tonging is great for strengthing the pincer grip and is a great pre-writing and pre-scissor cutting exercise. Although R is pretty skilled with tongs these days, I still imagined there would be no way he would retrieve a heavy metal ladel, slippery with oil, using the tongs. He was up for the challenge.

Having a try….

Success!