Neighborhood Nature Walk...

This is a repost of some fun ways to interest your Kid Scientists in observing the world around them...

Can you see the nest in the tree? Tucked into the fork of a branch right in the middle? I couldn’t see baby birds, but as I stood under the tree, I could hear them chirping. There is a great diversity of living things right in our neighborhoods for Kid Scientists to discover. Here are some ways to encourage Kid Scientist observations…

Digital Nature Walk – Hand your camera to your Kid Scientist during your walk. Challenge her to look for evidence of animals as well as the animals themselves. She might find a train of ants, a nest, tracks in the mud or lady bugs in the garden. Your Kid Scientist can collect her observations with pictures. If she’s really adventurous, she could create a Field Guide for your neighborhood.

Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt – For those Kid Scientists who need help slowing down and observing write a Scavenger hunt list on an index card to take on your walk (if your Kid Scientist can’t read you can read the list to him or enlist an older sibling to be his partner). Include things you know he’ll find easily as well as a couple real challenges…a robin, a wild flower, a spider web, a nest, animals tracks, ducks…

ABC Nature Walk – As you’re walking find things that begin with each letter in the alphabet…ants, bumble bee, columbine, daisy…this is way for your Kid Scientist to learn more specific names for things as well. If following the alphabet is too much of a challenge, you can turn it into ABC / I Spy, “I see something that starts with L” “Lady bug”


Nature Walk 1 2 3 – As you walk, ask your Kid Scientist to count what they’re seeing. “How many birds will you see before we get to the corner?” “How many daisies are on this plant?” “How many dragonflies do you see?”
Amazing Things – Tell your Kid Scientists that at the end of your walk everyone will get to share an Amazing Thing they saw while walking home. Giving your Kid Scientist a chance to walk with wonder, looking at everything, encourages creativity and close observation. Once you’re home, it’s interesting to hear what they thought was amazing.

Sounds of Nature – Have your Kid Scientists sit or lay down with their eyes closed for one minute – just listening. At the end of the minute, ask them to share what they heard. If bird sounds are clear, ask Kid Scientists if they can figure out how many birds are making the sounds.
The Science Mommy would love to hear about your Neighborhood Nature Walk

Shaving Cream Marbling...

This project has already been posted, but we had a great time putting together this package of cards.  My Little Kid Scientist Aiden asked if he could share them on The Science Mommy...

Ages:  This is best for older Kids.  It's a pretty messy project and requires a bit of dexterity.  With supervision & assistance though there's no reason to eliminate the Little Kids.

Materials: food color, toothpicks, shaving cream, paper plates, plastic knives or popsicle sticks, napkins, cards or any cardstock (gift tags & bookmarks would work well too)

Procedure: 

Start by filling a paper plate with shaving cream.  Choose the basic, least expensive type of shaving cream you can find.  Use a plastic knife or popsicle stick to smooth the shaving cream into a relatively flat surface.

Add a few drops of food color to the shaving cream.  Here's a great spot to have a chat with your Kid Scientist about mixing colors..."What colors will I have when I mix blue and green?  Let's find out..."

Drag a toothpick through the colors & shaving cream to create any type of marbled pattern. 

Lay your card or other paper onto the marbled pattern.  Make sure you press the card into the shaving cream so that all the color is transferred to the paper.

Here's the messy part...pull the card off the shaving cream.  Using the knife or popsicle stick scrape the excess shaving cream off the card.  You can then use a paper towel or napkin to wipe the remaining shaving cream off the paper.  Clean as much off as possible.  The soap in the shaving cream adheres the food color to the card...you'll scrape of shaving cream, leaving the marbled pattern behind. 

Shaving cream can be reused several times.  In this example Aiden blended the blue & green leftovers he had scraped off a card, then he added yellow drops on top. 

Leave the cards out to completely  dry before packaging.

This is a messy science project!  However, shaving cream is essentially soap so the clean up happens fast!

The end result is a unique collection of handmade cards!

The Science Mommy would love to see pictures of your marbled cards!

Road Trip Science...

Driving home from a fun weekend vacation, the Science Kids were getting very squirmy in the backseat.  My solution...a quick hike and exploration of roadside geology!

Ages: All ages of Kid Scientists

Materials: The beauty of roadside geology is that you don't really need any materials.  If you're not sure what geology you're seeing, there is a great series of books called Roadside Geology and they are specific to your state.  The books list major roadways and detail the geologic formations visible from the road.

Procedure:
* We stopped at a viewpoint with a huge public art installation called Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies

* There is a parking lot at the view point, but the kids were squirmy, so we decided to hike to the top

* It was a great hike, but the roadside geology lesson started on the way back down the hill...

* The Columbia river gorge is full of columnar basalt and the trail we were hiking on was also covered with basalt.  The boys made observations on the difference kinds of rock and we observed the layers evident in the basalt columns on the hillside.  Vesicular basalt looks like it's full of pockets or like swiss-cheese.  This is because as an igneous rock (formed from lava) it cooled more quickly, trapping air in the lava.  The basalt with a smoother texture cooled more slowly, without trapping air.

* Connar noticed some gray patches in the soil along the path.  The Gorge was also covered with ash following the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980.  It's still quite easy to find deposits of ash, which is exactly what Connar noticed.

A quick hike, a little exercise for their brains too, and we were back on the road...with new rock samples for our kitchen collection.

Where can you stop with your kids for a roadside geology exploration?

Plant these Flowers...

The Science Mommy has been busy with soccer and teaching, but it's really exciting to be back!

These flowers are fun and easy to make!  

Ages: All Kid Scientists can make these flowers...Little Kids may need help with the scissors

Materials:  Wildflower seeds, paper, scissors, wire, popsicle sticks or skewers, flour, water, ribbon

Procedure:

1.  Cut a large circle out of the paper...our paper started about 3" x 3".  This doesn't have to be a perfect circle but my youngest Kid Scientist had a tough time free hand so I drew a circle for him.

2.  Cut a spiral into the circle.  Each spiral will be one finished flower, so cut as many as you want.

3.  Prepare a paste using flour and water.  The Science Mommy didn't measure but there is about 1/4 cup flour and 2 or 3 tablespoons of water.  We created much more paste than we really needed.

4.  Lay the paper spirals on a cookie sheet or other mess-containing container.

5.  Using a finger cover the spiral with flour paste and then sprinkle the wildflower seed onto the paste.  Make sure the seeds are adhered to the paste. 

6.  Leave the paper flowers sitting out so that the paste has time to dry.  Make sure the paste is completely dry before moving on to the next step.

7.  Roll the paper spirals into paper flowers.  Use  tape to secure the spirals to each other as you roll.  Then push a wire stem (popsicle sticks or skewers would work as well) through the center of the paper flower.  Tie a ribbon under the paper flower if you'd like.  

 

7.  Arrange into a bouquet!  The paper flowers can be planted in a container or flower garden, the paper will decompose and the seeds will grow.  Make sure to remove the stem, tape and any other embellishment prior to planting.

Have fun with this project...the Science Mommy would love to see pictures of your seed flower bouquets.

New Investigations on the Way...

The Science Mommy is taking a short hiatus for soccer season!  I have so many great ideas for projects and my Science Kids and I just don't have time to develop them during soccer.  Please don't disappear...I'll be back in a month with some fantastic science investigations, observations and projects for your Science Kids!

I will still be accepting entries into the Rain Gauge Design Challenge for the next two weeks.  You can enter through the comments or by emailing The  Science Mommy (find my email in the Contact me section).  I will post pictures of all entries and each participant will be entered to win a book!

Happy Spring!

Family Adventures...

The Science Mommy and her family love Star Wars!  So, we couldn't turn down an opportunity to visit the Star Wars exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.  While much of the exhibit was museum-like with artifacts and costumes, there were a few fantastic investigations.  In Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke drives a land speeder around Tatooine.  This investigation connected real world maglev (magnetic levitation) technology with the movie land speeder...

First, the boys chose a lego land speeder, and were prompted to attach magnets to the bottom.  There were two different types of magnets, so they needed to experiment with location and placement ...

...their goal was for the lego land speeder to hover on the magnetic road.

Once the land speeder hovered on the magnetic road, they attached another battery to the top of the lego land speeder.  The new investigation, was to determine the placement of the battery, so that the land speeder was propelled along the magnetic road through wire coils.  This proved quite a challenge for my science padawans.  Not only did they need to determine placement of the previous magnets, the new magnet on the top but they also needed to charge the wire coils at just the right moment to move the car. 

The final challenge, was to move the land speeder along a magnetic road with hills.  I wasn't able to get close enough to capture any pictures.

My Science Kids had a great time!  I was impressed with the information throughout the exhibit connecting movie science fiction to real world applications in science and technology.

What Science Adventures have captivated you and your Science Kids?

Remember, the Rain Gauge Design Challenge is accepting entries through the end of the month.



April Showers...

Guess what?  

The Science Mommy is hosting a challenge! 

The Challenge: Design and build a Rain Gauge that will collect and measure the amount of rain that falls in a day. Collect rainfall data from at least three different days and share your information in a chart or table.  

Contest Entry:  Email a photo of your Rain Gauge, and a sample of your data to the Science Mommy or leave a link to your investigation in the comments.  While your kid scientist does not need to be featured in the photo, the work does need to be the work of a Kid Scientist.  All eligible entries will be entered to win a copy of the book...

Water Dance by Thomas Locker

The challenge will run through the month of April with a random drawing on April 30.  Photos of rain gauges will be featured on The Science Mommy.