My daughter wants to grow up to be a scientist. And an astronaut, rock star, actress and mommy. So while her brother is a fiction only kind of guy, Jasmine reads a lot of non-fiction. And I don't mean browse through and look at the pictures. She will truly sit there and read, soaking it all up.
Last weekend I was researching Carpinteria, a small beach town south of where I live. I'm using it as a locale in a story I'm writing so the kids and I went for a visit while hubby was working. Beach town, research -- it's tough, you know?
We seem to visit book stores no matter what town we're in, and the used book store in Carp offered us some rare treasures. Drew found some vintage Star Wars books, I picked up a couple of old Newberry winners and Jasmine found this book of experiments.
Yesterday she was ready to try some out. Our first experiment was with bubbles. We made our own mixture: 2T dishwashing liquid, 2T sugar, 4T warm water. Then we tried making bubbles with different utensils: a straw, a funnel, and her hand. Who knew you could just use your hand and get such fabulous bubbles?!
What did we learn? 1) The higher the concentration of soap and sugar, the bigger your bubbles. 2) You can blow bubbles out of just about anything round with holes on the ends. 3) You will be sticky and messy when blowing bubbles this way!
After a bit of cleanup, we decided to try to squeeze a hard-boiled egg into a bottle without smooshing it. First we peeled the egg. We filled the bottle with boiling water, swished it around and dumped it out. Then we put the egg on top of the opening. The time lapse of these photos is less than a minute.
Notice the eager observer in the corner?
The cooling steam reduced the air pressure in the bottle and the egg was literally sucked inside. It was pretty amazing to watch it drop. So amazing that we had to do it again. I had the joy of sucking the egg back out -- twice! -- because someone really wanted to eat it when we were done. But we didn't photograph that. It wasn't pretty :D
This particular book, Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials, is no longer in print, but there are plenty of similar books that you can use with your budding scientist. I love when books make learning fun!
21 comments:
What great pictures! I love these kinds of posts .. they give me a little glimpse into your life. what a good mommy you are and what a precious, beautiful daughter.
I keep a 'summer file' of ideas and we usually have bubbles on the list but this recipe sounds really good so it's going in the file!
Keep encouraging your daughter! That's wonderful that she wants to know all those things.
And isn't afraid to get sticky...
Wow, she is really focused--that's so cool. You're going to get to explore some great kids/teen science as she grows. :)
Ooo! That looks like so much fun! Can I come over to your house next weekend? :D
Wow! I remember doing that for school when I was a kid!
Great scientific activities. What fun for your budding scientist. Great pictures too.
What a great post! I LOVED the pictures ~ very cool. And what an awesome mom you are for taking the time to help your daughter with these experiments. I'm way impressed :) ♥
Very cool! These are great pictures, you've got the science fair vibe going on there! :)
Fun! Love the step by step pics! I did a similar egg experiment in junior high, but put a lit match at the bottom of the bottle. I can't believe I was allowed to bring matches to school!
My kids love bubbles in the summer! I've never had them try blowing them with their hands, will do that!
GREAT post! Your daughter sounds like a very avid young scientist :) That must have been so fun - I remember doing this egg experiment and wishing the egg would get sucked in slower so I could enjoy it more!
Tess: The bubble recipe worked really well, but be prepared to be very sticky!
L.Diane: She does love to experiment and I love her enthusiasm :)
Becky: I'm amazed by her attention span for this stuff. It's a lot of fun!
Valerie: It's supposed to rain this weekend so we'll definitely be baking and experimenting. You are more than welcome to join in :D
Glam: You must have had a cooler teacher than I did -- this was my first time!
Lois: I love that she's so curious. We're having fun with it.
Ali: It's all J. She loves to experiment. At least when I help, there's less mess to clean up!
Elana: Yay for science fairs!
Kelly: I've heard about doing it with the match. We'll have to try that way, too.
Julie: It does go in fast, doesn't it? That's why we had to do it twice!
Awesome! I need to do the egg experiment with my DD!
What a great Sunday with your kids! Wonderful pictures.
Carp. is an excellent town. You'll have to check out Valerie Hobbs, Tender (if you haven't already) which is set in Carp. and Santa Barbara.
Cute photos. I love discovering old bookstores. I could spend hours in them!
What a fun post!!!
I'm all over the homemade bubbles--and using your hands!!! Perfect!
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We have that book. I bought it for my son when he was in second grade and had to do a science experiment. I don't remember which experiment we ended up doing. I'll have to think about it.
What a cutie! I think it's wonderful you encourage her in science. Too many people don't do that to girls.
Last week for career day my six year old daughter went dressed in some of my old uniform from when I was a state wildlife biologist. The kids kept telling her she was a vet and she EMPHATICALLY corrected them: she was an animal rescuer, a rehabilitator. It did my heart proud that she knew what she wanted and went for it.
Here's to scientist girls!
Great pictures! That's awesome your daughter is so interested in science. We have a lot of those types of books for school and they're a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing your pictures, Sherrie!
Oh my gosh! I love this! Those pictures are adorable. You're daughter is lucky to have such a hands-on mom.
I love that you guys do science experiments together! You're the most fun mom ever!
You remind me of my childhood; we were always making vinigar eggs or floating a needle in bowl of water. Fun times :D
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