Science experiment Archives - Page 5 of 14

STEM Sunscreen Experiment – Spray vs. Lotion

June 25, 2017 By Deirdre

Last week I shared with you several eclipse activities and crafts. An oatmeal container pinhole camera was shared last Monday. Then I shared with you a total eclipse paper plate craft. Finally, I shared with you how to make a camera obscura out of a cereal box. When I was brainstorming activities to share with you this week, I still had blocking the sun on my mind. That is why today I am sharing with you a STEM sunscreen experiment.

The sunscreen experiment explores the effect of sunscreen lotion and sunscreen spray on a piece of black paper. Your children will figure out which of the substances prevents the paper from fading the best. You will want to make that the both the spray and lotion have the same SPF. Both our lotion and spray had an SPF of 50.

Sunscreen Experiment

Before your children for students start the sunscreen experiment, you will need to gather a few supplies.

Experiment Supplies

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Sunscreen Spray
Sunscreen Lotion
Black Construction Paper
Paint Brush
Boy Shaped Cookie Cutters from the Wilton 101 Piece Cookie Cutter Set
STEM Sunscreen Experiment Printable

Getting Started

You will want to start by going over the STEM Sunscreen Experiment Printable with your children. It will help them know what they will need to do and what they will be recording when the experiment is done.

Then you may want to take the experiment outside. Spraying the sunscreen is messy.

Once your children are outside, they can place the boy shaped cookie cutter on the left-hand side of their black paper. They may want to hold it in place as the spray the inside of the cookie cutter with the sunscreen spray from about six inches away. Children will want to leave the cookie cutter in place for a minute or two. That will keep the spray on the paper from spreading.

Next, they will move the cookie cutter to the right side of the paper. Your children will be applying the sunscreen lotion with a paintbrush inside the cookie cutter at this location.

Then it is time to leave the two sunscreen boys paper outside in the sun or by a large sunny window. We left ours out for 4 hours.

Coming to Conclusions

Your children will notice that the areas of the paper without sunscreen have faded in the sun. If they use a lot of the sunscreen lotion, it may be hard to tell which one did the least fading. You may need to pass out magnifying glasses to look carefully or look at the paper of someone who used less lotion.

When your children have drawn their conclusions, they can record them on the STEM Sunscreen Experiment Printable.

If you like this STEM activity, here some more your children will enjoy!

Exploring Braille with LEGO (Recording Printable is available)

Building Houses for the Three Pigs (Recording Printable is available)

LEGO Construction Paper Sun Prints

How to Make Sun Prints on Fabric

Eclipse Viewer – Camera Obscura Made From a Cereal Box

June 21, 2017 By Deirdre

Earlier in the week, I showed you how to make a pinhole camera with an oatmeal container and a STEAM solar eclipse paper plate craft. If you have young children, it is a little bit easier to make then the camera obscura it. Your children will probably notice that the cardboard is thicker on the oatmeal container. The cardboard on the camera obscura is a little thinner and may need some re-enforcement.

Why am I sharing how to make the camera obscura with you if is tricky? Well, it gives your children the opportunity to plan the best way to add support to their boxes.

Creating the Camera Obscura

Supplies

Cereal Boxes (Small boxes are easier to work with.)
Bag from Inside the Cereal Box
Scissors
Clear Packing Tape
Small nail or pin
Foil
Glue
Support Materials (Chopsticks, Straws, Strips of Cardboard, Toothpicks)
Ruler
Pencil

Putting the Camera Obscura Together

Making the Viewing Screen

You will need to trace the bottom of the cereal box onto the bag from inside the box. Then you will need to cut out the rectangle. Next, you will glue it to the bottom of the inside of the box. You have just created your camera obscura screen.

Getting the Flaps Ready

Now it is time to create the projector. You will need to make two partial cuts from either end of the in the top flap. You don’t want to cut it into even thirds. The middle section should be two or three times bigger than the side sections.

Then will cut the two outside sections away from the box. They will be your viewing sections.

Adding Support

Before work on the viewing sections, you may need to add corner supports to your box. If your cereal boxes lean or squish down when you try holding the box with both hands, you can tape straws or another tall object into the corners on the inside of your box. It will make your camera obscura box much easier to hold.

Finishing The View Area

The side section on the left will be left alone. You don’t have to do anything to that area.

Next, you will need to close the flaps in the center section. You can permanently seal this section with clear tape if you like.

Finally, you cut out a piece of foil a little bigger than the right-hand section. Before you attach the foil to the box, you will need to place a small hole in the center of it. Then you can attach it to the right-hand section with tape.

Using the Camera Obscura

You will need to hold the camera obscura so the sun is shining through the hole. That means the sun will be behind you.

You will look into the left-hand section to view the sun.

More Eclipse Activities

Total Eclipse Painted Plates

How to Make an Oatmeal Container Pinhole Camera

Pinhole Activities (You will need to click on translate for this page, but it is worth it.)

How to Make an Oatmeal Container Pinhole Camera for Eclipses

June 18, 2017 By Deirdre

We happen to live in a wonderful area to see the total eclipse in August. It will be so exciting to watch it. You can’t look directly at the sun during an eclipse. You can use a pinhole camera or camera obscura to watch it. Today I am sharing with you how to make a pinhole camera. Later in the week, I will share with you how to make a cereal box camera obscura.

Even before the eclipse, it will be fun for your children to use the pinhole camera outside. They will have fun viewing the world upside down.

Creating the Pinhole Camera

Getting Ready

The first thing you will need to do is gather the supplies. You will need the following.

Supplies

Oatmeal Container
Sharp Object (Knife, Push Pin, Thumb Tack)
Parchment Paper
Glue
Scissors
Ruler
Clear Tape
Duct Tape

Constructing the Pinhole Camera

Getting the Oatmeal Container Ready

You will need to start by place a small hole in the bottom of the oatmeal container. It is easier to put the whole in the container while it is in one piece.

Then you will need to draw a line around the container about 2 1/4 inches from the bottom.

Next, you will cut along the line to separate the bottom section of the oatmeal container from the top.

Creating the Screen

Now it is time to trace the bottom of the lid to the oatmeal container onto parchment paper. Once you have it traced you can cut it out.

The parchment paper circle will need to be glued onto the top of the lid. Once the glue is dry, you can place the lid on the bottom section of the oatmeal container.

Finishing Up the Pinhole Camera

The final step is to tape the two sections of the oatmeal container together. There are two steps to this process.

You will need to line up the edges and place clear tape vertically across the seam in several places. This will make it easier to add the duct tape. If you skip this step, the two sections may be hard to hold together and tape.

Finally, you will add the duct tape horizontally across the seam between the two sections. The thickness of the duct tape will keep light from seeping into the pinhole camera.

If you like this STEM experiment, here are some more I think you will like:

Shooting Star Spinner Toy

Straw Rockets with Free Rocket Template

Constellation Tubes

Free Printable Constellation Mats for Kids

How to Grow a Space Garden

If you would like to read about eclipse with your children, here are some wonderful books:

When the Sun Goes Dark – This book explores ways to create an eclipse in your house and how to get ready to view the total eclipse outside.

TOTAL Eclipse Or Bust!: A Family Road Trip– A family heads out to see an eclipse and information they learn about eclipses.

Eclipses (The Night Sky: and Other Amazing Sights in Space)– This book shares a lot of information about eclipses at a level children will understand.

Magnetic Games for Kids- Pipe Cleaner Fireworks in a Jar

June 11, 2017 By Deirdre

Your students in class or children at home with love exploring these magnetic games for kids. They all feature a magnet wand and a jar filled with pipe cleaner fireworks. Some of them are really easy and would be great for young children. Some of the magnetic games will tricky and may take some concentration. They would be better suited for older children.

Putting the Magnetic Games for Kids Jar Together

Find the Right Jar

The first thing you will need to do is locate a jar with a large opening. While you can use a jar or bottle with a small opening, it is easier to place the fireworks in a wide mouthed jar. We used a plastic peanut jar.

Making Pipe Cleaner Fireworks

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Next, you will need to make the fireworks together. You will need a variety of blue, red and white pipe cleaners. (glitter pipe cleaners are fun to add to the jar.)

You can make large fireworks by cutting a pipe cleaner into thirds. Then you can twist the three pieces together to make a star.

Small fireworks can be made by cutting a pipe cleaner in half. Then you can cut the halves into three pieces. The three small pieces can be twisted together to create stars.

Magnetic Wands

We used amagnetic wand to play the magnetic games for kids. If you have a bar magnet or even a refrigerator magnet, you can use one of them instead.

Magnetic Games for Kids

Up, Down, and All Around

Children can use the magnet to move one of the fireworks up, down and all around the jar without attracting any other firework stars.

Grab A Lot

Children can try to gather as many pipe cleaner stars as they can without dropping any.

Rising and Falling Fireworks

Children can try to attract several stars with the magnet. Then they will try to bring them to the drop of the jar. Next, they will find a fun way to drop them back into the pile of fireworks.

Dancing Fireworks

Children can create a dance for the fireworks pipe cleaners. They can move the wand in circles, waves or angles to make the fireworks dance.

Tying the Activity into a Book

You may want to read a fireworks-themed book to your children before or having them explore the magnetic games. Here are some wonderful fireworks-themed books.

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Red, White, and Boom!
The Night Before the Fourth of July
Fourth of July Mice!

Leap Frog Straw Rocket with Printable

May 16, 2017 By Deirdre

Your children are going to have a great time decorating, coloring, and leaping frogs. They will also have a wonderful time constructing a leap frog straw rocket! I bet your kids will have their frogs leaping off straws over and over again. They may even experiment with who can get their frog to travel the farthest.

Leap Frog Straw Rocket

Getting the Frog Ready for the Straw Rocket

The first thing you will need to do is print out the Leap Frog Straw Rocket page. There are a number of frogs on the page. Your children could each been given one frog to decorate. Another alternative you could do is that they can decorate a whole sheet of frogs and pick the one they like best.

The frogs will need to be cut out with a bubble around them. It will make the frog picture less fragile and easier to work with.

Assembling the Frog Rocket

Once your children have the frog they want to use on the rocket colored, it is time to put the rocket together. There are several ways to construct a straw rocket. (We based our straw rockets on ones made by Buggy and Buddy.) Let me walk you through what we did.

First, we cut a piece off a drinking straw that was about 2 1/2 inches long.
Then we taped one of the straw shut.
Next, we glued the frog to the straw section. You can totally have your kids tape the frog to the straw if you like.
Finally, we placed the straw section on the end of a full-size straw. The full-sized straw will be the launcher.

Leaping Frogs

Your children will simply blow into the end of the straw that doesn’t have the frog on it. They can blow the frog up into the air or out and away from them.

If you want them to measure how far the frogs can leap when it is blown from the straw rocket, you may want to lay a yardstick or measuring tape down on the ground. Then they can lay on their bellies and blow the frog off the rocket.

Tying the Activity into a Book

You may want to read a leaping frog-themed book to your children before or after creating the leap frog straw rocket. Here are some wonderful frog-themed books.

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Leap Frog– This is a rhyming board book with fun illustrations.

Flying Frogs and Walking Fish: Leaping Lemurs, Tumbling Toads, Jet-Propelled Jellyfish, and More Surprising Ways That Animals Move– Kids will love exploring how a variety of animals move.

Jump, Frog, Jump! Your kids are going to love the rhythm and repeated words in this book.

Frog and Fly- This fun comic strip style book have six fun stories in it.

So many of you have loved this activity, I have made a Butterfly Straw Rocket printable you could also use with this activity.

More Straw Rockets

Straw Rockets with Leprechaun Pictures- This is a fun STEM activity. It is a great way to explore measurement and breath control. Children at home and students at school will have fun with this activity. It would great St. Partricks Day science experiment or math activity.

Leaping Leprechaun Straw Rockets

Ski Jumping Straw Rockets

Fireworks Straw Rockets

Hydroponic Gardening with Kids – Bean Space Garden

May 9, 2017 By Deirdre

This week I have been sharing a number of space-themed activities that you can do with your children. We started the week with Constellation Exploration Mats. Today we will be gardening. This hydroponic gardening activity will be fascinating to do with your children. They will be amazed that you can grow a bean seed without soil. It will be like they are growing a seed in space.

Hydroponic Gardening with Kids

While we did our hydroponic gardening with a single large bean seed in a single-serve water bottle, you could use a 2-liter bottle and several seeds if you like.

Hydroponic Gardening Supplies:

2-liter bottle cotton balls; heavy cotton string; green bean seeds; tape
cotton balls
heavy cotton string or twine
large bean seeds
water

Getting Started

You can cut the top third of the bottle for your children if they are young. Older kids can probably cut the water bottle on their own with scissors.

Next children will need to place the top section of the bottle into the bottom section upside down. It will look like a funnel!

Then they will fill the bottle section of the bottle until it is about 1/4 of the way full.

A piece of string or twine about 6 to 8 inches will need to be cut. It will then be threaded through the neck of the bottle. You will want it to sit on the surface of the bottom of the bottle. The remaining end will be wrapped around the inside edge of the funnel.

Cotton balls will need to be pulled and stretched until they are fluffy. When they are ready, you can place them in the funnel section. Children will want to fill the funnel to the top with cotton balls.

It is now time to tuck a seed or seeds into the cotton balls. Children will want to make sure the seeds are toward the center of the cotton ball area. It will give them a chance to start growing in a completely covered area.

Then you will pour a small amount of water on the cotton balls to slightly dampen them. The string will bring them water during the hydroponic gardening process, but this gives them a little water to start with before the water rises to them.

Finally, place the space garden in a sunny spot and watch your seed grow. You may need to add water to the bottom bottle from time to time.

Oh! It is okay to lift the cotton balls and check on the seed’s progress.

If your children love gardening, here are a few more gardening projects they will enjoy.

STEM Gardening- Paper Plate Greenhouse

Planting Pumpkin Seeds in a Pumpkin

Spider Web Trellis

25 Gardening Activities for Kids- I love the ice cream cone garden!

Recycled Planter in a Sling

You will find even more gardening projects on my Gardening with Kids Board on Pinterest.

Life Cycle of a Spider Coding Printable

May 3, 2017 By Deirdre

This week I am sharing bug or insect-themed printables. The first activity focused on exploring shapes on butterfly mats. The second activity explored counting money on caterpillars. Today’s activity focuses on coding. When children first hear the word coding, they may think of creating a secret way to send messages. I teach my students that coding is simply creating a series of steps that complete a task. Then we work on connecting a series of pictures or events based on a book or concept on paper. The Very Hungry Caterpillar and plant growth are two coding activities I have shared with your before. Today I have a coding printable that focuses on the life cycle of a spider.

Life Cycle of a Spider Coding Activity

Getting Ready for the Life Cycle of the Spider Activity

The first thing you will need to do is print out the Spider Life Cycle Coding. Although this life cycle of a spider sheet contains color pictures, you can print it out in black and white.

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If your children aren’t familiar with the life cycle of a spider, you can read themSpiders (New & Updated Edition) by Gail Gibbons. It will give them some background information about spiders and walk them through the spider life cycle.

Then you will need to decide if your children will be using the terms up, down, left, and right or compass directions (north, south, east or west). You can use either in this activity.

Going Through the Activity

Your children will begin with the word start. They will need to create a path of arrows that will lead them from the word Start to the picture of the eggs. Your children don’t have to use the path shared in the picture below. They can place an arrow pointing only one direction in each square. Please encourage them to try to come up with the shortest route from one picture to the next.

Hint: If your children are not up for drawing arrows, you can have them use an Arrow Wooden Rubber Stamp No. 73 (0.5″ x 0.5″) and an ink pad.

After reaching the eggs, they will need to create a path that will lead them to the egg sac. Despite having to create two paths already, your children may need to be reminded that they can only put one arrow in each square.

Then your children will move from the egg sac to the spiderlings.

Finally, the spiderlings will need to be connected to the spider. Your children may be tempted to draw a giant arrow going down the right side of the paper for a part to the path. Please encourage them to draw an arrow in each box.

If you like this spider life cycle coding activity, here are some more coding activities your kids will love.

Little Miss Muffet Coding Activity for Preschoolers

Gruffalo Coding Sheet

Super Hero Coding without a Computer

Coding a LEGO Maze

Rub a Dub Dub 3 Objects Sink or Float in a Tub

April 26, 2017 By Deirdre

This STEM activity explores the Rub a Dub Dub nursery rhyme them with objects that you can find at home. Rather than floating in a tub or float these objects were dropped into a large tub of water.

Why aren’t the objects floating on raft or boat? We found that when we only put three of each of the objects into a plastic bowl they all floated.

Rub a Dub Dub Sink and Float Activity

You can put the Rub a Dub Dub activity out for your children to explore on their own. You can have them do a guided discovery where you provide guidance and ask questions as they test out each object.

Using the Experiment Recording Sheet

Regardless of what you decide to do, you can use the Rub a Dub Dub 3 Objects in a Tub recording sheet to display the results of this experiment. Your children can write or draw each of the objects that they experiment with. Then they can predict if each set of objects will sink or float by circling the word yes or no.

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After testing out each set of objects, children will need to circle whether the object sank or floated. If you would like, you can have them use a dot markers. Children can place a dot over the word sink or float.

Rub a Dub Dub Activity

You will need to gather five set of objects for your children to explore. A few objects will need to float and a few will need to sink. We used rocks, blocks, MegaBloks, erasers, and farmanimals

Children will drop in one of each type of objects at a time. The first drop is the test. The second is the confirmation. The third is to try a fun way to drop it.

If you like this science activity, here are some more wonderful experiments we have done.

You Can Make Water Flow
How to Make Things Sink
Make a Boat with Recycled Materials
STEM Activities-How to Make a Balloon Boat
How Long will a LEGO Boat Float?

Paper Airplane Designs Your Kids Will Love

April 12, 2017 By Deirdre

Making paper airplane is so much fun. Your children will love making each and everyone one of the paper airplane designs in the collection below.

After making a few of them you can have your children decide which of the paper airplane designs travels the farthest. I have created a STEM Paper Airplane Comparison Chart your can use to record the results of their flight test.

Paper Airplane Designs

Below you will find links to several wonderful paper airplane designs. Please take a moment to check each of them out. Then you and your children can select the planes you want to make to compare.

Paper Airplanes that Go Far from Tinker Lab

The Best Paper Airplane in the World from Kids Activities Blog

Giant Paper Airplane from Fireflies and Mud Pies

Design and Build a Propeller Paper Airplane from Planet Smarty Pants

Simple Paper Airplane from Life with Moore Babies

Straw and Paper Airplanes from Tinker Lab

The Very Best Plane from Bounce Back Parenting

Awesome Flier Paper Airplane from All for the Boys

Stunt Paper Airplane from Craftulate

Testing Out the Paper Airplane Designs

Once you have created several different types of paper airplanes, you will want to test them out. Beyond testing whether they can fly you can test out which one will fly the farthest.

You will need to decide how you will measure the distance each plane has flown. You could use a measuring tape if you think the planes will only go a short distance. If you think they will travel farther, you could put out markers that are several feet apart. Make sure yo use a measuring tape or measuring stick to ensure you know how far each marker is from the starting line.

Once each plane has been flown, you will need to record the distance it traveled on your recording sheet.

If you like these science experiment, here are some more you will love.

How You Can Make Water Flow
How to Make Things Sink
How to Make a Boat with Recycled Materials
STEM Activities-How to Make a Balloon Boat
How Long will a LEGO Boat Float?

Peeps Experiment with Free Printables- Effects of Liquids on Peeps

March 31, 2017 By Deirdre

We did an experiment similar to this peeps experiment with pennies for JDaniel’s school science fair project. We used the same liquids and followed almost the same steps. You may decide you want to try liquids different than the ones we did. Our liquids with the exception of the soda all had a little bit of acid in them. We knew they would dissolve some of the sugar off the Peeps!

Peeps Experiment Printables

A set of Peep Science Effects of Liquids on Peeps was created for you to use. One of them lists the supplies needed to conduct the Peeps experiment. It also has a place to write your predictions and an area to write the results.

The second and third printable look just at the results. One of them has the liquids we used listed on it. The second has the area for the liquids left blank. You can have your children write in the liquids they select on each blank. You will notice that both printables have space for your children to write in how each Peep looks, smells and feels. You could have your children explore how they taste and sound, but we decided not to do that.

Conducting the Peeps Experiment

After deciding on the liquids you want to use, you will need to place them in small containers. (We used empty applesauce containers). Then you will need to place a Peep in each container.

Next, you will need to leave the Peep in the liquid for twenty-four hours. It may be hard for your children to leave the Peeps in the liquids. My son kept wanting to turn them over.

At the end of the 24 hours, your children will need to inspect the Peeps. They will need to share and record the results. If your children are too little to record results, you can have them share what the see, smell and feel with your orally.