Wednesday July 29th /Young (Mad?) Scientist / Invisible Ink
This is another preschool activity about science.

You need
2 tbsp lemon juice
cotton swabs

1. Put lemon juice in container
2. Soak cotton swabs
3. Draw picture or write words
4. Hold the paper up to a light
-the heat will "reveal" the picture or words by turning the lemon juice brown

Ext: make TOP SECRET notes or TREASURE MAPS

Monday July 27th / Bug Collecting

You need:
Glass jar with holes in lid
leaves
sticks
bugs
magnifying glass

I suggest collecting pill bugs, ants, spiders, caterpillars, or beetles

Toddler:
You can let them look at the bug and tell them about them. Toddlers may be afraid of bugs and shouldn't be pushed to hold or touch bugs if they are afraid.

Preschool:
Put them in your jar and ask your child to notice what was around the bug when you found it.
What do you think the bug needs to feel at home? Offer silly suggestions like seaweed, TV's, or palm trees!
You can teach them the word Habitat and discuss different habitats such as; where do fish and whales live?, lions?, elephants?, penguins?, moles and ground hogs?, etc.

What do bugs do? You may have to look up the particular bug you found. Some bugs aerate the dirt, pollinate flowers, or eat other harmful bugs.

Have your preschooler look at the bug through a magnifying glass. How many legs does the bug have? What kind of eyes? What else do you notice about the bug?

Teach respect for Nature and have your child let the bugs go when you are finished playing with them.

Tuesday July 21st / Preschool Chalk Outlines
Preschooler

You need:
chalk
body outline
blocks

This activities objective is to introduce your preschooler to measuring. Measuring as a concept should be introduced using objects, not a ruler.

1. Have your child lay on the ground and draw their outline with chalk.
2. Bring your blocks outside and only use blocks that are the same size.
3. Ask your child how many blocks long they think their arm is (hypothesis).
4. Lay out the blocks first and them count them.
Tip: Do not use only one block and move it, they will not have the same depth of understanding as they will if they can visually see the blocks lined up along the arm.

5. Tell them "Your arm is ________ blocks long!"
6. Now ask, "How many blocks do you think your leg is?"
7. Repeat all steps! Move on to their head, hands, etc.

Wednesday July 15th /Young (Mad?) Scientist / Volcano
This is another preschool activity about science.

You need
2 small paper cups
1/4 c baking soda
1/4 c vinegar
4 drops red food coloring

1. Fill bottom cup with baking soda
2. Add food coloring
3. Poke dime size hole in second cup
4. Set second cup on top of first cup
5. Pour vinegar in hole
6. Watch the eruption

Try different colors and glitter
Decorate the cups
Name your volcano

Wednesday July 8th / Young (Mad?) Scientist / Pulley's
This is another preschool activity about simple machines. It goes with the lever and ramp, if your child loved those.

You need to purchase a pulley and rope.
We actually have one inside and one outside.
The one inside is small and hard to work with.
The one outside is much bigger and better made.

We hung it from a tree and attached a bucket. Let the fun begin!
Show your child the pulley before you hang it. Show them how it works.
Tell them it helps lift heavy things.
Attach it to a tree or swing set.
Attach a bucket to one end.
Let them put numerous things inside the bucket and try to lift it.
We used balls, sticks, and water. My son was surprised how heavy the water was!

The rope sometimes ends up at the top of the pulley and I have to get it down...

Other questions:
What happens when you pull the string hand over hand? (One side goes up , while one side goes down.)
Can you hold the string and back up?
How do you make the bucket come down fast? slow?
What else can you lift?
Why would you need a pulley?

If you have a tree house this would be GREAT!!

Tuesday June 23rd / Solid or Liquid AKA Gloop AKA OObleck


Preschooler

You need:
cornstarch
water
plastic bowl
OR cookie sheet

This mix is about 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water. But that is not exact. Watch the video! The substance is very entertaining to play with, and very messy for little ones. I suggest outside.

Questions to ask:
Can you stir it fast? Can you stir it slow? What happens when you go fast? What happens when you go slow? Try to make it into a ball (go fast). Tap your fingers very hard and fast on top, what happens? Tap your fingersslow and gently on top, what happens?

This substance acts like both a liquid and a solid.

Toddler and Preschooler:
Ok, Did you know shadows actually fall under science? I was surprised to find shadow play in numerous science books this week.

You need:
a dark room
cardboard
sticks
tape
scissors
flashlight
two or more people

First cut out your shadow puppets. They can be any shape, size, etc. You can make vampires, stars, monsters, ghosts, trees, bears, (it is limitless). Make your own patterns or use one you find online. YOu should use cardboard because it won't flop over.

Attach cardboard to your stick.

Have one person hold the flashlight.

Move your puppets in front of the light.

Science is all about exploring and finding out how things work!

Ask your child lots of questions to get them to think about your activity.
How do you move to make it bigger and smaller? Why can you see it on the wall? What is a shadow?

Light rays are straight, so the closer the closer the puppet is to the light, the larger it is on the wall.

Can you make your shadow puppet move? Can you make your shadow puppet dance?How would it move if it was happy? sad? excited?Want to get real fancy?

Set up the flashlight and have you and your child hold up puppets and have them talk and/ or act out a story. You could cut out characters from a book, read the book, and then have the shadow puppets act the story out!