Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 3

I think it's pretty safe to say that we are ALL (adults included) having a great time at Hogwarts MiniCamp! We've entered into our second week here and the young wizards have been very busy. (So has Professor McGonagall, aka: your's truly, who sometimes must also take on the dual role of House Elf and tend to tasks in the home, kitchen and across campus.) We've had a lot of imaginative play and free exploration and some more organized "lessons" as well. Potions Class has been a favorite here by far. Here's a peek at some of our latest concoctions:

Bubble Bubble, Toil & Trouble: You really can't go wrong with baking soda and vinegar here. Add in some color (we used red, yellow and orange liquid watercolor in our vinegar), some glitter (because, why not?), and some unique containers and tools (we used plastic cauldrons, "stirring wands" [chopsticks], various glass bottles and jars, pipettes, glass flasks and dessert cups, tiny dessert spoons and various pieces from a metal tea set I use in our dramatic play area here) and you've got yourself the perfect setup for Potions Class. It's the perfect backyard adventure for any wizard in training or budding scientist. We called this Potions Practice Class since I really just let the boys have at it in their own way rather than giving any formal instruction. It was colorful. It was bubbly. It was messy. It was fun!

 Polyjuice Potions: We love the magical feel of Hogwarts and we also love science. Especially on a Monday. A friend of mine told me about her kids' lava lamp experiment at a virtual camp last week and I decided I had to try it. I've heard that if you take an alka seltzer, you'll feel better fast. Other than that, I had no idea what that stuff is used for. (Antacid and pain relief, apparently...) But here, it's used for polyjuice potion lamps and in today's Potions Class, the boys made their very own. You can see a variety of ways to make a polyjuice potion lamp (aka: lava lamp) here from STEAM Powered Family. We made the glow in the dark version using tonic water, vegetable oil, food coloring (each of the boys chose two colors) and alka seltzer tablets broken into pieces. We first set up and tested the polyjuice potions in daylight at our dining room table. Next, we took them, along with a UV flashlight into our dark bathroom with the door closed. 

Disclaimer: If you are the parent of boys, you may not want to take a UV flashlight into your dark bathroom. I'm going to need therapy. Bleach and therapy.

But the glow in the dark Polyjuice Potions were so cool!

Meanwhile in the kitchen...
S has an incredible eye (and memory) for details--especially edible details. He has truly been the inspiration and brilliance behind much of our curriculum here at Hogwarts MiniCamp. Among his contributions to the agenda were "a feast" and "the cake Hagrid makes for Harry Potter that he doesn't get to eat." So last week, I conjured my inner House Elf and cooked up a feast for dinner. It was a pretty kid friendly and low maintenance feast of homemade pizza, cut up fruits and veggies and soda for a special treat (enjoyed inside a Harry Potter cup with a swirly straw, of course). We used the "nice" dishes, set out some place cards and even had a special dessert of "butter beer pudding and biscuits" and some "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" (butterscotch pudding and jelly beans).

There may have also been some chocolate frogs... You can see below a scene that never quite made it into any of the Harry Potter movies:

There certainly isn't any doing things half way here. Y takes the "school" component of Hogwarts so seriously (as he so misses school right now) that he often wears his backpack and Gryffindor tie all day! And everyone was particularly diligent about eating our themed Shabbos dessert this past week. As someone who really stinks at decorating cakes, I relished the opportunity to recreate this one!

We'll be back with more BIG adventures from our mini camp soon! Until then...

Happy Playing!

Mad Science Monday: Lemon Volcanoes

Nothing says summer to me quite like the smell of freshly squeezed lemons, so when life gives you lemons--make lemon volcanoes?! Well, that's what we did, anyway for this week's Mad Science Monday as a continuation to our exploration of fizzy science experiments. But unlike our other baking soda and vinegar science activities, this one has no vinegar (and in my opinion, a much better smell).

I was very excited when I found The Best Smelling Science Activity: How To Make a Lemon Volcano on Babble Dabble Do. Truth be told, I've never done fizzy science here with anything other than baking soda and vinegar, so I was just as eager to try it out as my junior scientists, S and Y. I also love that the author of the post explains and expands upon the science behind why lemon juice reacts with baking soda. S has been so interested in volcanoes lately and we had a bag of lemons on the move list in our fridge, so we were ready to go today!

We set up shop with a little prep by me for the sake of saving time, but kids can help with just about every step here as is age appropriate. I cut the bottom off of two lemons for each of the participating scientists so they could sit flat in our trays. Next I cored the top. I squeezed a couple of drops of food coloring into each lemon, a different color in each one to add some color mixing action. Your scientists can choose their colors. I squeezed the juice out of the remaining lemons we had and poured it into squeeze bottles. Little hands love juicing lemons and other citrus fruits, so feel free to include them. I poured a bit of baking soda into a container and added a plastic spoon and a wooden craft stick for scooping and mixing action. Lastly, I added a drop of dish soap into each lemon for extra bubbling action, but you can leave this step out altogether if you want your experiment to be completely taste safe. (That being said, one of our scientists did ask if he could taste the combo of lemon juice and baking soda and declared it was not very yummy!)

And it was volcano time! The boys like to have safety goggles for fizzy science and it's not a bad idea to protect their eyes from splashes that may erupt...

This experiment totally impressed everyone involved! We started by scooping some baking soda into the lemons and the boys got right down to squeezing in some added lemon juice for more bubbling action. Mixing the concoction inside of the lemon volcanoes increased the eruption as well. 

Colors mixed, bubbles emerged, baking soda was added and more lemon juice. When S ran out of juice in his bottle, he decided to test out squeezing the lemon volcanoes and it worked! Y was curious what adding water might do and asked if he could fill up his bottle with some and pour it in. Sure! I always say that fizzy science is self cleaning science. That said, it's messy in action. The bonus is that when it is time to clean it up, you don't need to add any cleaners to the process. A wet rag (and maybe a few dry ones as well) will do the trick. Food coloring can stain, so take the necessary precaution to protect clothing and surfaces, though ours was so diluted by the time it bubbled to the surface, I wasn't worried. S dug right in with his hands and played in the concoction for quite some time, declaring that it felt like soap in his hands! Y poured the remaining baking soda into his tray and mixed it all together. A great time was had by all! 

In related news, we need more lemons...

Happy Playing!

Mad Science Monday: Volcano Fizzy Science

If the idea of something 'sploding on a Monday morning gets you all warm and fizzy, then this Mad Science Monday post is for you! Whether you are at home with your kids, in a classroom setting or looking for a great take-along for your next outdoor adventure, baking soda and vinegar never disappoint. In fact, last Monday, we took our show on the road at my nature-based play group and held a pop-up laboratory for children of all ages at a local park and sprayground. When it comes to teaching children about science, I often tell parents and educators that you don't need to really teach at all; children are inherently scientific in the way they wonder, discover, observe and explore. Allowing space and time for this to occur naturally is just the fuel that is needed to ignite a lifelong love of learning and to develop the skills necessary for critical thinking.




That being said, a directed experiment or even a set up to explore materials (like those found in nature, or chemical reactions between baking soda and vinegar) can be a great way to bring a little science into your child's life. After a couple of hours of fizzy fun at the park, many children went home slightly colorful from food coloring and begging for more. S was especially interested in making a volcano after seeing a version of this experiment depicted in a Starwars activity book we checked out of the library and after visiting an exhibit on Pompeii at our local science museum with his Poppa last month. Both boys dug right into our blob of potter's clay to build our volcanic mountain. You can also use playdough or even build your mountain from paper mache. It would be really cool to build your mountain outdoors using mud or sand. Since clay was what we had on hand today, it's what we used. The boys smoothed the sides, and pressed a large dent deeper and deeper into the center. I helped pinch up the edges until we were happy with the shape of our mountain. I poured a bit of baking soda into the bottom.

It was time for our eruption to begin! I set out some safety goggles and Y chose to wear his lab coat as well. S discovered he has a unique talent for getting baking soda and vinegar into his eyes last week, so safety goggles are not a bad idea here! We found these at our dollar tree in the hardware/auto care aisle. I filled a couple of empty condiment bottles with vinegar dyed orange with food coloring. I also filled a small container and added a couple of pipettes. The boys got busy with the squeeze bottles first, watching it bubble higher and higher in the volcano until our lava ran right over top!

I can tell you, I've done this experiment many times in my life and it's still fun and exciting! Baking soda and vinegar are inexpensive, easy to obtain and I often call it "self-cleaning" science--it does have a tendency to bubble over, but it likely won't damage your surfaces or clothing. We used a clear plastic file bin to contain the science residue and you can also opt to take this outdoors if the thought of an indoor explosion seems over the top.

 Happy Playing!

This experiment is great for a rainy day. It's a sure to impress an audience if you need an activity for a playgroup, classroom or birthday party. It's budget friendly and pretty fail proof. And the best part? You can do fizzy science again and again and again and it's still fun every time! S and Y have both already requested more fizzy science experiments next Monday--so we'll be back with more! Until then...

Mad Science Monday: Get Outside And...Into the Laboratory!

On most days, this area of our Play Garden is a Mud Kitchen--but on this particular day, a Tuesday, actually (because Monday had been quite rainy), it became a Scientist's Laboratory for the day! Stuff was gonna get colorful. Stuff was gonna get messy. Stuff was gonna 'splode! Oh YEAH!

The boys were greeted at the I Wonder Station by a sign with a question: Can you be a scientist? I set out some props and materials and let them have at it for as long as they wished. I am embarrassed proud to say that all three of us had to be lured back inside close to bedtime with edible treats.

And while the boys were definitely busy having fun, they were also learning. They were engaged in meaningful symbolic play about being a scientist. This led to some great observation of chemical reactions and colors mixing. It led as well to mathematical discoveries as they measured and estimated potions and concoctions. They developed their fine motor skills using pipettes and tongs and gross motor skills loading up the trunk of our red tricycle to drive some laboratory materials up the sidewalk. They had opportunities to practice social skills and problem solving when it came to sharing space, ideas and resources. They built vocabulary with big words like "laboratory" and "scientist" and even "horticulturalist" (S wanted to be a "scientist who works in the garden).

Folks, I'm not gonna lie--this was messy! This was also fun. This was kind of a self cleaning experiment as well if you consider the baking soda and vinegar factor--but I definitely did a lot of dishes that night and none of them were the ones we ate from! It was worth it and you know what? We'll probably do it again... And if you would like to turn your outdoor space into a Scientist's Laboratory for a day or two or even more, here's what you'll need:









The Bare Basics:

• Tools for filling, squeezing, pouring, grasping... I had a collection of plastic beakers from the Dollar Tree and added in some squeeze bottles, plastic tongs, pipettes, funnels and other tools and toys from our sensory bin tool collection. You can use whatever you have--even if it's from the recycling bin! You don't have to have "real" science tools (but you can use those if you do).
• Water
• White vinegar
• Food coloring or liquid water color 
• Baking soda
• A plastic bin, pan or sensory table

Optional Add-ons:

• lab coats
• goggles
• clipboards and paper, pens, pencils for documentation

Before you begin you'll want to fill some of your containers with water and some with vinegar. Initially I planned to do all of my starter containers with vinegar but we didn't have a lot left (this is in no way indicative of how many science experiments I do here). I decided that having a "control group" was a great way to incorporate scientific method to our activity and filled some containers with water. I added a couple of drops of different colored food coloring to each of my containers. I did not label which ones had water and which had vinegar--this was the fun and surprising part! Pour a generous amount of baking soda in the bottom of your bin/pan or sensory table. Let your little scientists in training have at it! Pretty quickly, the boys discovered that some bottles when squeezed or poured into the baking soda made bubbles and some did not. We talked about why, but then I really did step back and refrained from hijacking their play. I let them mix, concoct, explode, stir, scoop, squeeze, transfer and even snip bits of flowers and leaves from our snipping garden and add them into their potions and concoctions as well. 

By the time we were all football carried inside by Tatty who had lollipops for the shorter scientists (who'd already finished dinner) and some homemade vegetarian chilli cheese fries for the slightly taller scientist who hadn't had dinner yet, we were all covered in splashes of color, baking soda and mud. In other words, a great time was had by all. 

HAPPY PLAYING!

Mad Science Monday: Community Helpers Edition

Scientists are one of my favorite community helpers, and in the spirit of Mad Science Monday and our current theme, we are becoming scientists today with a series of great community helper themed experiments! I hope you'll join in with us and feel free to choose one or even a few of the activities below to engage your little one's scientific mind!

Architect Themed Science: Building Bridges Experiment

You will need:

• a collection of blocks to build the base of your bridge (we used Magnetiles)
• a collection of small objects to use as weights (we used glass gems)
• a variety of bridge surfaces to test, all prepared/cut to the same size (we used construction paper, card-stock, and corrugated cardboard)

Remember that to make your results most reliable, you'll want to change only one factor of your building each trial. For this experiment, you'll want to build your base in the same way each time and use the same material as a weight. You could use pennies or glass stones or even Legos (so long as you use a collection all the same size). I encourage you to make and even record your predictions about which surface material will be the strongest (i.e.: hold the most weight). Test and observe your results and discuss which materials and strongest and why. Architects must use science when they plan and build bridges, buildings and other structures to ensure they are strong enough to withstand the pressure of weight, weather and time!

Baker Themed Science: Observing the Science of Yeast

As part of learning about bakers and chefs, and our letter of the week Yy, we made a chart of foods my son thinks are "yummy" and those he thinks are "yucky." At the table, we generally encourage him to use language like "that's not my favorite" in lieu of the word yucky, but it's a great letter Yy word, nonetheless. Yeast is another great word that begins with the letter Yy and anyone who has ever baked bread knows that there is a science to it! My son helps me bake challah regularly and I always explain that yeast is what makes the bread dough rise so our challah is soft and fluffy after baking it. With this experiment, you can see how yeast works!


You will need:

• 2 empty bottles or jars of the same size
• warm water (determine the amount you will use so that the same amount is used in each bottle)
• sugar (determine the amount you will use so that the same amount is used in each bottle)
• 2 balloons
• 1 packet or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add equal amounts of water and sugar to each bottle/jar. One container will be your control sample and to the other one, you will add your yeast. As an adult assists in stretching a balloon over the top of each, encourage your young scientist to predict what will happen inside each container and what will happen to the balloon. In just minutes, you should be able to observe that as yeast (which are a tiny fungi) eat the sugar, they release a gas (carbon dioxide) that makes bubbles and inflates the balloon! 

Florist and Botanist Themed Science: Study and Observe the Parts of a Flower

A botanist is a scientist who studies plants of all kinds. We recently did flower dissections as part of our Tu B'Shevat theme and my son still talks about this activity on a regular basis.

You Will Need:

• a small collection of flowers or greenery--you can pick weeds from outside, use flowers that are ready for the compost pile from your dining room table (like we did) or purchase some on discount at your local nursery. Some garden nurseries or florists might even have damaged plants or flowers they are getting rid of and would be happy to donate to a botanist in training!
• child-safe scissors
• tweezers
• magnifying glass or microscope (if you have one) for observing more closely

Let your young botanist experiment with cutting and plucking and pulling apart the flowers and plants. He or she can observe the different parts of the plant, the textures, aromas and structure. You may want to choose particularly pretty leaves or petals to press and dry for later use.

Fireman & Fire Safety Themed Science

What does fire need to continue burning? Fires and flames need oxygen to continue burning. To demonstrate this to enthusiastic young firefighters (and to help show an important aspect of fire safety) you will need:

• three tea light candles
• matches or a lighter*
• two glasses or jars, one larger and one smaller

*An adult must assist with this experiment and be present at all times! Have an adult light all three tea lights. Talk about how fires need oxygen to burn. What would happen if there were no more oxygen? Could a flame continue to burn? You will cover two of the tea lights with a glass or jar. Predict with your young scientist what you think will happen? Will the flames beneath the jars stay lit or burn out? Which might burn out first, the larger jar or the smaller one? Observe the results and make sure to extinguish any remaining flames before leaving the area!

For some more hands-on fun, make your own fizzy "fires" using baking soda and vinegar. For our version of the experiment, we like to begin with a simple baking soda dough:

You will need:

• about 1 cup baking soda
• about 1/4 cup water
• a few drops each of red and yellow food coloring to create your fire colors

Your junior scientist can dig right in with his/her hands to form a crumbly dough that is able to molded into a solid ball (or even more than one). For dough that is too crumbly, add more water; for dough that is not solid enough, add a bit more baking soda.

For your fizzy fire chemical reaction, you will need:

• white vinegar
• an empty condiment bottle or pipettes for squirting

Allow your little one to squeeze vinegar onto the baking soda dough and observe the fizzy "fire" that results. You may just want to include some plastic toy firefighters and fire trucks to the scene!

Police Officer Themed Science: Observing Our Fingerprints

You will need:

• a washable ink pad
• paper (you can print out the template pictured below by clicking this link)
• baby wipes or a wet washcloth close by for inky hands!
• a magnifying glass for observing

Many children love dipping their fingers or whole hands in ink pads to make prints, but did they also know that each of us has different and unique fingerprints? Police officers use fingerprints to help solve crimes and identify people. Instruct your young officer in training to dip one finger at a time in the ink and slowly roll it from one side to the other in the appropriate space on your template. You may wish to model this and assist younger children with the process. Once you have recorded each of your fingerprints, you can use a magnifying glass to observe the unique lines in each of our fingerprints.

You can check out this template along with other ideas for exploring fingerprints at this website

Through a day (or many days) of science exploration, you can see how many professions rely on science and the work of scientists to perform their jobs. Hope you will have as much fun with this as we have! 

Happy Playing!

Mad Science Monday: Fizzy the Snowman

Happy Mad Science Monday! This week's experiment was one I took last year from one of my favorite bloggers and authors, Asia Citro. If you have not already, I highly recommend checking out her blog and her books as well. Additionally, you can see how she prepared and conducted this activity over on her blog, Fun At Home With Kids.

Fizzy the Snowman

You will need:

For the dough...

• 2 cups baking soda
• 2 TBSP salt
• 1 tsp dish soap
• about 8 TBSP water

For the accessories...

• google eyes
• pipe cleaner arms in black or brown
• orange pipe cleaners cut and folded into carrot noses
• any other snowman accessories you'd like to add!

and lastly...

• white vinegar
• squeeze bottles, pipettes, small cups and/or recycled condiment bottles

1. Prepare your snow dough following the recipe above. Little hands will love helping with this! The dough will be a bit crumbly and if it is too crumbly to hold a shape, you'll want to add more water, one TBSP at a time until it is able to hold the shape of a ball. From there you can build and accessorize your snowman! 
2. Next it's time to see some stuff 'splode! Using your squirting or pouring vessels and white vinegar watch your snowman fizz and bubble! He's melllllllting! Half the fun of this experiment is setting it up and the other half is definitely playing with it as you tear it down!

This one is totally worth digging your hands into according to my then-18 month old. But don't worry about the mess. I'd still throw down a drop cloth if you're working on the floor like we were, but baking soda, vinegar and dish soap are three of my favorite self-cleaning science ingredients! The carpet looked better than ever when we were done...

Happy Experimenting!

Mad Science Monday: 'Sploding Pumpkin Patch

We love any and all science experiments that explode here, so when I saw this great simple science experiment over at Lemon Lime Adventures, I knew we had to try this one out for our next Mad Science Monday. We are transitioning our Autumn theme into a Thanksgiving theme over the next week and a half, and we already had a couple of mini-pumpkins on our nature shelf just waiting for their next big gig.  This is a great toddler-friendly activity that they can really get their hands on. The fun outlasted the bubbles as we continued trying to slurp back up the sudsy baking soda and vinegar mix into the squeeze bottles and squirt it out again. And while they are mastering the scientific concepts of basic chemical reactions along with the fine motor skills and coordination of squeezing and squirting condiment bottles, little scientists are also building and developing descriptive vocabulary. Here's how you can set up your own 'Sploding Pumpkin Patch for some Mad Science fizzy fun any day of the week:

You Will Need:

• a basin or baking dish to work in--you could also set this up in a sensory table if you prefer
• mini pumpkins! We had two, but you can use more!
• empty condiment bottles or squeeze bottles
• white vinegar
• baking soda
• dish soap
• green food color

To Set Up Your Experiment:

Squirt several little blobs of dish soap across your basin/pan, spacing them out by several inches. I had about 4-5 little blobs in the bottom of my basin. Add one or two drops of green food coloring to each blob of dish soap. I sprinkled baking soda generously across the top and placed the pumpkins on top of that. I filled two squeeze bottles half way with white vinegar and then it was time to play, experiment and observe!

He had so much fun slowly squirting the vinegar in the beginning and watching the first bubbles appear. Then he had fun squeezing a bit harder and squirting faster! Once the bottles were empty, we experimented with squeezing them and slurping up the soapy, sudsy liquid from the bottom of the basin and squeezing it out again. It was a lot of bubbly fun! 

Want to do more? We love self-cleaning science here, and any time I use baking soda and vinegar with my little one, I always remind him of their other uses in the kitchen and around the home. If your junior scientist(s) want some more fun after the experiment is done, invite them to help in the clean-up process. Empty out the contents of the basin and rinse it well. Then replace the pumpkins along with a bit of warm water (soapy if you'd like) and a sponge or towel for pumpkin washing!

Mad Science Monday: Fizzy Planet Fun

I never get tired of exploding science experiments! And truth be told, I've never met a kid who does either. Baking soda and white vinegar are common household ingredients that are likely already in your pantry and ready for fun. That said, almost any day can become a Mad Science day, even on the fly. Added bonus: self cleaning science--if it gets on the carpet, no worries and you likely just lifted that old grape juice stain as well!

During a recent Space Theme, I came across this creative twist on the classic baking soda and vinegar chemical reaction on this wonderful blog. My son and I conducted our own Fizzy Planet Jupiter experiment:

We mixed about a cup of baking soda with about 1/4 cup of water and several drops of red and yellow food coloring to form our baking soda dough. The dough is quite crumbly and pleasantly cold to the touch, but given the right amount of water (you may need to add a bit more) can be molded into a ball.

Half the fun is just playing with the dough!

And the other half of the fun is using a condiment bottle to squeeze white vinegar and watch it 'splode again and again!