Scientist for the Day!

Kids always LOVE the erupting volcano (with baking soda and vinegar). I would google science experiments for kids and see what you get.

Expanding gummy bear- soak a gummy bear in distilled water overnight and it will tripple in size!- osmosis
http://hastings.lexingtonma.org/staff/SLee/science
Have fun!

Home-made slime!!

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FLOATING & OBSERVING
Find out if adding salt to water will make a difference to how things float.
Need: 2 half-full glasses of water, 2 fresh eggs, 10 heaping teaspoons of salt.
1) Stir the salt into one glass of water until it has dissolved and is invisible.
2) Put an egg in each glass. Do both eggs float? Do they both behave the same way?
***(you can do something similar with raisins in a glass of carbinated drink & a glass of water)

MAKE A GAS
You can make carbon dioxide gas and blow up a ballon with it. You need: anarrow-necked jar, some baking soda, some vinegar, a balloon, a teaspoon.
1) Fill a quarter of the jar with vinegar. Put the soda into the ballon, using the teaspoon.
2) Stretch the neck of the balloon over the top of the jar. Don't let any soda pill into the jar.
3) Quickly lift the balloon up to tip all of the soda into the jar. The vinegar will react with the soda, making bubbles.
***When the vinegar and soda react, they make carbon dioxide gas which fills the balloon, blowing it up a little.

EXPANDSION & CONTRACTION (HOT & COLD)
You can do an experiment to see how air expands when it is heated and contracts when it cools down. This is what you will need: a bowl, a bottle, a balloon.
1) Ask an adult to hold the empyt bottle under hot water for a minute. Stretch the balloon over its neck.
2) Half-fill the bowl with cold water and stand the bottle in it. The air cools and shrinks, pulling the balloon inside.
3) Epmty the bowl and ask an adult to add hot water to it. The expanding warm air pushes the balloon out again.
***Heat is a form of energy. Whenever you heat something up, you are giving it more energy.

TESTING GRAVITY
Gravity pulls objects at the same speed, even if they have different weights. Try testing this yourself. You will need: tissue paper, a coin, 2 identical boxes (such as camera film boxes or food containers with lids).
1) Carefully tear a piece of tissue paper the same size as the coin. It will be lighter than the coin.
2) Drop the paper and the coin from the same height. The paper falls more slowly because air gets in its way.
3) Now put the coin in one box and the paper in the other. Put the lids on and drop both boxes together.
4) The boxes have the same air resistance and land at the same time, even though they are different weights.
***Gravity: When you jump up in the air, you drop back down again. This is because there's an invisible force pulling you down to the ground. This force is called gravity.

DOES IT FLOAT?
Guess which things will float in water and then see if you were right. You will need: a bowl of water, soild things such as a cork, candle, coin, apple, raisin, plastic toy eraser or whatever you can find (get items that will float & sink).
1) Make a chart to compare your guesses with what actually happens. Have the item names going down one side, then two columns (my guess, actual), have kids put check mark if they think it will float & 'X' if they think it will sink in the "my guess" column.
2) Try floating different objects and write down which of them really float using the same check mark and 'X' method.
***Floating is about density - how heavy something is for its size. For example, a cork is light for its size. A piecce of iron (or some rocks) the same size as a cork is much heavier, because iron (or some rocks) is denser than cork. Objects that are denser than water sink in water. Objects that are less dense than water float in water.
Things float because water pushes up on them more than they push down. This upward force is called upthrust. If an object is denser than water, the water cannot provide enough upthroast, so the object sinks.

FEEL SOUND VIBRATIONS
You can't normally feel sound viberations in the air, but you can in this experiment. You will need: a radio, a blown-up balloon.
1)Turn the radio on and hold the balloon next to its speaker. The viberations travel through the balloon and into your fingers.
***Sound is a form of energy. It is made of vibrations (back-and-forth movements) that can move through air, solid things and liquids. When you hit a drum, speak or clap your hands, molecules in the air vibrate. We hear sounds because the vibrations travel air, or other substances, and hit our ears.

--------All these experiments come from "The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Science" by Rachel Firth (a Scholastic Inc. book)

"The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science"!!! 64 daring experiments for young scientists!!
This is a book my boys got from the book fair at school. It's awesome! No, they aren't all totally irresponsible - just really fun! They have only performed about 5 or 6 out of the 64, but most of them require things you already have in your house. There's antigravity water, balloon power, bottomless pit, bubble child, magic napkin last straw, viking funeral.......the list goes on and on. I'm sure it has every science experiment we've all seen on tv or tried in school and then some. I can't pick just one to share, cuz they are all fun. I'm sure you could find this book at nearly any book store or online.
Good luck and have fun!!!