Experiments, Activities, and Recipes
Below are some fun and easy things you can do at home with your kids. We'll keep adding to this page, so come back often.
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 | Step by Step on how to make
Brainy Bug Antennae
also called
Head-Sculpture Art | Materials needed:
- Newspaper rolls
- colored masking tape
- your imagination!
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Begin to roll it from one of
the corners. | Keep the roll kind of tight. It may need a bit of encouragement.
Roll to the opposite corner and tape it closed.
| You have finished your first roll!! Wasn’t that easy?
Keep rolling. You'll need at least six for one set of antennae!
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Now for the Brainy Bug Antennae!
Start by sizing a roll around
the head.
| Tape it into place
(meaning: to itself in a ring shape,
not to your head). | Arch another roll over your head from side to side and tape it
into place.
This will be the armature.
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Play with a curling the rolls around a stick or round object for a curly cue effect, or try folding them into a desired shape.
| Add rolls to the sides taping them to the arched piece for added support to keep your antennae standing up straight. | You now have your own one-of-a-kind Brainy Bug antennae. Welcome to the Brainy Bugs Club!!!
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Head sculpture idea from local artist Lisa Fredenthal-Lee
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Recipes .............................................................................................................................................
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| | Bubble Juice  | - 1 gallon water (distilled works best)
- 9 oz Ultra Dawn
- 3Tbsp. glycerin
or
- 15 to 1 water to Dawn
- 3 Tbsp glycerin
We've used both and they work well. They're basically the same measurements but the 9 oz of Dawn is an actual size you can buy.
There are 16 cups to a gallon so the 2nd recipe will better fit in a gallon container.
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| | Sidewalk Chalk
| Make your own sidewalk chalk from Plaster of Paris.
Supplies needed:
• Plaster of Paris
• Large plastic bowl (like a big cottage cheese container) and stirrer (to mix the plaster)
• Tempera paint (liquid or powder)
• Disposable plastic gloves
• Small paper cups, an egg carton, or paper tubes reinforced with duct tape
This is a messy craft - wear old clothes and work outside if possible. Have an adult handle the plaster of Paris. Before starting, collect a large container to mix the plaster in and a few smaller ones to mold the chalk in. Paper cups and egg cartons work well for molding the chalk. - If you want to make a large chalk in a paper tube, reinforce the tube with duct tape and tape up one end before adding the plaster (unreinforced toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes fall apart when the plaster is added).
Wear plastic gloves to protect your hands. Do not breathe in the plaster dust. Mix a small amount of plaster of Paris with water in a sturdy container (a disposable plastic container is the easiest) - the plaster should be stiff but creamy. Do not mix the plaster with your hands - use a stick as a stirrer.
Add a small amount of tempera paint to the plaster. Stir well for a solid color - stir only slightly for a marbled look. For an even more marbled look, add two or more colors of paint to different sides of the container and stir only partly.
Pour the plaster into containers.
When the Plaster of Paris hardens (in about 20-30 minutes), take the chalk out of the containers. It won't be completely dry for about a day, but you can use the chalk as soon as it comes out.
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Experiments ......................................................................................................................................
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| | Egg in a Bottle
| Adult supervision Required!
Materials:
• Clean, dry wide mouthed glass milk or juice bottle
• Peeled hard boiled egg that’s a little bigger than
the jar’s mouth
• Matches
• A few strips of paper to light w/ matches
Experiment:
The object is to get the egg into the bottle without harming the egg.
1. Start by smearing some water around the mouth of the bottle.
2. Have the adult light a match and set the strip of paper on fire. Quickly put the burning strip into the bottle. Be careful not to accidentally burn your fingers.
3. Immediately cover the mouth of the bottle with the egg. In just seconds, the fire will go out, and some invisible force will literally "push" the egg into the bottle. That's amazing!
Why?
Hot air expands. Cold air contracts. When the air inside the bottle is heated, the molecules, or tiny air particles, inside the bottle spread out, increasing air pressure. As the air in the bottle cools, the air pressure decreases. The greater outside air pressure pushes the egg into the bottle. Blowing into the bottle raises the air pressure again. The air and the egg rush out of the bottle.
OK, let's get it back out. Wash the ashes out of the bottle. Turn it upside down and position the egg with the pointy end back in the opening. Take a deep breath and blow in. Continue to hold the bottle upside down, wait and watch. |
| | Cabbage “Soup” | Materials:
• adult helper
• small head of red cabbage
• grater
• strainer
• 2 large bowls
• very warm water enough to cover the cabbage in a bowl
• 2 or more clear containers
• white vinegar
• baking soda
• other foods to test such as lemon, soda, water, or yogurt
Experiment:
1. Have an adult cut the cabbage in half. Coarsely grate 1 cup of cabbage into a large bowl.
2. Pour enough warm water to barely cover the cabbage.
3. Leave the cabbage mixture until the water turns purple.
4. Pour the cabbage mixture into a strainer over another large bowl. Save the cabbage water in a jar for your experiments.
5. Put ¼ cup of cabbage water into a clear container and add spoonfuls of vinegar. What color does it turn?
6. Put ¼ cup of cabbage water into another clear container and add some baking soda, a teaspoon at a time. What color does it turn?
7. Try testing foods and other things from your kitchen to see if they make the cabbage water change color.
Why:
The purple cabbage juice became blue-green when you added baking soda. Baking soda is a base. When you added vinegar it became pink. Vinegar is an acid. Acids and bases are a group of chemicals. Acids have certain things in common with each other while bases also have certain things in common. Acids, or foods containing acids, taste sour while bases taste bitter. Some acids and bases are too dangerous to taste so we test them in another way. You’ve made an indicator form red cabbage that tests some chemicals for us.
Experiment and info from “Kitchen Science” by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone
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| | Invisible Message | Materials:
• adult helper to cut the lemon
• lemon
• 2 cotton swabs or 2 paint brushes
• paper
• red cabbage water(from previous experiment)
Experiment:
1. Have an adult cut the lemon in half. This is your ink.
2. Dip the end of the cotton swab, paint brush or your finger into the “ink” and use it write a secret message or draw a picture onto a piece of paper.
3. Let the juice dry. The paper will look blank.
4. Take a clean cotton swab or paintbrush and dip it into some red cabbage water. Paint it over the lemon writing.
Why:
Red cabbage juice is an indicator that is used to test acids and bases. The acid in the lemon juice reacted to the cabbage juice and changed color so you could see your message.
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