This week in Tuesday Tutorials I'm bringing you a round-up of some of my favourite posts from the previous week, focusing on science exploration using everyday household and kitchen objects. Easy peasy!
More STEM Activities for Children (Tuesday Tutorials)
We're really embracing the world of science, technology, engineering maths in our house at the moment; The Boy is becoming so curious about the inner workings of things that there are nuts and bolts, pipettes and test tubes all over the place!
There were far too many enticing STEM activities linked up last week on Tuesday Tutorials to ignore, so I'm pulling together another selection of crafts and play activities which encourage the more technological and scientific mindset!
Days 19 -25 of Project 365
19. Silhouette #1 (The most glorious day in weeks and we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and their daughter further along the coastline to spend the afternoon at Ogmore Beach fossil hunting. We even had a picnic on the rocks with a blazing sun overheard and minimal breeze to drop the temperature.)
20. Silhouette #2 (An after school trip down to the nature reserve to feed the swans, and the sunset cast an impressive backdrop.)
21. Scarecrow (The Boy was very keen to do some painting, specifically mixing brown. Once he'd not quite managed to do that, he decided to paint a scarecrow. I'm not entirely sure that this is a particularly effective scarecrow, but hey-ho!)
22. Froggy Legs (The Boy has brought home spellings for each week, his school uses the 'Look, Cover, Write, Check' method which he seems very happy with and he was keen to make a start on them.)
23. Numicon (I've borrowed a maths resource from school which The Boy absolutely loves. Numicon helps to develop number bonds, counting and adding skills. If anyone is looking for something like this for their child then, while pricey, I'd really recommend it.)
24. Maestro (I had to go to the dental hospital today for a root extraction from a botched molar extraction 16 months ago; they snapped off the fourth root but as most molars only have three they didn't think to check for a fourth. By the time I'd arrived home I wasn't fit for much but managed to sneak a picture of The Boy playing on the piano before bedtime.)
25. Mad Science (We finally managed to have a go this afternoon at a science activity that I've wanted to try for ages, more on the blog next week!)
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Days 244-250 of Project 365
244. Eruption (Following our science exploration activity the previous week, The Boy perfectly replicated how to make a volcano independently. We're now out of vinegar as he did it quite a few times. The blue lava wasn't quite as effective!)
245. Flinger (After I finished my first day back at work, I took The Boy down to one of the local beaches for some plopping good fun, our last bit of freedom before school started the next day.)
246. First Day (I know I've used this elsewhere, but what else could I have for today; his first day of school.)
247. Rainbow House (He came home with this painting that he'd done the previous day in school after listening to the story of Winnie the Witch who painted her house different colours.)
248. Xylophone (Another painting, I suspect there may be a few of these. I was incredibly impressed when he told me it was a xylophone; he's even got the keys different lengths and the pegs to hold them on!)
249. Swing (An exhausted little boy after his first week in school, he could barely manage to swing himself. Two minutes later, just as I'd taken my camera in out the way, he fell off backwards and nearly winded himself. Cuddles and Peppa Pig soon solved the problem though.)
250. Mix (Whipping up a birthday cake for Grandad who came over for a birthday tea. )
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Days 69-75 of Project 365
69: Which will win? (We went to Techniquest in Cardiff Bay for Mother's Day and had great fun exploring scientific concepts. Here The Boy is racing the bubbles through the thick gloop)
70: Going up! (When we were at Techniquestwe discovered a lovely little park in Cardiff Bay which seemed to be hardly used. We popped back on Monday to explore all the equipment and I was really impressed to see The Boy climb across a cargo net from one eight foot high tower to the other with minimal interaction. No photos of that because I was too busy watching him!)
71: Bump! (After a foul morning we went down to the local country parks for some outdoor play and to tick a few more things of our 50 Things list. We discovered that The Boy's outdoor play suit makes him zoom down the slide really fast!)
72: Special Delivery Service! (The Jenny Craig boxes are excellent for making cars!)
73: Mountaineer (Another day, another park, what can I say? Last Summer he wouldn't try this climbing wall at all)
74: Doing something funny (All dressed up in odd clothes for nursery, not too odd though or mummy's OCD can't handle it!)
75: What's your name? (We had to go into Cardiff to take my dead Samsung Galaxy S3 into the T-Mobile shop to be sent away for repair. While we were in there we wandered over to the Museum and looked at the sculptures in the nearby gardens.)
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Days 41-47 of Project 365
41: 'The Terrific Trio' (We were fortunate enough to be able to visit Mummy Mishaps and her boys today, and true to form we dragged them outside into the fresh air for their minimum of 15 minutes outdoor play a day. Hoods up, wellies on, find an old hoop and some puddles, and what more could you want? Really enjoyed our day, thank you Jenny!)
42: '3D' (Today I took The Boy to the cinema with Nana and his cousins, to see 'Sammy's Great Escape'. It's only the second time he's been to the cinema, the first time to see a 3D film. I'll confess that I wasn't sure how well he'd see it, I wasn't sure on the development of vision in tiddlers. However the moment he put them on, he reached out to touch the fish swimming towards him and he repeated this at least a dozen times throughout the film, before then lowering his glasses to try and understand why it looked like he could touch the images. It was really very magical and endearing.)
43: 'Zoomy paint' (Hugely productive day today: playdough, painting with cars and a themed waterplay – more on that another day, gymnastics, and outdoor play again. The Boy loved exploring the different way of mark-making with the paint.)
44: 'Solitary' (After nursery we went down the beach for a blast of fresh air to the system. 'Blast' and 'fresh' are both understatements here. It was freezing and windy. Oh and raining that irritating fine precipitation that gets everywhere! We managed a scoot to the end of the pier and back before collapsing into the warmth of the car. It is worth noting that we were the only people on the seafront!)
45: 'Shake and fizz' (A little science experiment today with some frozen vinegar blocks and coloured ice cubes, liquid vinegar, salt, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of inquisitiveness.)
46: 'Morning scoot' (I took him for his eye test only to discover he needs a more complex one involving dilating drops to check for a stigmatism, so we had to rebook. As it was 9.30 and we were dressed and out, we headed to Victoria Park in Cardiff which we last went to when he was too young to appreciate. He befriended a four year old little girl and they spent an hour happily racing around, holding hands, zooming down the zipwire, slipping on the ice, helping each other onto the equipment, and having a marvellous time.)
47: 'Hello up there!' (A bike ride through the foggy parks overlooking the beach and back along the seafront to the car, interspersed with some pebble 'plopping' down on the beach. 15 minutes? CHECK!)
I can't choose a favourite this week because I'm very pleased with all of them; they show a mummy and her son who have had a brilliant half-term together.
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Days 27-33 of Project 365
27. 'One Giant Leap' (Off to Porthkerry Park on Sunday to play in the sunshine and check out how high the water was in the brooks.)
28. 'Hello, Down There' (a trip to the local Victorian park on the way back from the supermarket. This is part of our bid to spend 15 minutes outside in the fresh air every day, inspired by Jenny from Mummy Mishaps and Cerys from Nature and Play. Some days are really easy, other days – like a work day – are harder. Today was also the day of the epic play-dough making session; three colours and still he wanted more?!)
29. 'Do You Like My New Hat?' (Big activity day today, Tuesdays often are as I try to cram as much quality and quantity time in as possible before having to go back to work the next day. We made a wintery hat which ended up looking more like a space hat, did a science experiment involving moving water, went to gymnastics and also went scooting in the pouring rain in Cardiff Bay. Thanks for that Jenny and Cerys!)
30. 'New Jigsaw' (A work day but when I came home The Boy was able to play with his brand new jigsaw from Orchard Toys. Watch this space for a review!)
31. 'The Gruffalo' (Thanks to a 'heart-pressing' session when The Boy saw one of his friend's wearing a Gruffalo hat, he decided he wanted to dress up in his costume. I got the mirror down so he could see what he looked like. The irony was that five minutes later, the nanosecond I'd finished taking photographs, he insisted the costume came off. I think he scared himself!)
32. 'Slumber' (Absolutely exhausted, I let him have a longer nap today. I certainly paid for it as we had a ridiculous wake-up time of 5.20 this morning. Now where's that Gro-clock I was sent for review?!)
33. 'Rebel!' (We nipped down to Cardiff Bay Barrage for a cycle and a scoot in glorious sunshine, but dear God it was Arctic! The road across the barrage isn't used by vehicles and is a safe route for cyclists of all ages. The Boy has a minimal awareness of the highway code and road signs, clearly!)
My favourite photo of the week is The Gruffalo photo.
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Pre-School Science: Absorption & Colour-Mixing
I first saw this idea on the marvellous Pinterest, and it originally came from a children's Australian TV Programme.
As far as The Boy was concerned we were about to perform magic, but then what else is Science if not a complete and utter mystery. It is to me anyway! So I posed him a question, showed him the equipment and waited to see what he'd say.
How can we make the coloured water travel from one glass to another, without touching it?
You'll need:
- equal quantities of blue and yellow food colouring (although any two primary colours will work)
- two glasses half-filled with water
- one empty glass
- two sheets of kitchen towel (absorbent but those with thirst pockets might not let it drip out again!)
- two spoons for stirring
- Place the three glasses in a row with the empty one in the middle.
- Pour yellow food colouring into one end glass, and blue into the other end glass. Give them a stir with separate spoons so as not to mix the colours prematurely.
- Fold the kitchen towel strips into quarters, lengthways.
- Place one strip into the yellow food colouring and one into the blue. Fold the free end over into the empty glass in the middle and tuck it down to the side so they aren't touching.
- Wait and watch the results!
The Science Bit:
Kitchen towel is highly absorbent and the coloured water travels up the kitchen towel slowly defying gravity. It happens due to a force called 'capillary action'; a force of attraction between the paper fibres and the water. How does the water actually move up through the paper towel? The water is pulled up into the open spaces between the fibres in the paper, soaking the paper as it absorbs the water. When the weight of the water in the paper is equal to the upward attraction, then the water stops rising. In this case, gravity kicks in and because the kitchen towel is hanging down, the coloured water drips down into the empty glass.
The colour-mixing is basic science: blue and yellow makes green; red and blue would make purple; and yellow and red would make orange.
(In actual fact, The Boy asked what blue and red would make, and is desperate to try it out. I'd have obliged, but I'd bought up all the blue food colouring in our town yesterday with our playdough and preparing this!)
The end result is absolutely fascinating, even Mr. TBaM was enthralled.
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Days 6-12 of Project 365
This week has been a bit manic with an additional day in work leaving only Tuesday for a The Boy and Me day. Therefore I tried to make the most of it and get a whole load of playing and activities done to make up for the lack of time we should have had together.
6. 'Strike!' (Bowling)
7. 'Restless' (A poorly Boy with a persistant ear infection meant his sleep this week has been hot and sweaty, and he's been very disturbed.)
8. 'Taaaaaaarzan!' (We've finished at Tumble Tots as I didn't think he was being challenged anymore, and he didn't want to go up to the next group as parents weren't allowed to be with their children. We've found a 'free-play' gymnastics session where he can explore proper gymnastics equipment and be challenged in his ability and confidence.)
9. 'Squirt!' (I'd prepared some coloured ice cubes for him to play with when I got home from work, and gave him salt and a water bottle. Great fun!)
10. 'Follow My Leader' (This is the Eggy Alphabet app we've installed on the iPad, enabling him to practise his letter formation.)
11. 'Flip!' (For Christmas, The Boy had the PlayMobil farmhouse and shop with two characters who resemble Fiona and Farmer Nick from Coombe Mill. Here, Farmer Nick is making pancakes for Fiona who is having a lie-in. Lucky Fiona!)
12. 'Sleeping Soundly' (This is how I found The Boy sleeping when I checked on him, his knees were up and bent as well. He does have some strange sleeping positions!)
[Amended: Forgot to say which was my favourite. Probably hard to believe but it's the one from Tuesday; what looks like a bad photo is actually motion blur as he swung past me at eleventy billion miles an hour while tightly hanging onto the rope for dear life.]
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Playing With Ice
On Friday afternoon I was feeling a little low and wishing that I could have gone to the thanksgiving service of a friend, when inspiration hit me. As a former science teacher and co-founder of Science Sparks, Kerry loved making it easier for children to understand science and so I felt what better way to honour that, than get to grips with a science 'experiment' with The Boy.
I'd seen this activity on Pinterest which, while intended for Christmas, gave a great bank of ideas for playing with kitchen and craft materials to see what happens. I prepared the activity while The Boy napped and then we were ready to have fun with some ice!
I used a takeaway container and filled it with water, food colouring, glitter, sand, and sequins and then placed it in the freezer. When it was set I removed it and placed it into a tray, giving The Boy a pot of table salt and rock salt, a spoon and a water spray bottle.
He had brilliant fun making holes in the ice block with the salt and the jet of water. After a while the salt dissolved into the water and ran down the side of the block causing channels to be melted in. The Boy spotted these and picked off the ice crystals. The look of wonder on his face when he held the ice crystals in his hand, and they then subsequently melted, was amazing; sheer amazement!
Following on from this we decided to make some coloured ice cubes using food colouring. I used ice cube bags for this as I wanted to try and get the food colouring to slowly merge with the water creating ice cubes of slightly different shades. I filled the ice cube bags with water first, then inserted a straw and poured the food colouring down the straw.
Once these had frozen, I again gave The Boy the tray with the coloured ice cubes, table salt, rock salt and a water spray bottle. The effects were even more immediate because the ice cubes were smaller and therefore melted more quickly.
He was fascinated with the ice crystals that were formed by the salt water solution melting the ice, and kept pouring more and more salt onto one red ice cube to try and create a hole through the middle of it. We discussed what coloured water would appear once the ice melted, and we talked about where the salt had gone. We then discussed the colour of the water once all three different coloured ice cubes had melted and mixed together.
Science Sparks has got a fantastic selection of ice play activities which are great fun for this time of year.
