Science # 2

A lot of my friends have been asking about the silence on my blog, which means that at least some one is reading it J  They also asked me about the activities that I have been doing with Angel these days and since its winter time again we have been doing quite a few of them, so here I am listing some of the science activities that we have been enjoying lately. As always, my motto is that it should be done with minimal ingredients and time.

1.      Water, Salt & Glue Painting – In this Art+Science activity we explored colors & absorption. It basically requires glue, salt, water colors, card stock or construction paper (we used a chart paper which we had in hand already) and droppers. So start with creating designs using glue on to the paper. Sprinkle generous amount of salt until the glue is covered with salt properly.           
        

Now using the droppers add paint onto it and watch the thrilling process of how far the water colors spread as they are absorbed by salt.       
                 

While this is not a “forever” project as the salt will crumble and come off the glue when dry, Angel had fun during the process which is what is more important!

2.     Slime – We had been to a science exhibition a few months back where we learnt how to make slime and Angel had such fun with it. So we decided to try it at home. For making slime add 1-1.5 tbsp of borax powder in 1 cup of water. 
           

Pour the amount of glue as per the amount of slime you wish to make and add the food color. Pour the water+borax mixture into the glue slowly and keep stirring. 
            

     You will notice that the slime will start to form almost immediately. Pour the water solution as per the desired consistency and store them in zip lock bags for later use.

3.     Borax ornaments – Because of the huge pack of Borax powder procured for making slime and I am not sure what to do with that, we did some activities which called for Borax Powder. So we made the crystallized icicle ornaments. It was fascinating to watch the icicles form. This experiment requires borax powder, hot water, jar, spoon (for mixing water & borax) metallic pipe cleaners and cello tape.

Start by twirling the pipe cleaners around a pencil to give them a spiral shape. 

In the jar dissolve 9 tbsp of borax into 3 cups of very hot water. Stir the solution very well until its clear and the borax is thoroughly dissolved. The tape the pipe cleaners around the jar making sure that they don’t touch each other. 

Now you just have to wait. We left it overnight and this is what we got in the morning!

4.     Borax Paper Weights – Can also be called Crystallized Beach Rocks. For this we need smooth beach rocks,  borax, hot water, jars, spoons, liquid water colors (we used food colors mixed in water) and paint brushes/droppers. The science is similar to the above activity hence the proportions are similar. Add 9 tbsp of borax into 3 cups of very hot water until it’s dissolved properly. Lower the rocks into the jar using spoons ensuring that they don’t touch each other and leave them to do their thing. The next day you will find beautiful crystallized rocks, place them on the paper towels to dry.                  

             
      For coloring them we first tried with the usual paints and it didn’t work as expected, hence we tried with food colors mixed in water and the results were bright & impressive. We used paint brushes and droppers to paint. 
                               

Angel wanted multiple colors on her rocks and this is the end result. These beauties are lying on my office desk J

5.     Home Made Puffy Paints – This was the first time that we made paints at home and that too the ones that puff up when placed in the microwave.The paints require just 4 ingredients which are easily available in most of the kitchens – 1 tbsp self-rising flour (didn’t have it so used all-purpose flour/maida and baking powder), 1tbsp salt, food color and little bit of water. Combine the flour, salt, food color and add water bit by bit until you get the desired consistency (of stirred yogurt). 

    
      Now take some brushes and get creating on thick paper. When you are satisfied with the artwork, place it in the microwave for 30 seconds and watch it puff up.

  It will be warm while removing but completely set!

6.    Glitter Bottles – This one I saw in one of the fb videos and instantly loved it. They are also called “Calm Bottles” as they help reduce anxiety. I am not sure about that but we loved doing it as it was so much fun. It needs some bottles (duh)(we used the plastic refillable mineral water bottles, glass bottles/jars can be used too), food colors, glitter (glow in the dark glitter would be so cool, if you can find it) hot water and glue.

Fill the bottle 3/4^th of the way with hot water and rest with glue, mix, add food color, mix, add glitter, put the lid on, finally mix, sit back and watch with awe!

7.     Skittles – we also did this skittles activity, courtesy fb again. Though there is no science involved as such, it was a good way to teach her about all the artificial food colors and how we should avoid such things. We have not got skittles home after this activity, so yay! Arrange skittles towards the edge of a circular plate, pour hot water in the center until the water touches all the skittles and watch the beauty unfold.

I love science and so does Angel. And as mentioned before, she might not even be able to understand the science behind the things we do but just the fact that it makes her engaged, curious, observant and away from the screen is enough for me. It might not necessarily make her intelligent, but will definitely make her more rational. Also, importantly, it teaches failures. There were a couple of science fails that we had to encounter. We try to do with great enthusiasm, following all the steps, but somehow, somethings fail, something doesn’t react, something doesn’t change color and so forth. For example -

1.      Twisting the candy canes – I had seen a very cool video of twisting the candy canes, for which I had save 2 candy canes from Christmas and we tried it last month. We put it in the oven for 2 minutes, and some parts were overheated while some turned flaky though we could bend then to some extent. 

 Angel was extremely disappointed since she was waiting to try this since such a long time. It taught us to overcome the failure and we enjoyed and sucked the candy canes as they were.

2.     Oil, water, food color & aspirin – This is a very cool activity which was supposed to go like this, but our aspirin didn’t gave the similar effect. 

"We will try it with 2 aspirins next time" is what I said to Angel as we ran out of aspirins that day. We are yet to try it again but will surely do! It taught is that we can always try again, even a little differently.

3.     Dried apricot – Just as he had derived raisins from fresh grapes, Angel wanted dried apricots which she loves from the fresh ones. So we put them in the bowl but after a few days it caught fungus and we had to throw it. We later found out that apricots can be dried in a dehydrator machine. It taught us to do some research.

We try not to get discouraged by failures and look at the positive outcomes!