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As the coronavirus crisis continues, it becomes increasingly difficult to find new and exciting things for children while trapped at home. From making chromatogram flowers and exploring density to creating constellations and popsicle stick bridges, everyone can do experiments or activities on their own. Let your child continue to learn by trying some of the following methods!
Looking for arts and crafts? Check out 5 simple handicrafts that children can make at home during isolation and homeschooling
You need: an egg (cooked and peeled), a glass bottle with an opening of about 1.25 inches wide (such as a standard milk bottle or a scientific laboratory beaker) and a few matches
Instructions for use: First, put the egg above the mouth of the bottle. The egg should be too big to fall. Pick up the eggs, light your match, and throw them into the bottle. Quickly put the egg back on the top of the bottle and watch it get sucked in!
The egg forms a seal at the opening of the bottle, and as the air inside the bottle cools, its pressure becomes lower than the air pressure outside the bottle. The high air pressure outside the bottle pushes the egg through the opening!
Experiments and photos from Nellie's free range eggs
You need: pipe cleaner, fishing line or yarn, pencils, scissors, glass or plastic containers of each different color (Mason jars work well), a container large enough to hold your name (spelled out with pipe cleaner), Borax, food coloring, liquid measuring cup and heat-safe mixing bowl
Note: Form your name in the pipe cleaner and make sure the letters are small enough to fit in a glass or plastic container without touching the sides. Boil the water and measure out 3 tablespoons of borax per cup of hot water, enough to fill each of your containers. Stir until the borax is dissolved, pour the mixture into a container and add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Next, use fishing line or yarn to hang the letters on the pencil so that they are suspended in a container and suspended in the liquid mixture. Save the letter overnight and take it out the next day! Hold them to your window and watch your name gleam in the sun.
When borax is dissolved in water, it creates a suspension, which is a mixture of solid particles large enough for precipitation. When borax begins to settle, it will crystallize on the surface it touches-like the letters of your pipe cleaner.
Experiments and photos from Playdough Plato
You need: a jar with a lid, ⅓ cup of hot water, ice cubes and hair spray
Instructions: Pour hot water into the tank and rotate it to heat the side of the tank. Turn the lid upside down, place it on the top of the jar, and put ice cubes on top. Let stand for 20 seconds. Quickly remove the lid, spray the hairspray into the jar, then cover with ice cubes and close the lid. Observe the formation of clouds. When you see a lot of condensation, lift the lid and watch the clouds escape into the air!
When poured into the tank, some of the hot water turns into steam. When it rises and encounters cold ice, it will condense, but unless the water vapor has something that can condense, clouds will not form. In nature, this may be dust particles or pollution. In our experiment, water vapor condenses into hairspray.
Experiment with the gift of curiosity
You need: popsicle stick or hand stick, hot glue gun (or hand glue, although it takes longer to dry), a ruler, a piece of biscuit paper or parchment paper to prevent the bridge from sticking when it is dry, and one Action figures or small toys
Description: Challenge your children to design and build a bridge that can bear the weight of dolls or toys with popsicle sticks! First, build a bridge (about a foot long) with popsicle sticks and hot glue; leave the design to your children and their imagination. The first few attempts may not be successful. After drying, place the bridge between two chairs about 10 inches apart. Test the bridge by placing dolls or small toys on the bridge! Simply declare that the bridge is successful, or continue to increase the weight until the bridge breaks, and see how strong it is.
Experiment with busy kids and happy mothers
You need: a tall glass vase or a large bowl, an orange and water
Instructions: Fill the container with water, and then ask your child whether they think the orange will float or sink. Why? Are they surprised when it floats? Next, peel the oranges and ask them what happens when they put them back in the water. It's sinking! Your child is likely to be confused by the results.
The orange is subjected to two forces: gravity pulls it down and buoyancy pushes it up. The Archimedes principle determines the strength of the buoyancy of an object, that is, any object in the fluid is subjected to a buoyancy force equal to the weight of the fluid that the object has expelled. Orange peel adds more volume (so more fluid is displaced) but only adds a small amount of gravity. After the peel is removed, the volume of the orange will decrease, so the buoyancy will decrease, while the mass and gravity strength of the orange will remain unchanged. This allows gravity to overcome buoyancy and cause the orange to sink!
Experiments and photos from Playdough Plato
You need: white coffee filter paper, water-based marker, short glass or cup, water, scissors, tape and small branches
Instructions: Choose any color mark and draw a thick circle around the center of the coffee filter, where the edge of the ridge intersects the flat center. Fold the filter in half and then in half to form a cone. Add a little water to the glass, then put the coffee filter cone into the glass so that the tip of it hardly touches the water (make sure the marking line does not touch the water!). Observe what happens when the water flows up the coffee filter and use it to pick the color from the mark. This will take 20-30 minutes. Try a variety of different marker colors and see what happens to each color! Then remove the filters from the glasses, put them on the newspaper and dry them. After drying, cut off the extra white edges of the filter and pinch the center into a conical flower shape. Tape the pinched center to fix the flower shape in place. Then stick each new flower on the branch to make a color spectrum bouquet!
Experiments and photos with Buggy and Buddy
What you need: 8 cups of flour, 1 cup of vegetable oil, large bowl and tray
Instructions: Count out the cups of flour with your child. Mix the flour and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Put moon sand in various bowls and dishes to create space for children's sensory games. Add toy astronauts and rockets for fun!
What you need: matchbox cart, level table and repair supplies (various magnets, tape, straws, rope, balloons, construction paper, etc.)
Description: Use your imagination to race with toy cars on your table. Challenge rules: You can't touch your car, you can't move the table. Try using a balloon as a propulsion system, or stick a magnet to the car and slide the other magnet under the table. Straw and rope can form a zipline, or construction paper can work like a sail. Be creative!
Experiments and photos of steam-powered homes
What you need: whole milk, food coloring, dish soap and cotton swabs
Instructions: Fill a shallow dish with milk. Without shaking or stirring the milk, add a few drops of food coloring of various colors to the surface of the milk. Dip the tip of the cotton swab into the detergent and lightly touch the food coloring. Food coloring should "dance" on the surface of milk!
The fat molecules of milk are densely and evenly distributed on its surface. This keeps the food coloring in place because it is lighter and less dense than milk. When detergent is added to the mixture, the fat molecules bind to the soap, reducing surface tension and moving the food coloring.
Experiments and photos through Steamsational
You need: a small disposable paper cup, plasticine, baking soda, vinegar and red food coloring
Instructions: Cut the paper cup in half; the base will be where you pour the baking soda and vinegar. Use Playdough to build a volcano base, no matter how high you want the volcano to be. Place the lower half of the paper cup on the base of the volcano. Build a plasticine hillside to cover the sides of the cup and slope down to the bottom of the volcano. Take your volcano outside, put it on a cookie sheet, or put it in a bathtub—somewhere easy to clean up. Pour some baking soda into the top of the volcano. Fill the cup with vinegar and add red food coloring. Pour the mixture into the crater and watch the bubbling lava erupt!
Experiments and photos from Happy Brown House
You need: any prepared repair supplies, such as cardboard tubes, tape, glue, wooden strings, rubber bands, straws, pine cones, muffin paper, craft sticks, aluminum foil, plastic caps or scissors
Description: Challenge your children to use their available craft supplies to construct a floating creative design. Let them use their imagination, and when they are finished, test their work in a large container, sink or bathtub. Talk about what might cause their design to sink or float!
Experiments and photos with fireflies and mud cakes
You need: three eggs, three glasses, grape juice, soda and water
Instructions: Fill each glass with a different liquid, and then gently submerge each egg. Let the eggs sit for 24 hours. When you remove the egg from the glasses, please describe what you see! What has changed?
The hard shell of the egg is made of calcium, which can protect the soft egg inside. The hard appearance of our teeth is made of the same substance! Some eggshells are stained, just like your teeth might stain after drinking grape juice or soda without brushing your teeth.
Experiments and photos from Nellie's free range eggs
You need: toilet paper roll, white paper, scissors, thumbtacks, tape and flashlight
Description: Show your child a picture of the constellation to generate ideas. Then have your child draw the end of the toilet paper roll on white paper and cut out the circle. Help them draw a small and simple design on the circle, and use pushpins to punch holes in the design. Once they have created their constellation, stick the paper to the end of the toilet paper roll and turn off the light. Point the toilet paper roll toward a dark surface and shine a flashlight through the open end. Their constellations should light up!
You need: blue and green food coloring (neon preferably), sugar, a jar with a lid (plastic or glass), a small pot and your stove
How to use: Pour 1 cup of water into the pot and heat it to boiling. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves and it is not enough time to turn it into candy! Add a few drops of green food coloring and let the water cool before pour it into the jar. Put a few drops of blue food coloring into the second cup of water, stir and pour gently into the jar above the green sugar water. Wait for the layers to settle, put the lid on, and you're done!
Density is a measure of mass per unit volume. By adding sugar to the first cup of water, it will become heavier than the second cup of water, even if they occupy the same space. Experimental vivid visual effects can help your child grasp the concept of density, which is often difficult to understand intuitively!
Experiments and photos through Steamsational
You need: paper plate, scissors, construction paper, tape, marker pen, marbles and optional pipe cleaner, straw or Wikki Stix
Description: Challenge your children to make their own pinball machines and their available craft supplies from paper plates. If you want, you can watch some pinball machine videos on YouTube to let creativity continue to emerge. Use construction paper and chopped straw to create simple arches. Get creative and test their "machine" with marbles.
Experiments and photos with Buggy and Buddy
This story originally appeared on newyorkfamily.com.
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