dried apples

Yikes, I'm trying to catch up on some of the stuff we did this summer. I'll file this one in "science" and "cooking" so it might be of use to someone later on....

We'd been studying weather and water; we started talking about air, too. We decided to make our own dried apples.

Slice 4-5 Granny Smith apples into rounds. I sliced them again in half.

Soak in pineapple juice for a day (prevents too much browning).

Put outside in the sun for about 2-3 days, covered with cheesecloth. Turn every few hours.

Then you'll have tasty, sweet, chewy dried apples to snack on!

From "Science Clarified": Here's an explanation of why the water evaporates from the fruit.

sink or float?

A simple, ongoing science experiment can be to see what items around the house sink or float. Nora loves to make charts about this. Quirky kid.

On this day, we tested a plastic snail, and a Lego man.

homemade rain gauge

Over the summer, we did a little theme unit on water and weather. One easy project is to make a simple homemade rain gauge. You can use any plastic bottle and write on it with a Sharpie. A 2-liter bottle works well because you can invert the lid and duct tape it on, keeping out bugs and debris.

Whenever it rains, Nora cries, "MOM! We need to put out the rain gauge!" It's exciting for her to see how much rain we got, although she always expects a lot more. I guess one or two inches of rain doesn't really LOOK like much to a 5-year-old!

how does water freeze?

The other day Nora asked, "Does water freeze from the top down or the bottom up?"

We put a bowl of water outside for an hour and a half to see.

Nora wrote up her hypothesis, and she was right: "From the top, down!" she cheered. We talked about how this allows fish to survive all winter.

salt and ice

The other morning, Nora saw her dad salting our icy driveway, and asked why.

I asked her, "Why do YOU think we spread salt on an icy sidewalk? Can you guess?"

She guessed, "The salt melts the ice?"

We decided to see if this were true. I said, "We'll see if ice added to water makes it harder for the water to freeze."

-- We filled two small glass bowls each with 1/2 cup water. To one of these, we added 1 Tbsp salt, and stirred it in. The other, we left plain. We put them both in the freezer for an hour.

-- An hour later, the bowl of plain water (on the right) was frozen about halfway through. The bowl with salt water (on the left) was still mostly liquid, with just a small coating of ice on top. (When I tilted the bowl, the water sloshed all around.)

I explained (after quickly Googling this to make sure I didn't spread misinformation) that salt speeds up the melting of the ice because it can make ice melt at a lower temperature.  Salt also helps keep the ice from re-freezing.....which we saw when we put the salt water in the freezer!

I later came across an experiment where kids can use salt to "glue" an ice cube to a string, and then lift it up. This is exactly the sort of thing that sets my geek heart aflutter.

(I may be a geek, but I'm not a science whiz, so preschool science experiments may be as good as it gets for me. I plan to enjoy this while it lasts, and before I become unable to comprehend any of it.)

Magic Crystal Ornaments

These ornaments grow as if by magic!!
(as seen on Ordinary Life Magic)

You will need:

Pipe Cleaners
Glass Jars
Borax

(Borax is a natural cleaner....you can find it at most grocery stores, Wal-Mart, etc.)

To start, bend your pipe cleaners into shapes that will fit into the mouths of your glass jars (with a tiny bit of room to spare, as the crystals will slightly increase the size of the ornaments.) Bend a loop of pipe cleaner at the top, to hang from the tree.

Use a small piece of pipe cleaner as a "hook" for dangling the ornament over the size of the jar. (This can be removed later.)

On the stovetop, heat some water....for each glass jar you have, you will need 1 cup water and 3 Tbsp. Borax.

Just heat the water until it is pleasantly warm. Stir in your Borax til dissolved.

Place your jar somewhere nice, where you can watch the "magic" happen. Then hang your pipe cleaner shape -- whatever shape you have made --

(which may be a little crazy if you are 5 years old).....hang that inside the jar.

Nothing will happen for the first hour or so. Distract your concerned little crystal artists. A couple of hours later, when you peek in at your ornaments...magic crystals will have begun to grow! Over the course of 24 hours, your ornaments will be nicely covered with beautiful "snow" crystals. Remove the ornaments after about 24 hours -- they will feel dry to the touch almost immediately. Hang them on the tree, in a window, or somewhere they can sparkle!

Science Project: Homemade Lava Lamp

Well, if my child does not remember that "oil and water don't mix" by NOW, there's nothing I can do for her....

You will need:
a plastic 2-liter bottle
food coloring
a cup
vegetable oil

Here's how to make your own lava "lamp":1. Fill any cup, like a large plastic party cup, with water.

2. Add food coloring of your choice until you have a nice, vibrant color.

3. Take a nice, clean 2-liter bottle. Fill it a little over halfway with vegetable or canola oil.

4. Add your cup of colored water to the oil.

5. Add more oil if necessary, to fill about to the top.

6. Put the cap on your 2-liter bottle. Gently tilt the bottle onto its side. What do the oil and water look like now? (We drew a picture in our workbook, for future reference.)

You can roll that bottle around all you want,

you can even shake the thing like a maniac; while the oil and water may temporarily look like they have combined, just give them some time.....they will always separate out again!

Even if you shake it up this much!! (We called in the big guns, my husband, and had him shake it up for us. I thought he was going to pull something. The oil and water later separated into 2 totally different layers, even after appearing combined.)

If you leave your lava lamp out for any length of time, you will notice that the oil and water molecules separate almost completely. Interestingly, the water is denser than the oil, so it will sink to the bottom; the oil will rest on top.

(Density is how much an object weighs compared to the space it takes up. So if you have the exact same amount of water and oil -- say, 2 liters of each -- the water will weigh more than the oil. It is denser.)

How many eyes?...

While doing our "vision / the eye" theme, we did this little activity to work in some math with learning about eyes...

I printed a few pictures off the internet of various animals with more-than-the-usual amount of eyes. Then I gave Nora a big ol' pile of googly craft eyeballs. Her "job" was to decorate the critters however she liked, and then put on the number of eyeballs that each animal has. Together, we counted them.

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Here are some animals you can use for this activity.....
Spiders: 2 -8 eyes (most have 8)

Box Jellyfish: 24 eyes

Scallops: can have 100 eyes (okay, don't really make your child glue 100 eyes onto a piece of paper!!) :)

Flies: Actually have 5 eyes -- two huge (relatively speaking) compound eyes and three simple eyes

Giant squid: Two eyes -- the largest eyes on earth!

Crabs: Two eyes

European wasp: Five eyes

Starfish: Most have 5 eyes, one on the end of each arm

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My daughter was exactly 4 1/2 when we did this activity. It seemed to be a good level for her. Counting out items above 20 was a good way to help bigger numbers become more concrete. It was a nice little mix of science, math, and art all in one simple activity.

Of course, we usually finish off by getting goofy!

Science Activity: Magnifying Glass

For part of our unit on eyes and vision, we took several nature walks "armed" with magnifying glasses and kid-sized binoculars. Both items take some practice for young viewers, but can be rewarding. The kids enjoyed getting "super powers" via the simple aids of binoculars and magnifiers!

Our second nature walk took place when it was much warmer. Look, we even had a tomato!

 

This time of year, there were ants aplenty on the peonies.

 

You may not think it, but small children will have to be taught how to use a magnifying glass. Their tendency is to put it to their eye, not over the object they want to see. So they may be oohing and ahhing and acting all thrilled -- while really seeing only a blur! Thier excitement reaches a whole new level when they actually figure out that placing the glass just above your object will help you see in much more detail!

 

 

On our first (late-February) nature walk, we found some hopeful signs of spring...signs you really did need a magnifying glass for!

Crocus emerging

We found a poor, frozen little ladybug. She made good viewing, though (and I thank her for her donation to science).

Even the little guy could get in on this activity...

We discovered that there is lots to see, but sometimes you have to look hard for it!

Science Lesson: Eyes Made for Day and Night

For part of our "Vision" theme, we talked about how eyes look, and how the way they look tells us something about what they do.

-- We looked at pictures of different animal eyes (I had printed them off the computer and cut some from our monthly zoo mailing). Some animals have big, round eyes with very round and large pupils.

-- Other animals have almond-shaped eyes with smaller, or even horizontal, pupils. Why is that?

Here's a very basic answer for young children: The huge, round pupils of nocturnal animals help them to gather more light. The long, flat pupils of animals like deer and horses give them better depth perception on rocky, uneven ground. Such pupils also help them to see more around them, such as a lion crouching in the grass.

-- Some animals who live underground or in caves have no eyes at all! Can your child think of an example? (Worms are animals without true eyes!)

Simple Activity:

After talking for a day or so about animal eyes and how we can tell the special things they can do by looking at them, I printed several pictures off the Internet and had Nora sort them by whether they belonged to Day-seeing or Night-seeing animals (diurnal or nocturnal animals!). She didn't find this activity difficult. It was a concrete way for her to evaluate the things we had been talking about. Plus, it's just cool to look at all those different animal eyes!

There are so many other aspects of vision that could be taught...but due to my young audience, I kept it simple.

Here's a "master list" of vision / eye activities you might want to do with young children:

EYE ACTIVITIES for preschoolers:

-- Take a few minutes to pay attention to your eyes.  How far can you move them?  Do you "see" anything when your eyes are closed?

-- Let kids explore their world with magnifying glasses, binoculars, and a simple microscope if you have access to one.

-- Let kids look at their eyes in the mirror.  Point out a few basic parts of anatomy.

-- Use this unit as an opportunity to talk about eye care: not scratching or rubbing the eye; using cool water to help an itchy/inflamed eye; being careful never to spray anything in the eye.

-- Look at photos of your pets and other animals in the dark.  Why are their eyes shiny and glowing? 

-- Look at pictures online of various animals and their weird, wonderful eyes!  (See my links list at the end of this unit for a few good places to start.)

-- Give your child a small, safe handheld mirror and let her draw her eye on paper, using her reflection as a guide.

-- Play the ol' Halloween game.....feeling various objects in bowls...blindfolded!  (Spaghetti, peeled grapes, baby carrots, Oobleck, etc.) 

-- In the car or out the window, play "I Spy." 

-- let your preschooler observe eye dilation

-- Play "Pin the Tail on the Donkey."

-- Play hide-and-go-seek.