BC Beat Kids

This article was written by Science Girl

So I am thinking that I am gonna do three different experiments here cause I know that I have been getting behind on them for the magazine. Now all three of the experiments are small one's so i hope you enjoy all three.

How to Make Frozen Bubbles with Kids in This Freezing Weather

Everything we've read about frozen bubbles suggests that the colder the air temperature the better, but my science teacher friend said that single digit Fahrenheit should do the job, or anything below 10 degrees. Other sources said that negative Fahrenheit would produce the most awe-inspiring bubbles. A fairly windless day will help, too.

First we whipped up a batch of homemade bubble solution. Some sites suggest that you can use regular bubble solution if you have it leftover from those carefree summer days with the kids, but the solution was easy enough to make, 

Bubble Solution

6 cups of water

1 cup corn syrup

2 cups clear dishwashing soap

Gently stir the first two ingredients together in a large bowl or pot. Be careful not to whip it into bubbles. Add the soap and mix well. Dip a bubble wand in and blow!

To make this easier on little hands, and to capture the bubble freezing on video, we poured some of the solution into a shallow dish. I gave my daughter a straw and let her blow a bubble into the dish. We watched as it formed little ice crystals and slowly froze. Pop it with your finger or the wand and you'll see the sides sort of crumple instead of just pop and vanish as a normal bubble would do.

Sundial

Materials

stick

rocks or chalk

1 cup of playdough (optional)

watch or clock

Find a sunny spot in a lawn or even on a sidewalk.

Put the stick in the ground.  If it is a sidewalk, put the stick in the playdough and use that to hold the stick upright on cement.

Throughout the day, place a rock, or mark with chalk for each hour indicating where the shadow falls at that time.  Depending on your time, you may have to place rocks over a couple of days before your sundial is complete.

Now your sundial is ready to use.  When you want to tell the time, just look for the shadow.  In the picture above, the stones are used to mark each hour from 7am to 7pm.  

In the beginning, you may find it hard to be very precise. With a bit of practice, you should be able to tell time to the nearest 15 minutes, and maybe even more closely.

Alternative

Use chalk and a ruler to draw in the shadow lines, instead of placing rocks on the hour.

You can print out a sundial.

Notes to Parents:

Every parent must use their own judgment in choosing which activities are safe for their own children.  While Science Kids at Home makes every effort to provide activity ideas that are safe and fun for children it is your responsibility to choose the activities that are safe in your own home.

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Science Experiments at Home: Making Rainbow Milk with Kids

You will need:

A shallow bowl or pie dish, food coloring, milk (we used both 1% and half-and-half to compare results; use what you have), a couple of drops of liquid dish soap, and a cotton swab.

Step 1: The Milk

Pour enough milk into the shallow bowl or pie plate to fill the bottom completely. 

Step 2: The Color

Add just a couple of drops of each color of the food coloring. 

Step 3: Dip the Swab

Dip just the tip of the cotton swab into the liquid dish soap.

Step 4: Watch the Color Explosion!

Now dip the tip of the cotton swab into the milk and observe the explosion of color! When liquid dish soap is added to milk with drops of food coloring on the surface, the soap reduces the surface tension of the milk and reacts with the fat. This interaction causes the fat particles in the milk to move and create swirls of color.

Try Different Variations

Try picking up the dish and putting it back down again to observe what happens. Try dipping the cotton swab right into the center of one of the color droplets, or dip the swab into the white spots between the color drops. When the action slows down, dip the other end of the cotton swab into the dish soap and start experimenting again!