Science week

This week we have had a week of science.

Sounds a little sophisticated but really all we have done is played with things like magnets and magnifying glasses and carried out some cool experiments!

So here's how we did it.

I got the boys some simple and cheap magnifying glasses which they both instantly adored! They took them everywhere for two entire days and looked at everything through them. It's been fun and they have definitely learned about magnifying. They especially liked to magnify eyes!!!

I also got a pair of small binoculars but they were not that interested in them! I think it has something to do with the two eye coordination that makes it a harder process to see things. We still used them a few times and I spoke to them about distance and a little about perspective while they watched aeroplanes coming into land.

We looked at magnets. Mainly playing a fishing game I made for them but also talking about the positive and negative forces when they try to connect the wrong ends of the trains. This is an advanced concept which I don't expect them to take on board but it's helping my eldest to be less frustrated when the trains won't connect! So much easier when you can 'blame' science!

We have also done several experiments. Our first was with milk, food colouring and washing up liquid. This was really simple and fast so great for small children. We put a small amount of milk in a dish and added a couple of drops of two different coloured food colouring to the middle of the milk. I chose primary colours so that they would mix to make a different colour and my eldest son loved this as he has just realised how mixing two colours makes another. Finally we added a drop of washing up liquid and watched as the reaction from the milk with the washing up liquid drove the colours in a swirling motion around the dish. They finally mixed together, to the delight of my son, who required us to do the experiment four times before he was finished! Luckily it is a very small amount of milk needed for each go, so not too wasteful. Watch our video below

Our second experiment was a volcano! It was a much longer process to get to the actual experiment but one which was thoroughly enjoyed. First our son was watching a BBC documentary on earth and volcanoes and was really into it, so we decided to make a clay volcano. While it was drying we made grass using a mixture of blue and yellow playdough. We made a river with some of the blue playdough and he put some of his dinosaurs around. All of this was set up on cardboard.

Once the volcano was hard we added bicarbonate of soda, washing up liquid and red and yellow food colouring. Then, camera ready, we added vinegar to make the eruption.....

Watch the video here

Our final experiment was some foaming eggs. This idea came from funathomewithkids.com and although tricky to create, was great fun for the boys to watch. We even added some star sequins to make them sparkly inside! 

Watch our video here