The Young Scientist

I've always loved hands on learning. It's the way my kids learn the best & it is also the way I learn the best. The problem is often the preparation takes time that I can't seem to find in my busy days. Recently Dave & I talked and decided we would invest in some kits. In the past we have avoided them b/c we figured we could save money by buying the books alone and doing the rest ourselves. While that is true that they are much better on the budget I was finding that I wasn't getting to any experiments because of time. I'm teaching 3 different grades now plus I have a preschooler. Whew! Anyway, we came to the agreement that it would be worth the extra $ if we would actually DO the experiments. Yesterday we embarked on our first one. Boy was it neat! I'm so glad we made this decision. The kids are really looking forward to all the kits & hands on learning.

We bought many kits from this series.
We started with an experiment from Kit 4 - Weather Station.

First we needed a 1/2 liter plastic bottle filled with water.

Then we added red food coloring.

The next step was to insert a clear straw & put clay on to hold it in place. The clay (we used Play-doh) also made a seal.

Boo marked the water level.

Sweet Pea had heated a pan of water on the stove. We put the bottle in and..........

..........here is what happened! The kids were amazed.

They loved it when the water overflowed out of the straw. Lol!

Next Elvis put the bottle in a pan of cold water.

The water slowly started to go back down.

Then it was back to the hot water again! It was pretty cool when after a few moments the water went right back up the straw!

We talked about how liquids expand & contract based on the temperature. We then talked about how a thermometer works. I loved it when I saw the light go on and it clicked with them how a thermometer really works. It was such a simple experiment but the kids loved it! I am excited to try the next one!