Pretty much since we moved here I have been watching kids before and after school. Their parents all work at the same school as Steve. Before coming, the HR person at the school sent around an email to the new employees who had spouses who wouldn't be working to see it anyone would be interested in watching some kids after school. I said I would do it.
So it started out with three girls after school. Then shortly after, two more came. So for a while I had 5 girls coming Sunday through Thursday. Now this semester two more come on Tuesdays and Thursdays and two others come just on Tuesdays. So that makes a total of 9 kids (not including my own) that come to my house on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are early release day for the two schools that these kids go to, so the first ones get to my house around 12:40. They're all here by 1:20 or so.
With a houseful of kids, I've started doing some activities or experiments on Tuesdays. We've soaked a raw egg in vinegar; put whole milk in a baking sheet, added a few drops of different colors of food coloring and then added dish soap and watched it swirl around (they loved that one); made paper helicopters an dropped them from the upstairs landing, adding paper clips to see what happens; we've made goop.
Last Tuesday we made rock candy. I had each kid come into the kitchen one at a time and make one with me. (It took a few weeks of collecting glass jars and having friends and neighbors save them for me to have enough to do it. I needed two for each kid. We had to do a jar change a few times so that the crystals would grow on the pipe cleaner rather than the jar. I needed 20; but I made it work with only 19.) With brining in each kid one at a time, it took 2 hours for me to make 10 batches. But they were excited and couldn't wait to see the crystals.
And then for the next week, I had 10 jars of sugar syrup covered with paper towel sitting on my counter.
On Thursday we did our second and last jar change. Some of the crystals grew quickly and though the pipe cleaner didn't touch the bottom of the jar, the crystals grew up to meet it and I had trouble getting it loose. One girl's jar crystalized so fast that by Thursday I couldn't get hers out (she's one that only comes on Tuesday). Another one was about the same, but when I was trying to get it out, with the girl standing next to me on the stool, it suddenly broke free and sloshed blue sugar syrup all over the girl's front, into her shoes, all over the counter and the stool and the floor. It was quite a mess. Poor girl, she's the shiest one of the bunch and still won't talk to me. I'm sure covering her in a sticky, syrupy mess didn't help.
Today we took the rock candy out and let them dry. The kids could hardly wait to let them dry before eating them. So we went outside to play. I didn't really want drops of sugar throughout the house. The ones that did work well look cool. I don't know why some crystalized on the jar more than the pipe cleaner and some worked well.
Here is Big E's before it dried.
Here are some of the ones that turned out well.
The kids enjoyed it and for the last 30 minutes or so, the house was much quieter while the kids munched on their rock candy. And I call that a success.
So it started out with three girls after school. Then shortly after, two more came. So for a while I had 5 girls coming Sunday through Thursday. Now this semester two more come on Tuesdays and Thursdays and two others come just on Tuesdays. So that makes a total of 9 kids (not including my own) that come to my house on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are early release day for the two schools that these kids go to, so the first ones get to my house around 12:40. They're all here by 1:20 or so.
With a houseful of kids, I've started doing some activities or experiments on Tuesdays. We've soaked a raw egg in vinegar; put whole milk in a baking sheet, added a few drops of different colors of food coloring and then added dish soap and watched it swirl around (they loved that one); made paper helicopters an dropped them from the upstairs landing, adding paper clips to see what happens; we've made goop.
Last Tuesday we made rock candy. I had each kid come into the kitchen one at a time and make one with me. (It took a few weeks of collecting glass jars and having friends and neighbors save them for me to have enough to do it. I needed two for each kid. We had to do a jar change a few times so that the crystals would grow on the pipe cleaner rather than the jar. I needed 20; but I made it work with only 19.) With brining in each kid one at a time, it took 2 hours for me to make 10 batches. But they were excited and couldn't wait to see the crystals.
And then for the next week, I had 10 jars of sugar syrup covered with paper towel sitting on my counter.
On Thursday we did our second and last jar change. Some of the crystals grew quickly and though the pipe cleaner didn't touch the bottom of the jar, the crystals grew up to meet it and I had trouble getting it loose. One girl's jar crystalized so fast that by Thursday I couldn't get hers out (she's one that only comes on Tuesday). Another one was about the same, but when I was trying to get it out, with the girl standing next to me on the stool, it suddenly broke free and sloshed blue sugar syrup all over the girl's front, into her shoes, all over the counter and the stool and the floor. It was quite a mess. Poor girl, she's the shiest one of the bunch and still won't talk to me. I'm sure covering her in a sticky, syrupy mess didn't help.
Here is Big E's before it dried.
Here are some of the ones that turned out well.
The kids enjoyed it and for the last 30 minutes or so, the house was much quieter while the kids munched on their rock candy. And I call that a success.
7 comments:
You're a marvel, dear!
How cool!!
Don't you get little bits of pipe cleaner plastic in the candy, though?
I'll bet at other houses they all just watch tv or play video games. Good for you : and good for them
Surprisingly, Mike, the pipe cleaner stayed together. The only time it stuck to the candy is when I had to pull it off the botton of the jar. And then some stayed in the bottom of the jar. The kids didn't have any trouble with getting some in their mouths.
For some other ideas you may want to check out
http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Education/Programs/Do-it-yourself-science.aspx
I especially like the chemistry ones (no surprise there) and the jelly optics and soap boat in the physics section.
Another resource that I really like is called Science Buddies
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml
You're so awesome!
Post a Comment