Wednesday Explorers Club - Making Oobleck

A couple weeks ago I posted a review of  Charlotte the Scientist is Squished,  - so I thought it would be fun to do some experiments using the scientific method. The "Scientific method" is an outline (or flowchart) that describes how scientists develop hypothesis, test their ideas, and come to conclusions.

Our experiment: making Oobleck. All you need is water and a box of cornstarch. Warning: do not dispose of cornstarch experiments down your sink; they could clog your drain. Wrap them up and throw them away.

Question: What happens if I mix cornstarch in water?
Hypothesis: If I make it thick enough, it will probably be gluey.
Experiment: Start with 1/2 cup water and 3/4 to 1 cup cornstarch. Pour the water into a bowl, and then add the cornstarch. Stir well.
Observe and record:

• What does it feel like? 
• Can it stretch? Bounce? 
• Can it pour? 
• Is it solid? 
• What happens if you pour it onto a cookie sheet and hit it with a hammer?
•  What happens if you put it into the refrigerator? 
• What happens if you add more cornstarch? More water? 
• What if you divide it in half and leave one part out in the air and another part inside a ziplock bag? 
• How long does it last? 
• Does it get moldy?

Analyze: This is where you draw some conclusions about this non-Newtonian  fluid that acts liquid when you gently put your hands into it, but acts solid when you squeeze or hit it.
Share Results: Scientists write articles. You could take a photo of your oobleck and write a brief note about it and give it to a friend.

You can find more things to do with oobleck here. Find out more about non-Newtonian fluids here.

Charlotte the Scientist is Squished

Charlotte the Scientist is Squished
by Camille Andros; illus by Brianne Farley
40 pages; ages 4-7
Clarion Books, 2017

themes: investigation, science

Charlotte was a serious scientist.

She's got a lab coat, protective glasses, a magnifying lens, and a clipboard for important notes. What she doesn't have: space to do her experiments.What does she expect? She's a rabbit, so of course she's going to have lots of brothers and sisters living with her.

So Charlotte puts her scientific method to use to solve her problem. She starts by asking a question. Then she forms a hypothesis: If I can get rid of my brothers and sisters, I will have room to be a scientist. To test her hypothesis, she conducts an experiment - or two - which don't quite end the way she hoped.

Time for Plan B: if she was going to get some space, she would have to go there. To space. And when she gets there, she has lots of room for all her experiments. There's only one problem: Charlotte misses her family.

What I love about this book: what a fun way to introduce kids to the scientific method! There's great  back matter, including a list of the steps of the scientific method. I also love the end papers, which are blueprints of her space lab. And I like how Charlotte finds the solution to her problem.

Beyond the book:

Do Science!  Make some kites and fly them in the March winds. Experiment with kite shapes and tails, size and weight, materials (can you make a kite out of stuff from the recycling bin?). Try flying kites under different conditions. 

Keep a Question Notebook - someplace you can write down questions you have. Like how do birds fly when it's windy, and can you teach bumblebees to drink sugar water from a jar lid?  Leave some room beneath the question so you can scribble ideas for how to find out the answers. Then use the scientific method to find the answers.

Meet the Author: Scientists sometimes get their ideas from strange places. Author Camille Andros says she got her idea for this book while in the shower. Here's an interview with the author.

Today is Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy provided by publisher. It should hit bookstore shelves early next week.

Some Things Float ~ Some Things Don't

Things That Float and Things That Don't
by David Adler; illus. by Anna Raff
32 pages; ages 5 - 9
Holiday House, 2013

Last week we were testing how well glitter fell through water, and it got me thinking about all the "bathtub science" my kids used to do. You know: toss an apple into a bathtub full of water and it bobs on the surface. But toss in a quarter and it sinks - which makes anyone sitting in the bathtub wonder: how can a huge ship float if it's made of metal?

It's not just the material of an object - or its size - that determines "floatability". Shape has something to do with it as well, and Adler shows how.

Take a piece of aluminum foil. If you put it on top of water, it will float. It will float even if you crumple it a bit into a loose ball. But if you smoosh it into a tight ball it sinks. So it's not weight that matters - because it's the same amount of foil. It's how much space it takes up - its density. Adler explains density, and demonstrates why even "heavy" clay boats can float. He shows what displacement is all about and offers lots of opportunities for kids - and parents - to ask questions and test household objects. All you need is a bathtub. Or a dish pan or a wading pool or a large mixing bowl...

Today's review is part of the STEM Friday blog. Check out the other science books and resources reviewed this week. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Seeing the Forest Without the Leaves

This time of year the trees are "bare bones". Except for maybe the beech trees, which hold onto their leaves as long as they can - and a few branches with dried berries.

But mostly it's bark and branches. Still, you can get to know the trees by their shapes. Some have branches reaching up towards the clouds, some alternate up the trunk, and some hang down. Take a good look at the bark: some trees have shaggy, scaly bark, while others are as smooth and white as old bones.

Now's a good time to head outside with some paper and crayons to collect tree bark rubbings, or to draw winter portraits of the trees around your house.

Check out more science resources and some great books over at STEM Friday.

See the World from an Ant's Perspective

The world looks different depending on how you look at it. Today, see how your back yard (or garden or park or...) looks from the perspective of a small critter - an ant, perhaps. Get down on your tummy and look at the world in front of you. If you want, grab a hand lens so you can get a closer view. Who knew that some mosses look like pine trees? And check out the tiny hairs on those leaves!

Then grab your journal and write - or draw - about what you see. 

Check out more cool science over at STEM Friday.

Find a Lost Ladybug

Where have our native 9-spotted ladybugs gone? They are the state bug of New York, but you probably won't see one in your garden. Instead, what you'll find are multi-colored, many-dotted introduced species. 

Have the introduced species pushed out the natives? Do they grow faster? Eat more food? Cornell scientist John Losey wants to know, so he's raising 9-spotted ladybugs - and lots of aphids - to learn more about how the native 9-spotted ladybug interacts with imported species.

Ladybugs are important. The eat lots of aphids (and there are great shots in the video of ladybug adults and larvae snacking on those sap-sucking pests).  After watching the video, head out and look for some "lost" ladybugs - and make sure to take photos of the bugs you find. Find out more on the lost ladybug project here.
And remember to check out STEM Friday.

Make a Back Yard Field Guide

One of the neat things about science is that you can walk out your back door and learn something new. One fall my kids dug through the compost bin looking for isopods (roly-polies, plant lice) for some studies they wanted to conduct. In the process they uncovered a lot of interesting stuff: worms, centipedes, sprouting seeds.... enough to make cataloging the compost pile that day's study.

Another week we decided to take a closer look at the insects living in the milkweed patch, and later we examined the insects hanging around goldenrod.

In the process we collected notes and sketches of our observations in a sun-faded blue notebook that resided on the windowsill where we watched birds. Over the years our "Window Ledger" grew into a field guide.

I wish I'd taken the next step: snap photos of the things we observed (and the kids holding frogs, kneeling in the garden to watch spiders), print the pages, punch holes and stick into a binder. You can get some good ideas about creating your own field guide from "Flora, Fauna and Family Togetherness"in this month's National Wildlife magazine.