Science Ed

Materials needed:

• LEGO bricks
• A stuffed bear or toy that can sit on it’s bum
• Ruler to measure bear/toy (optional)
• Paper and pencil/markers/crayons

Have the children look around the room and point to all of the chairs in the room. What do they notice is the same about all of the chairs? What is the difference?

Ask them to design a chair for their favorite stuffed bear/toy that is able to plop down in a sitting position. Ask them to think about their bear as they design a chair. What does the bear need to sit up right? What does the bear need to feel comfortable? How do you make sure the bear will fit in the seat of the chair?

• Optional: First ask them to draw out their chair design on a piece of paper.
• Optional: Have your child measure the bears legs, hips, and back so they know how big their chair should be.

Then have your child start to build a chair out of LEGO. If you do not have LEGO at home, you can use craft materials found around the house! Make sure to tell your child the chair needs to be sturdy and not break easily.

When they think that they are done with the chair, have them sit their bear in it. They can test the chair as many times as they want with the bear.

Have your child reflect on the success of the chair:

• Did the bear fit in the chair?
• Did the bear stay upright or flop over?
• Did the bear look relaxed or straight?
• Did the bears legs dangle or was there support for the legs?

Then there is the most fun part, the drop test.

**Take photos and videos of the chair before the drop test**

Have an adult take the chair and hold it at hip length, then let go of the chair and see what happens to it. If pieces flew off the chair, ask your child what they could do to make the chair sturdier!

Then repeat all steps as many times as necessary or make a chair for every stuffed friend in the house!

Materials: Deck of subitizing cards with quantities 0-10

How to Play:
• Deal each player 5 cards. The rest of the deck is then spread out
facedown to create a “fishpond” between the players.
• Before starting the game, all of the players put any pairs they
happen to have in their hand down and earn a point for each
pair.
• Each player gets a turn to ask another player if they have a
particular card. For example, on you turn, if you have a card with
five dots, you would ask your opponent if they also have a five
card. If they have a five, they give you the card. If they don’t have
a five, they say, “Go fish!” If you get a five from the pond, you put
the pair out in front of you. If you don’t get a five, you keep the
drawn card in your hand. Play continues until all the cards are
paired.
• Players get one point for each pair of cards. The player with the
most points wins the game.
• You can use chips or a ten frame to keep track of points. One chip
for each pair.

 

Variation:

• One More Than– play with a deck of cards 0-9. Players ask for a
  card that is one more than a card in their hand. For example, if
  you have a three card in your hand, then you ask your opponent
  for a card with four.
• Tens Go Fish – This game is just like regular Go Fish, but with a twist. Instead of matching pairs with the same numbers, match pairs whose sum is ten.

What you need:

• Find lids from various containers. Try to find lids of various sizes, some deep lids, bottle caps, and low lids like one from a play dough canister.
• Other materials to see if you can adjust the lids that are alike.
• Tape

How to do it:

Fill each lid with the same amount of water.  For example, 10 ml.

You can modify containers slightly to see how the top will affect rate of evaporation. You can cover with foil. Or cover and then poke small holes. Or cover with mesh. Or…

Ask the children what they think on from which lid they think water will evaporate more quickly.

Then just wait for the result.

If you like make a stop-motion or time lapse movie to capture the process.

Google Chrome has an interesting ”workshop” called Chrome Music Lab with several different ways of viewing and tweaking sound.

Objective: Recognize visual speech patterns; compare numbers to determine the larger value and associate number names, quantities and written numbers.

Materials: Cards with different ways of representing numbers, such as numbers, dots, dice, shapes, etc.

Number of players: 2

Instructions:

1. Divide the cards evenly and place them face up in a pile in front of them.
2. The game is played in rounds. In each round:
   a. Turn the card over and say the number on the card.
   b. Players compare the numbers to see who has the highest value.
   c. The player with the highest value ”catches” the other card and places it on a rubbish heap.
   When all cards are played, players count their cards in the rubbish pile. This step can be skipped if you want to avoid the competition situation.

Variant:

• The players compare cards and the player with the lowest value wins the round.
• Play add-catch with two cards and the one with the highest amount wins the round.

Procedure

1. Cover both of your hands in paint, as if you were using hand lotion. Make sure to cover the backs of your hands, in between your fingers, and around your fingernails.
2. Hold your hands out and let the paint dry for a three or four minutes.
3. Rinse your hands briefly with just warm water. How much paint is left on your hands?
4. Rub your hands together briefly under running water. How much paint is left on your hands now?
5. Use some soap, and count to 5 while washing your hands. Now how much paint is left?
6. Continue to use soap, and wash your hands for another 15 seconds. Examine your hands.

Are certain parts of your hands cleaner than others? Where is there still paint left on your hands? What can you do to improve your hand washing?

What Happened?

You probably found that rinsing, or even scrubbing, your hands with only water did a poor job of removing the paint. Soap helps break up the paint and other dirt on your hands, making it easier to remove, along with germs. But even with soap, you have to do a good job washing your hands to remove all the paint. This includes washing them for more than just a few seconds, and getting into all the nooks and crannies where the paint (and germs) can hide.