Science~ Lava lamps

 

Children's curiosity to 'find out' and know 'why' makes activities based around science so exciting for them.

 

Children are born keen observers and are always trying to understand the world around them. Science provides hands on opportunities for them to reinforce and build on these understandings.

 

However, it does not always go to plan!

 

One morning I was met with "Mummy, Mummy I want to make something in the kitchen!"

 

Already having a pantry full of homemade treats I suggested

"How about we do some science?"

 

Miss M "Yes, Yes, Yes"

 

"We can use some ingredients to make something very interesting to watch with our eyes!"

 

Miss M "And then we can taste with our mouths!"

 

"Oh no honey, we can't eat or taste this science, it will taste yucky. We will watch it with our eyes and it will look really interesting"

 

 

She seemed happy enough with this...

 

So we began to make, home made lava lamps

 

 

 

To make these, you will need

 

A tall glass

salt

cooking oil

water

food colouring

 

 

Fill your glass about 1/3 with water and add a few drops of food colouring - of your choice

 

 

Top with your oil.

Oil is less dense/ lighter than water so will sit on the top!

 

It was at this point Miss M went into toddler melt down!

 

I wondered what was going on, what was the problem... this was fun, wasn't it?

 

She muttered out through sobs

"I don't want the fizz, no bubbles, don't do it Mummy!"

 

???

 

"I don't want to make a 'cano' no!"

 

cano ??? oh Volcano, this was reminding her of when we made volcano science with vinegar and bicarb.

But why was this upsetting her, she enjoyed doing that??

 

When I managed to get to the bottom of it, I worked out that yes, she did think we were making fizzing volcano's and she was upset because she didn't want to do that, she knew she wasnt going to get to taste! She had wanted to make something to eat, she wanted to bake!

 

Mummy's fail- not listening to what she really wanted to do and instead trying to get her to do what I wanted instead.

 

We put our 'science' aside for awhile and distracted ourselves with other things!

Luckily the water and oil will happily wait.

 

Now to get back to the investigation

 

 

Sprinkle the salt into the glass and watch

 

 It was really hard to catch in a photo but you will see bubbles rising from the bottom to the top!

What is happening? ~ The salt is heavy and pushes the oil to the bottom of the glass. When the salt dissolves in the water the oil rises/ floats back to the top in bubbles!
Exciting to watch!

I was not going to share the story of Miss M's meltdown. I was simply going to share the experiement, however  I wanted to share that we don't always get things right as parents and things don't always go to plan.

Needless to say the next day we tried this simple science investigation that allowed her to taste, Sherbet

If your after other simple science investigations that are quick and simple to do at home, check at this link to
Milk Rainbows 



Enjoy

Play and Learn

Katey