Make Rock Candy
What You’ll Need:
- Water
- Sugar
- Clothespin
- Wooden sticks
- Pot
- Food Colouring
- Stove
Step 1
Gather your ingredients and tools.
Step 2
Place two cups of boiling water in a large saucepan over the stove.
Step 3
Then whisk in four cups of sugar. Boil and continue stirring until sugar seems dissolved. This creates a super-saturated sugar solution.
Step 4
To add flavour, put either vanilla or peppermint etc. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes.
Step 5
As the solution cools, prepare wood sticks to grow the rock crystals. Wet wood sticks and roll them up in granulated sugar. Ensure the sugar sticks dry before proceeding to the next step entirely.
Step 6
Add any food colour to create rock candy after the solution cools down. Leave this step out for clear-coloured crystals.
Step 7
Put the cooled solution into a glass jar and insert the sugar-covered wooden stick into the center of the glass. Ensure that the stick does not touch any part of the jar.
Step 8
When in place, attach the stick with a clothespin. Use a paper towel to cover the top of the glass. Drill a hole in the paper towel, so the wooden stick runs through.
Step 9
Place it in a cool, quiet place. Make sure there are no loud noises, and much movement can interfere with the crystal making process. You see, every day, the candy crystals will grow larger. They will reach their maximum growth potential in 2 weeks.
When you get a good amount of rock candy crystals, remove the stick and place it on a sheet of wax paper to dry before eating!
Invisible ink
What you’ll need:
- Paper
- Cotton Swab
- Lamp or electric stove
- Milk or Lemon
Step 1
If using lemon, squeeze a lemon into a glass. Mix it with a little bit of water.
Or, if using milk, dip a cotton swab into the milk or lemon juice, write your secret message, and let it dry.
Step 2
Now, ask an adult to hold the sheet of paper over a heat source.
Step 3
As the milk or lemon “ink” heats up, it will oxidize and turn brown. You can see the message appear like magic.
Exploring Surface tension
Surface tension is a foundational scientific principle that even young kids can begin to learn about. This simple experience using water, soap, and black pepper will get kids of all ages exploring this useful concept.
What You’ll Need:
- Black pepper
- A plate or bowl
- Water
- Liquid soap
Step 1
First, fill the plate with a thin layer of water; less than an inch deep is plenty.
Step 2
Then, sprinkle the pepper onto the water, covering as much of the water surface as possible: the more pepper, the more fun.
Step 3
Finally, dip your finger into the liquid soap. Touch the pepper and see what happens!
You see the soap breaking the surface tension of the water! It exists in water because the water molecules like to stick together.
Sink or float
What You’ll Need:
- A big container
- Water
- A penny, wooden stick and spoons of metal and plastic.
Step 1
First, fill large clear containers with water.
Step 2
Collect mentioned items or any other from around the house in order to see if they will sink or float.
Step 3
Before you test them, make a chart of items picked and ask them to predict if they will sink or float.
Step 4
Now, test out each item, and compare it with their hypothesis! You see some items sink and some float. This is a great way to teach them the scientific method.
Mixing the impossible
What You’ll Need:
- Several drinking glasses
- Water
- Vegetable oil
- Liquid food colouring
- Jar
Step 1
Pour about ½ cup of water into a drinking glass.
Step 2
Next, pour the same amount of vegetable oil into the same glass.
Step 3
Shake the jar and watch how the two separate from each other!
Know more fun experiments? If yes, write to us.
