We are rounding the bend. I’ve been thinking about how to wrap up Kingdom Animalia. I used questions and vocabulary from Apologia another textbook (BSCS). I copied a few animal coloring pages from the Zoology Coloring Book. (As teachers, we have energy’s license to use a few copies from books for teaching.). The kids are comparing invertebrates and vertebrates, sketching microscope slides, making paper planarian, and answering questions. Take a look.
Try, try again. The website below requires Adobe Flash. Sign. Here, here, and here are macro identification resources and activities. They just aren’t as good as the activities on the eSchool website.
I was thinking about another activity for the invertebrates unit in Biology. In another life I had a partnership with Cacapon Institute, which produced the Potomac Highland eSchool. One activity to measure stream water quality is to count insect larvae, or benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI). Here is the portal to BMI on the eSchool website. Here is a website explaining why environmentalists study BMIs. Why am I doing BMIs? Largely for enrichment. Many biology teachers include stream studies in their classes. The stream studies generally test pH, nitrates, water temperature, etc, and BMIs. In another life, I ran environmental programs and projects. Now, BMIs are an interesting topic.
I thing Spring has reinvigorated me! I’m finding loads of ideas for Camp and my Co-op classes. Flinn has a series called ‘The Science Behind…’. Here is the Science Behind Eggs. Here is the Science Behind the Heart. Here is the Science Behind Batteries. Look at the freebies and infographics, such as this heart. Take a look!
Update: Here is Mrs. Moehr’s FAC website, recommended on social media. She has a food science outline with labs. Browse the website. Food Science might make a good, science ekective.
I went down a rabbit hole looking for edible science labs. I saw this article, Food and Cooking from ACS, the American Chemical Society. I ran across Developing a High School Food Chemistry Elective. This would make an excellent elective for any kid. I think food chemistry would appeal to teens interested in cooking. Where would you even start? The HomeSchool Scientist has this roundup of websites. Your teen could just work through a host of experiments. The ACS magazine Chemmatters has a number of Food Chemistry articles. Guess what? HST, Home Science Tools, has Food Chemistry Science Projects + Videos.
Start by testing foods or this lab, Macromolecule Testing, to test proteins, sugars, fats, and starches. Here is a post about food tests.
Extract DNA from split peas. Here is a recent post about extracting DNA.
Buy this Edible Chemistry Kit. The instructions explain the underlying science.
Measure food calories with a Soda Can Calorimeter. Below is a video I made for this lab.
I add these labs to my Biology and Chemistry classes. But, I think a Food Science or Chemistry class would be genius!
Let me give you a little background about planning a science camp. Start here to see how I organize the theme, supplies, and plans. When I taught in private schools, the summer school directors asked me to lead summer science camps, to offer some variety with the sports and arts camp. I even helped the librarian host an Egypt camp one summer. My home-school friends asked me to host science camp at our church. Our priest gave permission. Together we hosted science camp after VBS for many years. Typically, forty kids, teens, and adult volunteers participated in science camp. We had to plan different themes because the same kids returned every year. We had a nice mix of parish kids, home-school kids, and children from the local community who heard it was fun. I fun-raised with book, media, and toy sales. Parishioners often donated materials. I was invited to cherry-pick goods from the church yard sales.
Here are a few tips for making Camp fun. On the first day, we made teams. Each team determined a team name, created a team poster, and a cheer. One of the best team names was the ‘Bubble Monkeys’, led by ten year old Pia. We start each day with team cheers. Waving team posters is optional. We also sang a lot of Camp songs: Greasy, Grimy, Gopher Guts, O Tom the Toad, Same Kama Wacky Brown, and Herman the Worm. Here is a list of popular Scout Camp songs. I rely on this song compendium, Joe’s Got a Head Like a Ping Ping Ball. Some groups like to take a song break.
Another important tip is to have snacks. We ate up left-overs from VBS the week before. But, we had trail mix, too. Now trail mix is any cereal, popcorn, pretzel, raisin mix on hand. We usually bake bread for VBS and Science Camp. Too many children haven’t experience home-made bread. One time the teens made pretzels. This experiment didn’t actually work well. The teens are all the pretzels in the kitchen. The campers didn’t get any pretzels. Popcorn and trail mix recipes can be served on more than one day. Animal crackers are also a popular snack. We do not have many themed snacks. I do plan to make sugar cookies to decorate Periodic Table Cookies this summer.
One more tip—send home little presents. For example, if you have stem games with cups, blocks, and craft sticks, send home a bag with the cups, sticks, and blocks. Encourage the kids to show their families the challenge. I made up copies of the experiments or activities for families, too. When we make flying toys, I send home little flying toys. We usually distribute temporary tattoos. In other words, inject some fun. If the kids want to sing Veggie Tales songs, we do. Sometimes, they need an extra recess outside. Laugh. Once, we forgot to tether the solar tube. It went way up in the air and was gone forever. I joked that the Air Guard was going to shoot it down. It was one of the best moments of Camp.
My friend, Christine, sponsors ‘Cousins Day’. She plans these mega-events for her family. Christine suggested STEM Challenges. (These are from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls—always a great website for ideas.). Christine mentioned ‘Minute to Win It Games’ for fun competitions. Here is one of my tips for hosting a science camp. Include fun games. I always plan time for recess outside after snack. Make STEM challenges into a brief competition. Celebrate with a round of applause. Send home bags with cups, craft sticks and blocks for the kids to replicate the STEM challenges at home. That is another tip; send home something with the kids. It build excitement for the next day.
Did you see the Photo Glitter Globes DIY at A Beautiful Mess using small, plastic snow globes? These use glycerin and glitter. I’m hosting a science camp in June. We’ll use benzoic acid instead. The boys are all 12 years old. The girls attending are around seven or eight. I think all the kids will enjoy Benzoic Acid Blizzard in a Jar. But, I think the girls will like making snow globes. Here is another DIY snow globe with a photo inside. The photo is waterproofed by sealing it with a self laminating sheet. The easiest snow globe is a mason jar snow globe. We hot-glue Pokémon creatures to the lid. This is exactly the types of fun camp ideas I like to include.
I’m planning Mad Science Camp. So, science toys are popping up on my social media feeds. Did you know Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss, is a kinetic creator? Who know? I need to see if I have enough Kinetic Sand on hand for Science Camp.
One of my Biology students asked me randomly if I wanted more microscopes. His dad had successfully bid on a lot of sixty microscopes. I asked for two more. Tuesday, A. brought them in to class. What a surprise! The microscopes are fantastic! Another student, R, helped take photos with her cell phone of the slides as seen under the microscope. Here is the brand, LabDuo-Scope Microscope. Don’t pay more than $30. Below are microscope images captured with a cell phone: planarian, a cross section of an earthworm, and a housefly mouth. There is an image of the lens attachment R used to capture the images and the microscope. BTW, the microscope images were clear; it was hard to keep the lens focused.
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Two years ago I mapped out Mad Science Camp for a local group of ten year olds. Then COVID hit. Our community was completely locked down for months. My friend, Jen, asked about reviving Science Camp. We picked a week in June. I’m in the process of revising all my materials. (Here is a post about planning your own science camp. I’m hitting my basement next!). The kids are two years older. Too many of my plans work well for younger kids—not pre-teens. (Here is the blog post about the Joy of Toys! camp theme with links for younger kids.). Here is the spreadsheet with notes. Be patient! This spreadsheet is being revised all the time! I’m looking for Middle School Challenges which are fun. A few of the little girls are six or seven. My plan is to have fun activities, like Rotocopters, for the girls to do while the older kids work on an extended project, such as paper marble roller coasters.
My husband, Rob, and I landed on Chemistry and Physics for the theme. We consider projects from vastly different perspectives. I looked at Marble Roller Coasters and thought about the materials and time required. I want to see if the kids think the idea is fun. My husband, Rob, studies the activity and considers the underlying Physics lesson—which isn’t even on my radar. If the topic is Physics, I assume Rob can handle the science. Truthfully, my science answers depend on the child. I tell kids optical illusions trick your brain. Period. I’ll be updating the lists on the spreadsheet. No, we won’t do every experiment. The list is longer than one week. I never know how long kids will spend on a given activity or project. I want to be ready!
Here are more resources for invertebrates. The kids are doing microscope work, paper dissections of the planarian, and several coloring pages. Pictured below is the completed paper dissection of the planarian and a microscope slide image. Hope these are useful!
My kids are starting Kingdom Animalia tomorrow. I want to finish the animal modules before we dissect. The Biology Co-op groups likes to cut and paste study guides. I assembled a set of resources for the kids to use to compare different phyla of invertebrate animals. Here is a comparison chart. Here is a packet to compare invertebrates. The kids can cut the examples for their guides. Here is a chart comparing several phyla for you to use as an answer key. Here is the slideshow I’m using tomorrow.
My knowledge of popular culture is scant. The croc charms are called jibbitz. Who know? Here is another link with more instructions using shrinky dinks. Here is an article about the science of shrinky dinks. They are polymers, too. Here is the link for DIY shrinky dinks with recycled plastic.
Did you see the Croc Charms DIY at A Beautiful Mess? Let’s make this this a science project! Here and here are science articles about polymer clay. I’m adding liquid and solid polymer clay to my summer camp files. The kids can build models with the Lab aid kits I have. (See photo for an example of a polymer model.). Yes, fun Croc charms count as science.
Is is science? Is it art? Here is the link to the instructions to make tie-dyed Easter eggs from Better Homes and Gardens. Go all out and tie-dye cotton shirts to wear after Church. My favorite dyes are from Dharma Dyes.
My kids are wrapping up Plants before we tackle Animals and do a series of dissections. I added a brief Fungus unit. Here is the worksheet. Here is the mushroom dissection we are using. My kids like dissections. So, I’m going to see what mushrooms are available at Walmart. I took pix of the dissection. The kids labeled the parts of the mushroom.
