Save empty egg cartons for a scavenger hunt. Here is a simple hunt similar to one I’ve used for Nature Camp. The little pix can go on the outside or inside. You’ll want to scout for an area nearby with plenty of natural objects, such as acorns and pine cones.
It’s been a minute since I did a Nature Camp. One idea I had totally forgotten about is Toad Abode. Let kids paint the exterior of the little clay pots. Toads, like birds, don’t care how the exterior is decorated. I know how much kids love having something tangible to take home to put in their own back yards. Fun, right?
I just thought of another idea for Nature Camp: Build Your Own Insect Hotel. The photo below is a commercial bug hotel which was a Christmas present. (Yes, the same family meme her has purchased bat hotels for us, too.) Basically, you drill holes in wood for bugs. Bugs are the main, early, spring pollinators. We have a little rotary, hand drill. I just ordered an inexpensive, twist drill to test for Camp. I know from experience that kids love to make things while they learn about topics. Kiddos like projects with a purpose!
In another life, I lead camps and did outreach events—many, many events. One fun activity was making first aid kits in 35 mm film cartridge cases. We put in a safety pin, bandaid, antiseptic wipe, and a quarter to call for help. First, eliminate the quarter. When is the last time you saw a public phone booth? Add a bandana. Kids can use the bandana to make an improvised sling with the safety pin. You may want to use M&M mini candy tubes as a treat and use the tubes for the first aid kits. Won’t this be a hit with your kids!
Okay, I think I my ideas in place for Mad Science Camp 2025. I’m planning three days of Camp. This year each day will have a different theme: Anatomy Academy, Weather Stations, and Nature Lovers. Here, here and here are the spreadsheets. Anatomy Academy has the most detail. But, I thought the kids might get bored. Below are a few of the fun camp activities I’m planning this year.
The Adorable Wearables books have inspired me for years! I like to include at least a brain hemisphere hat. I found pix of a few more hands-on anatomy crafts: spine, skeleton, and digestive organs.
I ordered these birdhouse kits.
I’m deciding whether or not I need to buy the book or craft kit for ideas.
I’m sure we’re going to make stone pendants.
Have you tried cyanotype paper? You can also make bags.
I didn’t realize there were so many science festivals around the country: North Carolina Science Festival (events in April), Jacksonville, Fl (April 10-11), Michigan State University (April), El Paso, TX (April 5-6), COSI, Central Ohio (April 30- May 3), Wisconsin (Oct16-26), Bay Area (Oct 25), Los Alamos, NM (June 20-25), and Las Vegas (April 25-May 3). Sorry. There were several in March around the country. Many of these events are free! I’ve set up booths at a few science festivals. Some are better than others. Try one once and decide for yourself!
Many kids are obsessed with March Madness. There are a few resources available.
1. Basketball Physics is a video from PBS. There is an article with background and questions for students. Pair this with That’s the Way the Ball Bounces.
2. My husband, Rob, uses the old app Video Physics for iOS. One experiment is to track the motion of a basketball as it enters the hoop. Science Buddies has The Dynamics of a Bouncing Ball and Dribbling a Basketball and Transfer of Energy.
3. Flinn has It’s Elementary, Sweet 16 Rock Identification, Sweet 16 Amino Acid Tournament, Sweet 16 Chemistry Ion Tournament, and Sweet 16 Drosophila Tournament.
4. One of my favorite activities is Rocketball. Place a tennis ball on a basketball and drop both. The tennis ball soars. Try this with a ping pong ball or a tiny bouncy on a tennis ball, too. It’s a little tricky to balance.
5. Ward’s has these basketball STEM activities, too.
How are we addressing Botany? We’ve created graphics, labs, sketched slides, tested anthocyanins, done POGIL worksheets, the HHMI Photosynthesis Animation, and looked at slideshows. I feel the level of detail in Botany warrants another course. Frankly, I prefer to spend more time on animals. I devoted a lot of time on the process of photosynthesis. We learned about chloroplasts back in cells. We did a leaf dichotomous key which emphasized leaf margins and shapes in Module 1. My kids are doing open book tests for Modules 14-15 (3rd edition Modules 11-12). In college I took both Botany and Field Botany. I feel as though the Biology textbooks cram two semesters of information into one or two modules. What’s important? They need to understand photosynthesis and the reactions. Most of the rest depends on the instructor’s interest or a college level Botany course.
Physics is one of my husband, Rob’s, favorite subjects to teach. Let me share some websites, labs, and lab kits using simple materials, ideal for home-school families or Co-op groups.
1. openstax: Physics: High School. This lab manual has 20 labs. Some labs require scales, ring stands, weights, lamps, etc, not super technical equipment.
2. The University of Virginia’s Physics Department’s Book 1 Light and Optics Lab Activities uses clips, mirrors, lamps, etc as equipment. Rob has used some of these labs with his Physics classes for years.
3. University of Wisconsin: Physics Lab You Can Do at Hom. Some of these labs are simple, such as the Vortex Bottle. However, the Speed of Light is suitable for high school. Rob often uses simple demos like these to introduce topics.
4. I bought Take Home Physics for Rob years ago. This is another winner!
5. I found a QSL Physics Lab kit years ago at Good Will online. QSL Physical Science and Physics kits are often available on eBay. Both have useful apparatus for Physics labs.Some of these eScience Physics kits a good value, too. However, the QSL is much better. See if the used kit has Frank Eshelman lab manual.
You may recall that I taught at both private and public schools. Invariably one member of the staff was passionate about weather studies. For years and years I wrote grants to fund student projects. Along the way, we funded weather stations, too. If you buy an electronic system, buy a new one. I have had terrific luck at Good Will and eBay EXCEPT with electronics. Compare reviews and plan on making a new weather station a family Christmas present.
Let’s look at resources for precipitation. Yes, I include many references to GLOBE. If you’re working with want to do a unit study. Start with the etraining unit before attempting any of the protocols. Make your own tools. The fancy rain gauges specified by GLOBE are expensive. Put together a lapbook about Weather and include Clouds and Precipitation activities.
1. Here are GLOBE’s Precipitation protocols. Here is the Precipitation: Rainfall eTraining and Precipitation: Snowfall eTraining. Here are the precipitation protocols.
2. Make a rain gauge or use this example.
3. Make a snowboard to measure snow depth with these protocols.
4. Here is a video from NOAA, How to Measure Rainfall.
5. The National Weather Service has these instructions (and photos) explaining how to measure snowfall.
I have just a few more ideas for Weather to round out the unit.
1. Build a barometer: Building a Barometer, Make Your Own Barometer, and Measure Air Pressure.
2. Make an Anemometer: Pudding Cup Anemometer and Bottle Tops.
3. Make a Wind Vane: Measure Wind Direction or DIY Wind Vane.
4. Make a Backyard Weather Station! Here is a Weather Activities packet.
5. Another classic is Tornado in a Jar, Tornado in a Bottle, or vortex tubes.
Okay, you are going to need a thermometer and a sling psychrometer. Any discussion of the air temperature should include the relative humidity. Measurements describes the tools used to determine accurate temperatures and other weather data.
1. Here are the Air Temperature and the Relative Humidity eTraining module slides. Instead, you may want to read this Discussion on Humidity.
2. You’ll need instructions to Calibrate and Take Air Temeperatures. Yes, GLOBE is very specific.
3. Air Temperature Protocols and Relative Humidity Protocols both have field guides, activities, and specific protocols, such as Surface Temperature Protocol.
4. Here is Flinn’s Sling Psychrometer Worksheet. Here is the GLOBE protocol and abbreviated protocol.
5. Here, here, and here are plans to build a sling psychrometer. Here are instructions to make a bottle thermometer. I like to let kids build their own models and then compare theirs to thermometers and sling psychrometers we bought.
I completely forgot to include ways to make clouds! I’m sorry I don’t have a personal photo. Usually I do Weather as part of a science camp. Usually I’m short-handed and forget to get key photos. Ever.
I’m betting someone in your family loves to check the weather. In our house, it’s Rob, my husband. Let me share some of my favorite weather related materials. Weather is a huge topic. Let’s focus first on clouds.
1. GLOBE is sponsored by NASA in the U.S. Start with the elementary Air Quality Module. You may want to look over one the eTraining Protocols, Atmosphere. Start with Clouds and the ebook, Do You Know the Clouds Have Names? (The cloud photos are incredible.) Next download Cloud Identification Charts.
2. These GLOBE Learning Activities have been replaced. However, there are so many good resources here, especially if you weren’t planning to join GLOBE, get training, set up an instrument shelter, and collect data regularly: Cloud Types and the Clouds Protocol.
3. NASA also has The Types of Clouds and What They Mean: Investigating Climate Systems: Clouds (Grades 5-8) and The Importance of Investigating Clouds.
4. NOAA has Ten Basic Clouds and a Cloud Chart.
5. Make a Cloud Viewer. There is a Sky Viewer on page two you could tape to the back of the cloud viewer. Put clouds in perspective with this Layers of the Atmosphere Activity (teacher) and Student Sheets for the activity. Up, Up, in the Air is similar and more abbreviated.
HHMI has a Photosynthesis Animation and Student Worksheet. I queued up the webpage on eight devices. Our library has free copies; this worksheet is long. Naturally, Comcast worked on the cable in our neighborhood during class. The Wi-Fi was out five minutes before class ended. I think the graphics in the animation are the most useful.
I was right. The Co-op class struggled putting kale into phenol red into a test tube. Simpler is better. They grappled with the phenol red. We used both LED and incandescent light bulbs. No change at all. Sigh. We left the light on the kale and phenol red test tubes for two hours.
Last year, I did the Spinach Leaf Photosynthesis lab with my Biology Co-op class. Here is last year’s post. Last year’s group was persistent. We spent an entire class period just getting the little disks to sink.
This year’s Biology class needs structure. There is no way they’ll persevere in the face of difficulty. I looked for a different photosynthesis lab—-a much, much simpler lab. We’re trying Observe Photosynthesis with this Easy Experiment and this lab. Surprise! I’m modifying the lab a little. I have two types of lamps. I want to see if the battery-powered LED lamps will work. We’ll see how things go.
Good Will has a huge lot of MEL Chemistry sets; one kit is Chemistry for Spies, with inks and invisible inks. I did a little digging. Take a look!
1. ACS Chemmatters has the Chemistry of Deception (Teacher’s Guide) about invisible inks. Frugal Fun has a Spy Decoder Wheel. The Exploratorium has so much information in Secret Language: Cryptography & Secret Codes.
2. HST Resource Center has Invisible Ink Science Project with three versions of invisible ink. Instructables has Invisible Ink Using Tumeric. I like phenolphthalein. Use an ammonia-based spray to reveal the message.
3. PBS has a video Spy Science. The teacher and student hand-outs, notes, and questions are fairly generic.
4. Did you know the CIA has Spy Kids?
5. The International Spy Museum has free Youth Activities. It’s pretty good! Check out these Kid spy Movie List.
Yes, dyeing Easter eggs has a little science. Many home-school families raise their own chickens and like to dye eggs. Here is a simple experiment with different amounts of vinegar to test. Here is an Easter Egg Dyeing lab with natural dyes: red cabbage, turmeric, beets, and baking soda. Marbling Eggs is about solubility; water and oil don’t mix. Here are fizzy eggs. Be sure to take loads of photos and document your experiments in your digital portfolio!
We keep a bucket with Pump Rockets and foam rockets in the basement for play emergencies. You can make Foam Rocket toys. ( Here is a si...
