Deals!

Now is the time to shop for deals on equipment.  I’m talking about kits and equipment generally under $30.  I have had the best luck finding labware and kits at Good Will and eBay.  Below are current listings.  BTW Pyrex, Kimax, and borosilicate are interchangeable and refer to heat-tempered lab glassware.  The mineral sample listed at Good Will is one of the best mineral set I have ever seen offered.  The blood test kit from Amazon is a worthwhile kit, occasionally offered on eBay for less than $30.

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Hands-on Lungs

 Make more models!  Just remember to explain how the lung works and what each part represents as you build it.  I start with a question, ‘What’s the point?’  Teach Engineering’s Just Breathe Unit is pretty comprehensive.   Surprise! Flinn has my favorite Lung Model.  Why?  It includes the diaphragm.  This Bottle Lung is similar and very good.  Here is an inspirational clay model. This AU webpage explains how to measure Lung Capacity.  This version uses a balloon to measure lung capacity. This webpage measures Vital Capacity, a type of lung volume.  Another suggestion is to make paper bag lungs, which also recommends loads of related books for kiddos.  Look at this lung model for younger kiddos.  There’s a template.  Older kids can calculate their heart beat and respiration rates  and measure their lung volumes while the younger kiddos make models.  Something for everyone.

Hands-on Digestion Labs

There are so many hands-on experiments for digestion.  Full disclosure, I can’t do experiments with food where we let the cracker break down or make a fake brain with jello.  I’m getting nauseas just writing about these types of labs.  Candium lab or Edible DNA?  These types of labs don’t make me gag.  The candy or beans remain whole until the kids eat them.  As soon as you say, watch how the cracker starts to dissolve, I’m done.  No, I don’t have any problems with dissections—just certain food labs.  My friend, Christine, teaches Human Anatomy to her kiddos and uses these labs all the time.  Let me share a few.  

1.  Digestion in a Bag uses crackers.  

2. Making Poo is similar, but carries the experiment further down the intestinal tract.  This version has pix and questions for the lesson.  

3. What does Spit Do? simulates saliva.

4. Enzyme Eggsploration examines pepsin, a digestive enzyme.

5. Urine the Know simulates urinalysis.  The Advanced Biology class is doing a simulated urine lab: this Lab-Aids kit.   I found the Lad-Aids kit last summer.  We’ll do the lab and dissect sheep kidneys after Easter.  The Innovating Science kit below has enough materials to repeat the experiment at least three times.  The distant learning kits were developed during COVID for home use and have fewer materials.  I use these types of kits for smaller classes. 

Everyday Science: Tree Identification

 One science camp activity we did regularly was tree identification. Our church in West Virginia had 50 acres and a huge forested area.  A friend of mine is a forester; Herb came and led hikes through the woods.  Kiddos want to know the names of trees.  I took Botany and Field Botany as an undergrad; however, I learned Botany in the fall, in the Piedmont area of South Carolina.  If the vegetation looks like it’s dead, I’m good!  In the spring or summer?  Not so much.  When I want to teach tree ID, I bring in an expert.  

You want to use tree identification guides for your area.  In Virginia, The Department of Forestry’s Tree Identification website has a ton of guides developed by Virginia Tech, such as this Basic Tree Identification slide deck and  Common Native Trees of Virginia.  This guide, West Virginia Trees, has photos.  WV Forestry has an excellent Spring Tree guide.  

Start locally.  Look for a guided tour.  Local  natural site, such as Crow’s Nest, frequently have trail maps. See if the local park, garden, or arboretum has regular guided walks. 

Look at arboretum websites: Glen Arboretum, Blandy Experimental Farm, or Core Arboretum.  They offer loads of educational materials.  Another suggestion is to tour botanical gardens.  Some such as Clemson’s South Carolina Botanical Garden are free; others can be costly, such as Longwood Gardens.  Smaller parks or natural areas are more likely to focus on native trees, shrubs, and plants.  Larger gardens, such as Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden or Longwood Gardens tend to have more exotic trees, plants, and flowers.  If your goal is to learn the names of trees, plants, and shrubs nearby, smaller sites are usually better.  

One difficulty is that many trees in your neighborhood are likely cultivated.  In our backyard are two Paulownia trees, which are not native and were planted by the previous owner.    We planted a plum tree in the from yard. It’s showy.   Beyond our fence are some natives: dogwoods, pine, and tulip poplar.  There are oak, maple, and magnolias in the woods nearby.  We live in a highly populated area and still have parks nearby.  I’m betting you do, too!

Do you have a budding botanist or horticulturist?  Consider volunteering.  Volunteering at Longwood Gardens is tough!  Other arboretums, such as Blandy make it easy to volunteer. Frequently, these gardens offer summer camps, too.  Like birding, tree and plant identification can become a life-long hobby.  Below are the views from the deck.

Friday Fun Day: Toys!

 Who doesn’t love toys?  I’ve planned entire science camps around the joy of toys!  Are you familiar with the website, Toys from Trash?  It has ideas for days, such as Craft stick ‘bombs’,  These toys  tend to be more sciency.

1. Years ago, ACS celebrated The Joy of Toys.  This publication has plans for an air rocket, boat, inflating a balloon, Cartesian diver, shrinky dinks,  super bubbles, and a bouncy ball.

2. Make your own play dough or snow fluff.  We like to compare homemade dough to commercial play doh.  Try magnetic slime or many variations.

3. Make a glitter Snow Globe or a Benzoic Acid Blizzard in a Bottle.  Another classic toy is a Lava Lamp.

4. Build catapults: Water Balloon Launcher, LEGO Catapult, or classic, craft stick catapults.  

6.  Make an I Spy Bottle.  If you add pipe cleaners, they are magnetic. Kiddos like to both make and use these bottles. 

7. Make sidewalk chalk to make 3D Chalk Art.  If you can find these sets, the gasses work very well.

8. Kids also like the Bee Hummer Toy, Pringles Pinhole Camera, Head Harp,  Secret Bells,  and Remote Control Roller.   We’ve made all of these simple toys at Camp.  

9. Make a balance toy or try to Balance Nails. (The nails should have a large head.) The classic balancing toy is the Sky Hook.  Make a Balancing Bird.  These are always popular toys.  

10. Make Spinning Tops.  I like to buy Tippe Tops.  Now I need to order a few toys for science camp!

Everyday Science: Birds

 Bird watching is a year-round hobby. I love to spot wood peckers.  There are so many aspects to birding. Who doesn’t like a bird feeder?  Here are a bunch of  bird feeders to make.  Who Likes What is all about different seeds for your bird feeders.  Below are a few ideas.  Now is a good time to start putting aside ideas for the summer.

1. What is a Birding Life List?  The American Birding Association (ABA) has a Check List.

2. Cornell University has some of the best educational resources.  Here is a sample unit.

3. Buy an Identiflyer.  This device plays bird sounds.  Try Audubon’s Birding by Ear, too. 

4. Maintain a bird feeder.  We have squirrel resistant feeders like the one below.  Keep records.  Use the same seed in different bird feeders.  Try different seeds in the same style of bird feeder.  Does the placement of the feeder matter?  Does the height change the number or variety of birds?  Make it a project!

5. Build a bird box.  Here is Cornell’s guide to nest boxes.  Here are free plans to build your own box.   Similar bird boxes to the one below generally retail for $20. The birds do not care what color you paint the exterior.

Everyday Science: Rock Hounds and Fossil Hunters

 The weather in our area has been marvelous.  It  beckons me to venture outside.  Many families like to hunt rocks, pan for gold, or hunt for fossils.  

1. Rockhounding on Public Lands has information about rockhounding in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah.  Check for local resources, such as sites in Virginia.

2. Let’s dig for gold. There is a local Gold Mining Camp Museum with demonstrations.  Here are other locations in the U.S. where you can pan for gold.  

3. Here are spots to hunt for crystals and gems.  Here are location to hunt for geodes.

4.  The National Park Service has a master list of fossil parks.  The Fossil Guy has more sites, including my favorite, Calvert Cliffs, in Maryland.  It is a great location to find shark’s teeth.  Those below are from the Calvert Cliff area.  

 

Apologia Textbooks

 Let’s open a can of worms and discuss textbooks.  First, I’m sticking with Apologia’s science textbooks.  The next time I teach Biology we’ll use the Biology Textbook, third edition and any of the Young Explorer’s Elementary Homeschool Science series with the younger kiddos.  However, based on Dr.Wile’s Physical Science and Chemistry reviews for the third editions, I sticking with the second editions in Chemistry and Physical Science.  What about General Science?  I’m concerned about redundancy between General Science and Physical Science.  

Physical Science textbooks are a sensitive topic for me. When I first taught Physical Science I was essentially teaching myself.  I kept stumbling on to errors.  I ran across this article.  Many, many physical science textbooks are still riddled with errors in content, answers, etc.  I recall too vividly how distressing it was to parse through material and correct it.  When I learned about Dr.Wile’s reviews, I decided to post-pone any changes in Physical Science or Chemistry.  If you want to use the third editions, buy them new.  The latest editions will have the most corrections. Here and here are the errata pages.  For now, I’m using the second editions, authored by Dr.Wile, for Physical Science and Chemistry.

Apologia Chemistry: Let it burn!

 Okay, I got carried away with a little hype.  But, Burning Calories or Soda Can Calorimeter is a great lab!  Burning Calories suggests using a meat thermometer!  Great idea!  My suggestion is to have two soda cans to allow one to cool well.  Change the water! Don’t forget to check the initial water temperature!  Do three trials for each sample: Cheetos, popcorn, peanuts, saltines, etc.  Here is a good overview of calorimetry.  Below is a video I made to explain how to set up the soda can calorimeter.  Your kiddo is doing solid science.

Microscopes

Yes, microscopes!  It’s an important topic!  I have a bunch of microscopes.  Some of my Bio classes are large.  My classes experiment with all the different microscopes before the teens land on their favorites. The prices for microscopes, adapters, and USB microscopes have been fairly stable; although better  USB microscopes have risen significantly.  

I have NOT had good luck buying used microscopes, with the exception of a lot purchased as a bid by a friend.  He bid on a huge lot of microscopes, vetted the ones which work, and donated ten to our Co-op.  

These are workhorses!  The microscopes are battery operated: they are portable. The resolution is quite good.   Below is the microscope I bought new and like. I paid $80 at the time.  My favorite brand is Amscope, which has decent quality microscopes priced well. While it is advertised as an introductory microscope, it is suitable for advanced histology.  It has served us well for Advanced Biology, which has quite a bit of histology.

Note the cell phone adaptor on the microscope below.  The kids create digital files of the slides observed. The adapter fits over the ocular lens.

I have microscopes which clip on to cell phones.  The magnification and resolution are only fair.

We have several digital microscopes or USB microscopes.  Again, Amscope has good quality USB microscopes.  The cheaper models are generally junk.  These microscopes do not have the same resolution; however, it’s easier to capture a screenshot of the slide and then spend time sketching.

A USB microscope is affordable.  One note: I have never been able to connect a USB microscope to a cell phone or iPad.  Never.  Usually, the digital microscopes work with any laptop.  Sometimes, they work with Chromebooks.  One reason I like USB microscopes is because kiddos can examine their skin, money, tabletop, etc. without worrying excessively about breaking the microscope, especially since the laptops are hand-me-downs.  Let the kiddos have some fun!

Great stuff at Good Will!

 This is an on-going update of tempting kits, sets, and equipment.  I bid and purchased a physics kit years ago for my husband, Rob, who teaches Physics. This kit is fantastic—especially since it has the lab manual.  It is listed as a Biology Kit; it does have a dissection set.  However, the remainder of the materials are for Physics.  Good Will continues to be a good source for science kits, sets, and equipment.

Everyday Science: Plants

 Last summer, we hired a neighborhood kid to help divide our iris bed, which was a mess.  We gave away over 50 bulbs, moved several to the back garden, and mulched the existing bed.  There were broken pieces of bulbs in the dirt, which were spread over the backyard.  Surprise!  The backyard has about 50 irises.  I’ll post another photo when they bloom.  

Here is the original bed of irises—after we cleaned out the weeds and divided the bulbs. 

I bought a bag of zinnia seeds to try.  Usually, I buy small, seed packets.  Zinnias are hearty; I want pots and pots of flowers on the back deck.  The irises inspired plans for seeds.

It’s too early in our area to start seeds.  I need to wait another month before planting.   Your kiddos can germinate seeds in a Petrie dish,  a plastic bag, or a CD case.  I have leftover seeds from last year. Use old or new packets of seeds to do this Seed Germination Inquiry Lab, which has kiddos calculate the percents of seeds which germinate.  See how well the seedlings transfer into pots.  

A few years ago, I bought a pot of daffodils for  a Daffodil Flower Dissection lab in Biology.  

Below are the daffodils, now.  Daffodils double.   The backyard soil is challenging for plants—even weeds.  The soil quality is poor and soggy.  We gave up on lovely beds of plants.  Now, the existing plants all play survivor in the backyard.  I recommend irises.

I have good luck with amaryllis bulbs, too.  A friend buys the bulbs for her daughter every Christmas.  She gives me the waxed bulbs after Christmas.  I remove the wax from the bulb and stick it in potting soil in a planter.  The Amarylis like a bit of neglect.  The bulbs will bloom again—likely long after Christmas.  I have five plants, right now.  Two are going to bloom again soon.

Frankly, I like low maintenance plants.  Period.  One more easy plant is Spiderwort or Purple Heart.  We trim the plant and stick the trimming in moist soil. Voila!  More plants.  I foist plants on guests as lovely, parting gifts.  The Purple Heart plants look sad right now because it’s cold outside.  The big plant was too heavy to haul into the garage for a few days.  There were so many cuttings, my husband, Rob, just moved them close to the house.  They are playing survivor in the deck.  I’ll post pix again when it warms up.  But all the small plants were just cuttings from the large plant.  Make plants projects for your kiddos!  Which ones propagate?  How can you coax the bulb to bloom again?  This is science!

Friday Fun Day: Color Changers

 Color change is always so much fun!  Kiddos of all ages love to see colors change.  Here is a long list of fun experiments to try!

1. Marbleized Easter Eggs is perfect for Easter.  We’re half-way through Lent.

2. Marbled Paper We use index cards and sometimes experiment with different types of paper, such as water color paper, filter paper, or construction paper.

3. Hydro-dipping The instructions call for wood.  We tried glass jars and plastic.  Glass works quite well.

 4. Color-Changing Lemonade uses butterfly tea.  

5.  Color Changing Red Cabbage or Colour Changing Potions are both favorites.

6. A Color Changing Liquid is part of the packet, Chemistry Colors our World, from ACS for NCW.

7. Rapid Color Changing Chemistry requires several chemicals: Vitamin C tablets, laundry starch, iodine,  and hydrogen peroxide.

8. Color Changing Milk is fun for younger kiddos.  

9. Color Changing Markers has ideas to experiment with color changing markers.

10.  Rainbow Flowers is another experiment for younger kiddos.  Try Celery  instead of carnations.