My kids are working on lab reports for their chromatography labs. Here is the HST post for Candy Chromatography. My kids are sending me pix when they do labs-some more promptly than others. The pix record evidence the Chemistry course is lab-based. Take a look.
My Chemistry Co-op class is starting to learn about chemical reactions. I put supplies in the Chem kits I sent home. (Some of the lab materials are in the photos below.). We’re starting with Reaction in a Bag. Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda; calcium chloride is Driveway Heat. Home Science Tools sells phenol red and calcium chloride, if you live in a warm area of the country. If you have a swimming pool, you might already have phenol red in a pH test kit.
I sent home Alia-seltzer tablets so the kids could do these labs. I also created Mystery Powder lab kits to test household chemicals: cornstarch, plaster, baking soda, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. My kids will test these household chemicals with iodine, vinegar, water, and pH strips. I made packets which were numbered, to act as unknowns. The kids will perform the same tests and identify which chemical is which. I put cans of soda in the Chem kits. Here, here, and here are lab suggestions for soda pop.
My kids are going to do this precipitation reaction lab, too. The two chemicals are Epsom salts, magnesium sulfate, and sudsy ammonia or ammonium hydroxide. The lab has the chemical reaction on the worksheet. ACS has these reactions to try, including The Fate of Calcium Carbonate. Here is an explanation and chemical reaction between the calcium carbonate in egg shells, calcium tablets, or chalk and vinegar, a weak solution of acetic acid. The kids will do this single replacement Lab with copper II sulfate and iron nails, both in the Chem kits. I sent home test tubes and test tube holders so the kids could do the Decomposition of Baking Soda lab by heating the test tube gently with a tea candle—in the Chem kits. When you light a candle, you’re doing a combustion lab. See? You can do quite a number of chemical reactions at home.
My Chemistry kids are working on discrepant event videos. The kids must clear their demos with me for safety considerations. I’ve been seeing some interesting ideas. Here are 486 pages of discrepant events. I’ll bet there’s a YouTube video for all of these discrepant events. For example, here is Fountain in a Flask, from MEL Chemistry. Some are safer than others. Read the discription and watch a video demo before you decide to try any of these demos. I like this demo, Watch a Penny Disappear.
I just saw the Jarod Magnet Body on Good Will—which made me think about using magnets for science. Walmart has these dry erase magnetic shelf labels, which are reusable. Here is a bit of information about magnetic task boards. How could you use this idea? There is quite a bit of labeling in science: cell organelles, microscopes, skeletons, rock cycle, water cycle, etc. Have your child create the labels and use the textbook or diagram to label, say the parts of the flower. The labels are effectively a word bank. You can mix up the labels to help your child study before a labeling quiz—or to take a quiz with the label word bank. I ordered a small magnetic whiteboard and labels to try this technique. I’ll post examples of activities next week.
Pink Stripey Socks has 40 ideas to combine STEM and art, beginning with DIY art materials, such as home-made water colors and sidewalk chalk paint. Start with Pink Stripey’s links and compare recipes with other sites, such as Martha Stewart’s Watercolor Paint. Experiment with the proportions of corn syrup and corn starch. Use the home-made paint with crayons to make these notebooks for little presents. Sit down with your kids and plan which art supplies they want to make. Chalk? Finger paint? Scratch art? Here are more DIY art material recipes. How do they plan to assess the quality of the art supply? What do they want to make? Could the art product be a Christmas gift or wrapping paper? Hey! Anything worth doing is worth over-doing! Don’t forget to document the entire project for your home-school portfolio.
While you are making Crayon Resist Watercolor Art, do a few crayon experiments. Melting Crayons tests which color crayon melts first. Makezine compares the melting point of different brands of crayons. Here is a crayon rock cycle. What about Crayon Candles? Compare brands. Won’t you be a popular parent! Yes, we had to see if a crayon makes a good candle. Here it says the crayon will burn for 30 minutes.
Update: Good Will just listed this Janos Body Magnet. The body is also labeled in several languages. This toy is useful for anatomy and French or Spanish lessons.
Use ‘human’ in a search on Good Will. The results include a human anatomy textbook, a Visible Human kit, Uncover the Human Body book, the Human Body Coloring book, x-rays, and a life-size cardboard skeleton kit. ‘Anatomy’ tends to bring up Grey’s Anatomy listings; however, it includes more books and models. Uncover the Human Body is a wonderful book, especially for Young Explorers Human Anatomy as the kids build their own person with transparencies in the notebook. I amass books, x-rays, and models when I teach a Co-op class or host a camp. Keep in mind you can print your own human skeleton on to card stock and assemble it with brass brads. Often textbooks and coloring books tend to be cheaper on eBay or Amazon. Good Will is a good place to window shop for ideas.
Good Will has this listing of MEL Chemistry kits. These kits are demo labs; by demo, I mean the contents and chemicals for reactions are limited. However, these kits offer a tremendous opportunity to do several interesting chemical reactions. Below is a photo of the kits from Good Will. Yes, I’m drooling over this listing.
Good Will has a new listing of lab glassware: round-bottomed flasks, Erlenmeyer flasks, beakers, test tubes, and glass stoppers. Check the shipping. The Kalamazoo store in Michigan is pretty fair. Some Good Will stores gross up the weight inflating the shipping costs to realize more revenue. If you want a few flasks and beakers, this is a decent deal.
Start here and try Borax Crystals in Christmas tree shapes, especially if you’re already making Christmas Ornaments. This Scribble Bot is ingenious, too. Here are more home-school STEAM Art Projects. I’m always in favor of combining skills. In this instance, you can do both some science with a little art.
