Science Friday - Catapults

Science Friday was awesome!  We generally do a Science Tuesday twice a month, but due to a drama class at the same time for my Kinder we through one on the calendar for Friday.  Our science day is basically CJ's science curriculum for the Kindergarten year.  Science happens to be awesome as a big group activity, so we always set it up so that our homeschooling group can join us.

We often use ideas from one of the Mythbusters Science Fair books.  One of the items that was tagged by CJ was catapults.  We started the day watching 2 episodes of Mythbusters before our friends came over.  They were both based on catapults.  They often have 2 myths paired together so we skipped over the parts that were about the other myth and only watched the catapults parts.  When our friends came over we watched a short video about a catapult that explained what they do. (*Watch out for the ads at the beginning and the end.  There is also a naughty word in the middle that I muted while the kids were watching it, so watch it first if that is a concern for you.)

After we watched the video we talked about what a catapult was.  Then I handed out spoons to practice catapulting small animal counters around the room.  It's a simple catapult to introduce the idea to the kids.

 Next, I gave a quick demo on how to build a small wood catapult.  The directions are in the Mythbusters book (mentioned above).  All the wood was cut and pre-drilled for the kids so they could do much of the work on their own.  The kinders and younger needed extra assistance from their adult, but the older kids loved it!  We got to assembling our catapults and launching gluten-free Cheerios around the room. The kids were also given crayons and markers to decorate their catapults however they liked.

 The idea of the catapult is simple.  There is a dowel through the middle of another dowel that freely turns in the side brackets.  There is a hook on one end of the dowel with a hook on the bottom board of the same side.  A rubber band is hooked between the two hooks.  A small basket (the bottom of a plastic cup) is taped to the other side of the small dowel.  The basket is pulled down creating tension on the rubber band.  When it's released it catapults the objects from the basket.

 We tried all sorts of experiments to see if we could fling them up the stairs (and how many stairs it could go up) and we catapulted them down the stairs and across the room.  We explored different types and sizes of rubber bands and had to deal with some stress fractures in the small dowels.  We certainly put our catapults to work!

It was a great day of catapults and playing with friends!

My First Science Experiments - Product Review from Lakeshore Learning

The brightest and hottest days of the summer are approaching.  Why not stay cool inside while learning some new and exciting things in cool ways?

Summer learning is is something I'm very passionate about.  I spent 4 years teaching 1st and 2nd grade and watching kids come back to school in the fall with such different summer experiences.  I was always delighted with the children who had the opportunity to grow and expand their learning over the summer and sad for those who didn't.  Exercising the mind is such and important thing to do all of the time.  I believe that as parents we are responsible for providing experiences and opportunities for our children to grow year round, whether or not they attend a formal school.

I am thrilled to be able to do a couple summer time product reviews for Lakeshore Learning.  They are one of my favorite places to visit and I always walk out having found everything I needed plus many things that I wanted.  I've even scheduled play dates to take my mom friends there to share the awesome.  Man, the teacher in me is all giddy now :)

We received 2 products from Lakeshore to review this summer.  The "Trace and Write Alphabet Center" geared toward EMan's ability will be featured on July 18th.  Today we're featuring "My First Science Experiments" geared toward CJ's ability.

When the box first arrived and I set the science kit on the piano the boys were immediately drawn to it.  I shared in their excitement and we set a time to get to work learning.

 When we opened it up there were immediately engaging elements that the boys really wanted to dive into right away.  We started with the step-by-step instruction guide and I was SO pleased to see that it was set up in a child friendly manner.  CJ was able to read much of the titles ("What you need:" and the language was interesting to him as I read aloud the instructions.

 He had so much ownership of the project after reading the instructions that he was ready to lead this exploration.  We got to work following the instructions and pouring the water.

 We dropped in one color tablet at a time and watched it fizz and bubble.  I wish that the instruction manual had an extended science section because the boys asked why the color tablets reacted that way in the water and I couldn't find the information online anywhere.  They did love watching the magic tablets dance in the water.

 I'm not too thrilled with the color coding of the color tablets. I *luckily* guessed correctly and we did end up with a red, yellow and blue square like we intended too.  I wish the packaging specified what colors where in there so you didn't feel so uncertain.

 This set is engaging our minds and muscles on so many levels.  We're reading, asking questions, and working on fine motor skills!

 EMan jumped at the opportunity to work on this project with brother.  We were mixing colors and experimenting with the outcomes.  I love the conversation that happens while we explore life together.
"I want to add some blue and see what happens." -CJ

"What would happen if we did a lot of red and a teeny bit if blue?" -me

"What if we add a lot if blue and a teeny tiny bit of red?" -CJ

"How about 2 scoops of red, 3 scoops of yellow and 1 scoop of blue? Mommy, it kinda turned into black!" -CJ

 For the second experiment we added some gel crystals and had to leave them in the water for 1 hour.  The boys sat staring at the timer.  What a great chance to learn about length of time!

 We learned some new vocabulary (primary colors and secondary colors).  We experimented with time to discover how long an hour is.  We explored different textures and discussed what changes had occurred.  We even applied math skills in counting out drops of color.  My First Science Experiments touched on numerous brain building skill sets all while being actively engaging, and that's merely in the first 2 experiments out of 13!  Isn't that what we all want in our learning?  Keep an eye out in the next few weeks for more posts of our engaging science fun!

"What's happening?" -me

"The crystals are changing into the same color as the water. They grew and sucked up the water. It is soft as jello." - CJ

Inside the Box:

*Step-by-step instruction guide

*Materials for 13 different experiments

*Plastic Test Tubes

*Eyedroppers

*Color mixing tray

*Color Tablets

*Gel Beads

Cost: $19.99

Link: My First Science Experiments 

Not only does Lakeshore have a great selection of items both in store and online, they also offer great customer perks.  They have free crafts for kids every Saturday, there are teacher workshops throughout the school year and a teacher's club available even for homeschooling parents (yay for cheap laminating!)!  If you follow Lakeshore on Facebook you'll have access to many things that may have gone unnoticed before. I love their July PreK-3rd grade daily activity calendar!

"Make this the summer of learning!" Stop by Lakeshore today and grab that something special to engage your child's mind this summer!

*I was given a copy of this product from Lakeshore to review.  All opinions are my own.