Tag Archives: create

chemistry, colour

Best laid plans…..

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colour thoughtsAfter the enthusiasm about the bright colours of foam mixing and the shouts of rainbows being made, I thought it would be a good time to try the dancing colours milk experiment.milk colour experiment

It’s been something I have fancied since I saw it on Pinterest.

It looked really impressive on YouTube too!

I have had a couple of Pinterest fails with this previously and discussed my failure with a few folk at recent courses and the big National Science Network (with proper science teachers!) So this time I was confident it would work and we would have lovely dancing colours to observe.

So we poured our milk (full fat as it is the fats reaction to the washing up liquid that makes the colours move).

 

The heavy lifting and coordination in having to pour our own milk helps us to develop muscles needed to eventually write! Any heavy play actually helps us with our sensory processing and core muscles which help us to be able to sit and concentrate on a shared focus – perfect preparation for classroom learning.

Then we added food colouring. In the morning we used a straw to add the drops of colour…

However after much spilling of food colouring and dyeing of the table (and hands!) I decided to offer the food colouring through the pipettes and test tubes for the afternoon (which not only controlled the amount of dye used but added the dimension of fine motor pincer grip to draw and squirt the dye and washing up liquid – again great for writing preparation).

Our predictions for the experiment showed that the children were applying previous knowledge.

“I think it’s going to explode all over you again!” – Olivia

“I think it might make bubbles because of the washing up liquid.” – Ross

We squirted in a little washing up liquid by ourselves – more hand muscle exercise! However the addition of the washing up liquid had a different affect.

“The colour is running away!” – Innes

And we made some mixed patterns with our fingers through the dye.

So some of the experiments worked. But some didn’t.

It seemed to depend on how much dye was used, how well they were mixed and which kind of dye we used. The shop bought food colouring seemed to dissipate quickly in the milk as though the fats were reacting with the dye itself, however the dye bought in bulk for the nursery seemed to hold it’s shape until the washing up liquid was introduced, making the effect much more dramatic.

We never did see dancing colours or swirls moving like in the videos, we had to swirl ourselves.frustrated-student-clipart-1

That’s not to say there was no learning! Lots of discussion followed about the colours produced and Ross, Olivia, Lara, Jude and Gracie all extended the learning further by investigating mixing and creating their own colours with the palette paints. And we were able to explore the mixing of the colours in the milk – making greens and purples.

Mistakes and failures are all a part of learning I suppose , I just don’t like having another Pinterest Fail.

I just need to remember that…

mistakes are proof

failure and learning

 

 

 

chemistry

Thinking again

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index

So for Holly and indeed for anyone else, we revisited the toothpaste.

Revisiting learning and repeating activities and experiences helps us to process the information and deepen our learning.

This time around I focused more on letting the children take the lead and do as much as possible based on their last experience. As this was  a repeat and more child led I didn’t bother with the logbooks.

Luckily we had a few re-visitors who could recall and share their experiences from Friday.

Again I tried to make this as hands on an experience as possible. Luckily the safety rules were firm in the children’s minds.

“Don’t touch the bottles! It’s dangerous!” – Gabriel

Ryan and Gabriel could both remember what we needed to do and what the reaction would be.

“We need the white stuff but it’s burny, and the smelly stuff to make it go up and over. ” – Ryan

So we measured out the yeast and took turns to mix…

And we used those important hand muscles to add the washing up liquid.

And those pincer grips to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the yeast quickly into the hydrogen peroxide (the greater the force with which the yeast enters the mixture, the quicker the reaction).

And we weren’t disappointed in the reactions. In fact we did the experiment again and again and again using different colours.

The children grew in confidence with the foam and were able to notice it was hot.

“It’s like lava!”  – Finlay F.

“But it looks like snow” – Adam

We noticed some of the mixtures went slower than others and so with a gloved hand I gave them a shake which really sped them up!

“Woah! Look at mine it’s going fast now!” – Nathan

“It got bigger!” – Elise

We repeated it so often we were left with lots of foam and it was lovely to play with (in fact we only stopped because we ran out of washing up liquid!)

“It’s all gooey looey!” – Finlay F.

And the colours all mixed again.

“This looks like a rainbow” – Ayvah

But Ryan used his knowledge of what we’d made to add to his observation..

“It’s like the elephant has already used all the toothpaste!” – Ryan D.

But the foam was perfect for mark making and writing secret spy messages! Great early writing practice.

The added opportunity to explore the process allowed Gabi to really add to her learning. She was able to explain what had happened to her friends…

“The yeast burned away the peroxide!” – Gabi

So  a revisited experience but more learning all the same!

Sometimes it is worth thinking again.

chemistry

balloons and gas

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balloonsToday we looked and at and thought about balloons and gas. This was a follow up to Isla’s fab question last time:

beaker potion gas“What is gas?”

So we started with our balloon holding bicarbonate of soda on a bottle containing vinegar. We discussed what happened when we mixed these ingredients on Monday.

“The bottle fell over and it just fizzed a bit” – Alf

So the consensus of prediction was that the bottle would fall over.

The balloon inflated however, much to the children’s delight!

“Arrgh! It’s getting bigger! It’s going to explode!!” – Patrick

The gas inflated the balloon.
The gas inflated the balloon.

We squeezed and shook the balloon and bottle and thought about the bubbles (which were made by the gas) and we decided to investigate – could we make a gas?

“Yes!” – Daniel          “It’ll be like a bomb and explode!” – Patrick

We had bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, effervescent tablets, carbonated water, bubble bath, conditioners, shaving foam, caster and icing sugars.

We discussed safety as usual:

“Wash hands after.” – Innes      “Don’t pop the balloons!” – Alex

“Move if you think it’ll explode!” – Daniel

Again there was disagreement about how long it would take….

“25 hundred” – Daniel              “Just a minute or 2”    – Patrick

"It'll take THIS long"
“It’ll take THIS long”

We mixed various ingredients and had a variety of results:

“It grew bigger and bigger and exploded like a bomb! It was going EVERYWHERE!”  “It was because of the gas” – Patrick

Mine made stripes.
Mine made stripes.

In the afternoon I structured it so that we were much more scientifically looking at the gas first. The children could choose what to mix and predict if it would make a gas to inflate the balloon or not.

"It'll go POP!"
“It’ll go POP!”
"It might melt our eyes!"
“It might melt our eyes!”

It was not good, not enough gas”  – Finn

"I'm scared it'll blow up"
“I’m scared it’ll blow up”

“It was small”- Belle

“It looks like a rocket” – Isla C.

"It just made a little gas."
“It just made a little gas.”

Sophia gave us the quote of the day………

“I am OBSESSED with all this gas! It’s like a hundred billion! It’s amazing!” “How much gas are you making????”

science fair awardOur star scientist award has to go to Fraser though. He was one of the first to join the experiment and nearly the last to leave at the end of the morning. He quickly realised which ingredients gave the best fizzy results and experimented with differing amounts in various containers. FraserHe really focused on developing his learning about chemical reaction and gas! Well done Fraser!super scientist star

Why not have a go at some mad mixing at home to create gases and explosions? Any household and kitchen ingredients could combine33052-clipart-illustration-of-a-shocked-school-girl-conducting-a-chemistry-experiment-while-her-chemicals-explode to make an interesting and possibly smelly concoction! Our fizzy favourites have to be the vinegar+ bicarbonate of soda or the carbonated water + effervescent tablets + bubble bath. Let us know how you get on, share any cool pictures or results.

And remember you can find lots of science ideas on our pinterest page.

 Happy experimenting!

chemistry, physics

Rocket fuel and gas

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rocket taking off

Following our success with our air pressure rocket, and Gracie’s suggestion, we decided to make an attempt to create our own rocket fuel to blast a bottle rocket into the air.

The ingredients for the explosion were the usual bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.rocket fuel ingredients

There were a range of predictions as to what would happen when we mixed the two (The main building children have not yet explored this mixture and so had no prior nursery experience to base these predictions on).

“Yass”[mimes blasting off into the air] “Blast Off!”  – Iona

“It might come down,” -Eilidh

“Blast up” – Natalie

“It’s going to blast into space!” – Lauren

The air's going to make it go up!
The air’s going to make it go up!
It's going to fly in the air!
It’s going to fly in the air!

Brandon even wrote his prediction clearly that it would go..

"Go up"
“Go up”

However some of the children showed a great level of awareness and applied it to their prediction (or maybe they could just smell the vinegar soaked into my clothes!

"I think it's going to make mess everywhere!"
“I think it’s going to make mess everywhere!”

“It’ll mess everywhere” -Amy M.

We discussed ways of staying safe (staying well back, only Ailie was to touch the rocket when the bicarbonate of soda was added).

There was a debate about how long it would take to blast off.

“Fast” – Urban                             “3 minutes”- Lauren

“50 minutes” –  James S.     “4 minutes”- Amy M.

Well there were a range of results. Most of the attempts in the morning resulted in gentle fizzing and the plug gently popping out. Not exactly the blast we had hoped for.

“When we put the first one down it didn’t blast off, it just went EVERYWHERE!” – Gabi

“It fell over and poured out.” – Urban

However we had a couple of explosions!

“It exploded!” – Eilidh

It went all up Ailie's sleeve, and her hair and her glasses!"
It went all up Ailie’s sleeve, and her hair and her glasses!”

“It exploded like a bomb!” – James

Lara's observation

Unfortunately the successful rockets were so fast that we couldn’t get a photograph!

So we reviewed the experiment and came up with some ideas on how to improve….

Alf's review

“We need to fix it!”  – Urban

“Make some things that would keep it on.” – Alf

In the end the most successful attempts were made using the plug that the vinegar bottle came with.

wee science meSo why did it blast off (eventually)?

Well the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda reacted and created a gas. The pressure of the gas expanding in the bottle pushed the plug and gas out of the bottle with great force, pushing the bottle into the air!

Isla – “What is a gas?”Thinking scientist

Hmmmmmm

Now there’s a question!

Well we could capture gas in a balloon to let us think about it.

We had to have a wee look at the static electricity generated by the balloon and the effect it has on our hair.

I think we need to have a wee look at balloons and gas next!

Please remember to leave a wee to comment share the learning!

And why not see if you have better luck than I with the rocket? There are various youtube video tutorials telling you how. Let us know how you get on!