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.
