Backyard Science

What picture comes to mind when you think of the word “science”? Do you think of your home? Or, do you imagine a person in a big laboratory pouring mysterious chemicals into a test tube. Some scientists really do work in labs like that. But science doesn’t happen only in laboratories. Science is all around you every day, in everything you do. Want proof? Just take a look around your kitchen: you may have water boiling on the stove or something weird growing in the back of your refrigerator. Welcome to the world of science!

Children are natural born scientists, they spend the first five years of their lives trying to figure out how the world works. Sometimes their curiosity drives you crazy, right? But curiosity and a desire to learn are skills you want to develop in your young child in order to prepare him for kindergarten. Those skills must be in place for your child to learn how to count or recognize his letters.

Picture the baby sitting in a high chair, dropping his toy on the floor and watching it fall. The baby will do this over and over again for as long as the adult is willing to play! This is a classic example of cause and effect. Sure, the baby is playing a game, but he is also testing the theory of gravity!

Older children might enjoy learning about gravity through this next experiment:

Free Fall
 You know that gravity pulls everything on Earth downward. Do you think gravity pulls a heavy object faster than a lighter object? To test this you’ll need a partner, a chair, several sheets of newspaper, 2 oranges and a grape. Stand on the chair with an orange in each hand and have your partner kneel, so he or she can watch the oranges hit the floor (cover the floor with newspaper, please). Drop the oranges from the same height at the same time onto the newspaper. What happens? Now, from the chair, drop the orange from one hand and the grape from the other, making sure to drop them both at once from the same height.

What happened? Well, you learned that gravity pulls all objects downward at the same speed, regardless of their weight. The only variance to this rule is air resistance. If you drop a feather and a brick, the brick will land first. Why? Because the brick is less susceptible to air resistance.

Volcanoes
Simple –Rinse out a liter bottle and allow to dry – you don’t want too much moisture inside the bottle. Then, standing it upright, bury it up to its neck in your sand box. Pour a little bit of dishwashing liquid, baking soda and vinegar into the bottle and watch it erupt.

Extending this activity – Create an entire island with a mountain volcano. Pick an area in your yard that has plenty of dirt, but not a lot of anything else. Prepare the ground by soaking it for easy digging. This gets messy so make sure you and the children are dressed appropriately. The first step is to place your liter bottle in the mud and start building the mountain around it. Then you can island details – twigs, flowers and pebbles make great trees, bushes and boulders. You can also add other details like bridges, roads and streams. This is a fun activity that can last over several hours or several days depending on the children’s interest. When you get ready to do your volcano, add a little bit of food coloring to the bottle first, then add your dishwashing liquid, baking soda and vinegar.

How this works: when combined, the baking soda and vinegar create carbon dioxide gas – the same gas that causes the bubbles in a real volcano. The gas bubbles build up in the bottle, forcing the liquid out and down the sides of the volcano.

Magnet Painting
This is very easy to set up. Marble painting and magnet play have been joined together for a new experience! You’ll need a shallow cardboard box (maybe a shoebox lid?), paper and tempera paint (2 colors). You’ll also need six wooden blocks (for stacking), 2 plastic cups, 2 plastic spoons, magnetic marbles and a magnet wand (marbles and wand are usually available at a school supply store). Fit a piece of paper inside the box. Elevate the box by placing stacks of three blocks under both ends of the box. Submerge marbles in plastic cups of paint, then use the spoons to scoop two or three marbles into the box. Help the child to move a magnet wand underneath her cardboard box. Re-submerge the marbles in paint as necessary.

How this works: the children saw that the magnetic field from the wand could pass through a solid object – the cardboard box. They also saw that the magnetic marble rolled around, spreading paint in order to stay close to the magnet beneath the box.

Variance: if you can’t find magnetic marbles, use toy cars or paper clips with a piece of yarn attached to it. When using these ideas, pour small amounts of paint directly on the paper and then drag the car or yarn through the paint.

Melt Down
This is a fun activity to do on warmer days. All you need is ice cubes and chalk. Place the ice cubes on the sidewalk or driveway and draw a circle around them. Explain to the children that they are going to come back later and see what the ice cube did. Check on the ice cube periodically. Each time, draw a circle around the puddle that is forming. When the ice cube melts away, you should be left with chalk circles showing the progression of the ice from a solid to a liquid. This activity works well for preschoolers.

Expand on this activity. Older children might enjoy an experiment on freezing different types of liquids: water, salt water, juice, etc. They could track how long it takes different liquids to freeze.

All children would enjoy this next activity. Freeze water in a half gallon milk carton to make a large block. Sprinkle salt on the block (table salt works although rock salt works better). This next part is somewhat messy. Fill muffin tins with water and put drops of food coloring in each. Give the children droppers (these can be purchased or try recycling infant medicine dispensers). Fill the droppers with water and squirt onto salt and ice. Watch what happens.

Fancy Flowers
This activity demonstrates for children how plants drink water. You will need flowers (white or yellow carnations and daisies work best). Pour some food coloring into a small glass and mix in a very small amount of water. Put the flower into the water. In a relatively short amount of time, the flower will absorb the water and food coloring. The color will show in its petals!

Expand on this activity by putting different colors of food coloring in two separate glasses. Ask a grown up to carefully slit a carnation stem lengthwise, leaving both halves attached to the base of the flower. Put the glasses side by side and set the flower with one half stem in each glass. Support with a clothespin. After several hours, you’ll have a two- color carnation.

Magnifying Bucket
Children can explore water’s natural magnifying capability and examine small objects in detail during this activity.

You’ll need: a 2.5 gallon plastic container without lid, clear plastic wrap, large rubber band and water.

Directions: Measure up one inch from the bottom of the container and carefully cut a hole in its side large enough for a child to insert his hand through. Cover any sharp edges around the hole with layers of masking tape. Place a piece of clear plastic wrap loosely over the top of the container. Use the rubber band to secure the plastic wrap to the top of the container. Pour water onto the plastic wrap. The plastic wrap full of water should hang down into the container. Children can place objects they wish to magnify though the hole in the side of the container and look down through the water at the object underneath.

What happened? By pouring water on to the plastic wrap, a concave lens was formed which magnified the objects placed beneath it.

Magic Watering Can
 You’ll need a small container with plastic lid, hammer and nail (for grown up use only), water, colorful markers or other decorating materials. Directions: Ask a grown up to help you punch three small holes in the bottom of the container with a hammer and nail. Punch one hole in the center of the plastic lid. Decorate your container with waterproof markers, stickers, or scraps of contact paper cut into interesting shapes. Fill your container partially with water and put on the lid. Some water will sprinkle out through the holes in the bottom. When you place your thumb firmly over the hole in the lid and press down, a stronger stream of water will come out. Gradually ease up on the pressure, keeping your thumb over the hole. The water will stop completely! Now you can start and stop the flow of water by increasing and decreasing the pressure of the hole.

What happened? The watering can contains water and air. When you press down on the lid, you also press down on the air. Since the air can’t get out (there is water beneath it), it presses down on the water, forcing the water out of the holes in the bottom. When you stop pressing down but keep your finger over the opening, the pressure of the air outside the container holds the water up from the bottom, just like in the straw. What happens if you take the lid off completely? Now, air can enter the space above the water, and the water can flow out due to gravity.

Bug Catching
Most young children are fascinated with bugs. From The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Miss Spider’s Tea Party to movies like A Bug’s Life and Antz, people have been trying to figure out what these critters would be like if they had human feelings and behaviors. Why not go on a bug hunting mission and see what you think “a bug’s life” is really like?

Attracting bugs is easy. Mix an overripe banana with some brown sugar and let the mixture sit for a couple of hours. Then slather on the bark of a tree. Insects will soon appear, attracted by the scent of the sweet stuff.

Bug Hunting Supplies: a keen eye, clean clear containers with air holes or netting on top, large spoon to collect specimens, notebook to write in and sketch the insects you find, a bug net and magnifying glass. Keep your bug guests happy by including some fresh, green leaves from the same kind of plant you found the critter on, as well as a little dirt, dead leaves and a bottle cap full of water.
Expand on this activity: If creatures large and small are your thing, check out a museum of natural history. In Kern County, there’s two: the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History and the California Living Museum (CALM).

Thank you to Lisa Albert from the EPTSS Division for this month's activity!

BLAST FROM THE PAST! CHECK OUT PREVIOUS MONTH SUBMISSIONS


print:   email:

Food Program greyarrow: Child Care Job Bank greyarrow: CCCC Training Calendar greyarrow: Local Investment In Child Care (LINCC) greyarrow: Resource Lending Library greyarrow: Resource & Referral (R&R) greyarrow: License-Exempt Provider Program