Hiking and tarantulas

We are very fortunate to live close to a wonderful lake for hiking and swimming.  Earlier this summer during a naturalist guided boat tour of the lake, we discovered that one of the coves was named Tarantula Cove.  Then last week I heard from somewhere that the tarantulas were out and about at the lake now.

So when we entered the park, we asked the attendent about the tarantulas.  He told us several things about the spiders so when we were hiking we were on the lookout for them.  

photo from wikipedia

The park attendant told us that if we encountered a spider with a bald spot, it meant that the spider had been disturbed.  Apparently one line of defense for this spider is to kick off hairs on its abdomen, this apparently irritates their enemies. We did encounter a squashed spider on our hike but no live ones.  Other hikers we talked to did see the spiders. Today my boys were more interested in watching a large group of great danes play in the lake.  We still have a couple more weeks for tarantula spotting so I am sure we will try again.

I did find interesting tarantula facts at wikipedia, enchanted learning,  and national geographic.

Tie-dyed milk

Supplies:

1. Pie pan or other shallow dish
2. Milk (2% or whole)
3. Food Coloring-several colors
4. Dish soap
5. Toothpicks

Experiment:

1. Fill pie pan with approximately 0.5 inches of milk
2. Add several drops of each color around the edge--
3. Dip toothpick into dish soap
4. Touch soapy end of toothpick to milk
5. Observe what happens
6. Repeat steps 3-5

Explanation

            When the soap tipped toothpick touches the surface of the milk the colors create beautiful patterns.   The scientific explanation is too complex for young children, but this doesn’t stop them for watching and enjoying the chemical reaction. 

Both of my children enjoyed this experiment.  My two year old was totally mesmerized by it.  I have repeated this experiment several different times now because it keeps my children occupied so I can get sometime done!  

Observations

Happy 4th of July!   Despite trying to think of a red, white, and blue science project, I could not.  June was an incredibly busy month for us and we are exhausted.  Unfortunately July is turning into another busy month.  Hopefully we can enjoy the lazy days of summer in August with many afternoons spent swimming in the lake!  

I saw these dinosaurs in the grocery store and decided that these would be our science project.   

To make this activity scientific, I thought we would graph their growth.

To make them grow, we placed in them into warm water.

After a couple of hours, we measured them and compared the new size to the starting size.

We started this project too late in the day so the boys had to wait until morning for the next measurement.  The dinosaurs grew a lot over night.  I have more of them so I will repeat this activity but start in the morning.

Soda Geyser

I had heard of this experiment before but I didn't realize it was so easy to do.  Over at Steve Spangler's website he sells a tube for dropping the mentos into the 2-L bottle, but it isn't necessary.  We were able  to create a small geyser that entertained both children and daddy with out it.

Any soda will work--I choose Coca Cola (recently in science camp we observed that dark soda produced a higher geyser) and orange soda (Bam's favorite color).  I was told by the teacher that only mint mentos work.   We didn't use a whole package of mentos per bottle.  I used about 8 for the Coca Cola experiment and Bam used 3 mentos.  You really have to drop the candy in quickly otherwise you get covered in sticky soda.

My husband was so impressed and surprised by the Coca Cola experiment that he forgot to take pictures.  We didn't tell him what was going to happen.  Here is the start of the orange soda geyser.  

Bam and Bob running through the sprinklers afterwards.  More fun than tanking a bath after this sticky experiment.

building electrical circuits

Last summer, Grandpa gave us this electrical circuit kit during one of his visits.  Over that weekend, Grandpa played with it a lot but Bam showed no interest in it until just recently.  Bam dug this kit out and is loving it.  The booklet has lots of different projects to build.  Our kit is similar to this one (not quite as many components, but I am sure that I will be buying more components soon): 

Our first project was Morse Code

Then we made a voice recorder--huge hit with both boys!!

Bam and Bob also liked the water and salt water tester

The recommended age for this toy is 8-13 years old.  I have been having Bam find the components in the box (each component type has a number or letter and number identifier) and then I help him place them on the labeled grid.  The boys and I have been swamped with morning and afternoon swim lessons and family obligations lately. One more crazy week and then the boys and I can do more exploring and other fun activities.  

Science Sunday: Nature Walk

Our weather has been unseasonably cool lately and I am still using the heater in the mornings.  Although I am not looking forward to the heat that will be here before I know it.  Today we decided to take advantage of the sun and go for a nature walk.    

We started off the nature walk by doing a "sink or float" experiment. 

 Bob started throwing rocks into the water.  

Then we switched to leafs and other items.  Verdict:  rocks and shells sink while leaves and sticks float.

Bam thought this place was the best for a quick rest plus there were a lot of rocks to throw into the lake.  

Here Bob is trying to use the kid binoculars.  Next time we need to bring the real binoculars.  There was an island with lot of birds on it, but I couldn't tell what they were.  

Ooey gooey--Science Sunday

The 1st ooey gooey science experiment was oobleck which has unusual physical characteristics. It is equal parts cornstach and water with food coloring.  

Although it looks like a liquid, it feels like a solid.  

Bam is rolling and squeeze it to make a ball or snake, but ....

as soon as he opens his hand it turns back into liquid.  Bob would not touch the stuff.  He was interested in watching and saying "yuck" and "icky." 

The 2nd ooey gooey science experiment was gluep.  I have seen so many different recipes, two of which I have tried.  For some reason I can not get this to work.  Today recipe is as follows:

1. dissolve 1 teaspoon of laundry borax in 6 tablespoons of water. You will need to stir this for a while to get it to dissolve. (If a tiny bit does not dissolve, that is OK.)
    
2. combine 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of white glue. If you wish, you may color the mixture with a couple drops of food coloring. With a clean spoon, stir the mixture thoroughly until it is uniform.
    
3. Put 2 teaspoons of the borax solution into the glue mixture. Stir the mixture.
    
4. As you stir the mixture, it will stiffen into a soft lump. Then knead it in your hand for a couple minutes.

I followed the 4 easy steps, but the gluep was not elastic--it would break apart if stretched.   I even tried this recipe 3 times.