Book Review: Ada Twist Scientist

Being a woman with a mechanical engineering background, I was really excited that Rosie Revere Engineer took the literary place that I was hoping GoldieBlox promised. Rosie introduced us to Andrea Beaty. We loved the rhythm of the book and the message behind it: it's ok to fail, but you really only fail if you quit. I must have purchased that book for all of J's friends' birthdays for the next year (with much gratitude from their mothers). Fast forward a few years when I got notice (thanks Amazon!) that Andrea Beaty had a new book that I could pre-order, Ada Twist Scientist (affiliate link). Having had a super crazy schedule over the past little while, I forgot about it until it arrived in September. I glanced through the book with excitement, not truly reading it, and placed it on my end table to sit and get covered up. I was going to look at it more "later" and make my final opinion. We cleaned up after Halloween, exposing the book that I shoved aside, and immediately, my 2.5 year old wanted it because it was "Mommy's book." She has yet to put it down. We read it at least two times each night (once by Mommy and once by Daddy), and she's beginning to help with some of the words she has memorized. Here's my official review of Ada Twist Scientist:

Ada Marie Twist is a curious kid who since before the time she could talk wanted to know everything about her world. She asks lots of questions and seems to have loving understanding, patient parents to guide her on her discoveries (and mistakes). She discovers a terrible stench and has two hypotheses which are not true. My husband and 2.5-year old daughter came up with hypothesis three based on the illustrations. If you have read it, what are your opinions on the stink?

Like Rosie Revere, Ada Twist has a great rhythm though it takes a few reads to get it down. If you follow Andrea Beaty's books, you'll notice that the kids she writes about are all in the same class. Like Rosie Revere, Ada Twist is named after historical figures (read the last page to figure it out). Now, we joined the Andrea Beaty book bandwagon at Rosie Revere and still haven't read Iggy Peck Architect (though my dad's degree is in architecture - maybe a Christmas gift idea for the kids to get and read with Grandpa). My 7.5 year old son wants a book about a mathematician next, maybe Isaac Mission Mathematician?

I'm also looking forward to hearing more about Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers (affiliate link), set to be released in early April, just in time for Miss J's third birthday.

Doing science with your kids blog

Christopher Danielson has been a reader of this blog since the beginning. He started the Talking Math with Your Kids blog where he discusses how he and his young children talk about math. We follow each other on Twitter where he virtually introduced me to Casey Rutherford. Inspired by Talking Math with Your Kids, Casey started the hashtag "#dswyk" which stands for "doing science with your kid(s)," and I promptly joined the #dswyk party. A few days/weeks (I'm oblivious to time at this point in my life, thanks to Miss Baby J) later, he created a blog: Doing Science with Your Kids, and now I'm a contributor.

My first entry is a lesson on sink or float led by my 5-year old boy, J. Does a Duplo sink or float? The answer might surprise you. Click on over to check it out!

I'll still be using this as my main blog and contributing as I can to Doing Science with Your Kids.

Dancing Raisins - a Magic School Bus Experiment

This Dancing Raisins experiment came from our Magic School Bus Science Club kit on solids, liquids, and gases. It involves raisins, tap water, and soda water. Concepts to discuss are density (what sinks, what floats), forces, and buoyancy.

We started out placing raisins in tap water. They did nothing. Note that I left the sound on this video. J wanted to take over and conduct his own sink/float experiment.

We didn't have soda water, but the kit came with an alkaseltzer tablet. We tried it. It was supposed to be for another experiment in the packet that we ended up observing/conducting on our own. It wasn't the best. The raisins bounced up and down a few times, but mainly it smelled as the gases were released from the tablet. J really didn't like the smell. Yay, science.

We put the experiment on hold while we walked down the street for dinner. The restaurant happened to have soda water available, so we took a cup of it home. We weren't 100% sure the carbonation would survive the 10 minute walk, but we repeated the experiment using soda water. It worked! This is what happened, note I left sound on for J's commentary:

So what happens is the gases in the soda water get stuck in the crevices of the raisins and give the raisins enough air (forces/buoyancy) to float to the top of the water. Once at the top, some bubbles pop and go into the air, and the raisin sinks back down to the bottom. Pretty neat, huh?

Notes: 
I paid for the Magic School Bus Science Club Kits and have no affiliation with them.

I'm taking a brief break from the blog to focus on my family. I'm sure we'll have tons of scientific discussions. I'll try to post some insights to our Facebook Page or Twitter as they come and catch up on the blog once I come up for air.

Mathematical Dice Games

J spent a day sick at home last week. It was a minor illness, so he was very antsy about being inside all day. He pulled out his dice to pass the time. J's great aunt had given him the Tenzi Game (affiliate link) over the summer. We haven't played it the way it's supposed to be played (getting all 10 dice to show the same number, which sounds like some super Yahtzee game), but we now have 40 dice to play with however we want. This is heaven for this math mama! Let me tell you some fun math games we've played with them and how we plan to continue to grow and develop mathematically with the dice.

We started out with each person having their own color of dice, so we can easily distinguish who rolled what.

The Bigger Number Wins!

J actually came up with this game on his own. We started out with one dice (aka. die) each. We rolled the dice, and J first counted the dots on each die and told me which die had the most dots. As we played more, I encouraged J to make his decisions quicker, without counting.

This game is great for older toddlers (who won't shove dice in orifices that they shouldn't be in) and preschoolers to understand the concept of greater than/less than.


Addition: The Bigger Number Wins!

The next game included two dice each. Again, having different color dice is wonderful for determining what numbers belong to each person.

We rolled the dice, and J added up the dots on everyone's rolls. Whoever rolled the biggest number wins! J also ranked who came in second, third, and last. We also increased the frequency of rolls and decreased the amount of time between each roll as we progressed. This challenged our 4.5 year old to make quicker decisions and encouraged more mental math rather than counting dots. In our picture example, the yellow dice wins with 11, green comes in second with 10, white is third with 9, and blue is last with 7.

For older kids: This game can be adapted to use more dice for a greater challenge.


Subtraction: The Smaller Number Wins!

We haven't played this game yet. I imagine it going something like this:

Each player gets two dice of the same color. Everyone rolls their dice and each person's smallest number rolled is subtracted from the larger number rolled. Whoever gets the smallest number wins! In our picture example above, we have a tie for first: yellow and blue both have 1. Green comes in next with 2, and white loses with 3.

For older kids: This can also be a two player game with two dice of different colors each. Pick a color to always subtract from the other color. Note that this might give you negative numbers! The smallest number still wins.


More Math Fun with Dice!

During his childhood, my husband was given a dice game by his grandpa (he has no idea of what it is called). After his old game broke, John went on to design one for himself on his 3-D printer and uploaded it to Thingiverse (to share with other nerdy people). The goal of the game is to use mathematical operations (you know, please excuse my dear Aunt Sally's loud radio - the mathematical order on how you're supposed to solve complex problems parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction from left to right) on the 5 white dice in order to get the result of the two black dice added together (so on the picture above: how would 2, 3, 3, 3, 6 make 42?). If you want more details on the game or want to print one of your own, visit the Dice Game Thingiverse page. This game is also great for older kids.

Do you have any fun math games you play with dice?

Rosie Revere, Engineer - Review

A few weeks ago we were browsing our local bookstore. While J was busy reading Curious George, I found this new book, Rosie Revere, Engineer (affiliate link). It caught my attention mainly because there is engineering paper on the cover! I picked it up and couldn't put it down. I even cried! It's now part of our picture book collection.

It starts with an introduction of a shy little girl who collects trash and recyclables (someone after my own heart!). She builds innovative contraptions for relatives, but they don't always turn out as planned. Her Great Great Aunt Rose (aka "Rosie the Riveter") gives her some sound advice about not giving up though her design didn't turn out (this is what had me in tears - sometimes we put our heart and soul into something and it fails, which sucks).

It was fun that this book makes a historical connection and has a great flow/rhyming rhythm. I recently read it aloud to J, who immediately wanted to find his book about building Handcrafted Playgrounds (from 1975, gifted to us by a dear friend) and start to design and build his own things (aka engineering). He was also pretty interested in the historical afterward the book provides about women in WWII and asked some questions about that (luckily, I am pretty fond of history too).

All in all, I love the message of the book that it's ok that your designs don't work right the first time, just as long as you don't give up trying. I'm also all for strong female engineering characters. I highly recommend this book as an addition to your nerdy library.

   

Disclaimer: I purchased Rosie Revere, Engineer, and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Does it dissolve?

We subscribed to the Magic School Bus Science Club when I found a half off coupon (making each kit ~$10/mo). J is a little young for the intended age group, but many of the experiments he can do with guidance. He gets so excited when he sees the Magic School Bus package on the doorstep. We usually do an experiment the following weekend (though we haven't done more than 1-2 before the next month arrives - they are saved for later use of course).

This month's experiment packet was on water. The experiment that we chose was Substances Dissolving in Water. We used their recommended mixtures and added another (see details of the experiment below). We also didn't use test tubes standing up in clay, as they recommended. Instead, we used custard bowls and mixed the substances with clean spoons.

Materials:
*6 custard dishes filled half way with water
*vegetable oil
*food coloring
*salt
*sugar
*sand

Hypotheses:
*Guess whether the material will dissolve (go away) when combined with water. A good way to think of it would be: can you separate out the material to get just water + material after you combined them? If you can't the material dissolved.

J's Hypotheses: Does the material dissolve?
*Water and oil: Yes
*Water and salt: No
*Water and sand: No
*Water and food coloring: Yes
*Water and sugar: Yes

Directions:
*Add a few drops of oil to one cup and stir.
*Add a few drops of food coloring to one cup and stir.
*Add a teaspoon of salt to one cup and stir.
*Add a teaspoon of sugar to one cup and stir.
*Add a teaspoon of sand to one cup and stir.
*Observe your matter. Did each one dissolve in water?
*Record your observations.

Results:
*Water and oil: No
*Water and salt: Yes
*Water and sand: No
*Water and food coloring: Yes
*Water and sugar: Yes

Oil at the top, water below (not dissolved)

J loved this simple science experiment. His hypotheses were all over the place, but now if he does this experiment in school, he'll know which material dissolves in water.

I can't wait to try other experiments from the Magic School Bus.

Ice Cream Making - It's Science!

This was my second year with BioX Kids' Day, and both years, I saw many kids having fun with the YayLabs! ice cream ball in the chemistry booth nearby. I wanted to try, but the day is so jam packed that there is no breaks for helpers (at least from my experience).

How does ice cream making work? The key is getting the mixture to mix around while surrounded by salt and ice. Salt is a special ingredient that lowers the freezing point of water (ie. it melts the ice to make colder than ice water!!).

I think J's school has made ice cream with the kids, but I wanted to do it on my own with him. I decided to purchase the ice cream ball from Amazon (affiliate link) (as a bday gift to myself - thanks to my bro and sis-in-law).

The ball came with a simple recipe: 1 pint of cream (we used heavy whipping cream), 1/3 cup + 2T of sugar, and 1.5 tsp of vanilla.

After filling the ball portion with crushed ice and rock salt (Safeway had a box of special ice cream making salt for $0.99 - it's not food grade, but it's great to use in experiments like this since it won't be directly touching what we'll eat):

we mixed the ingredients in a separate bowl:

and poured into the ice cream compartment:

Don't forget to seal both compartments!

Then we got to tossing/rolling.

The book that came with the ice cream ball had approximate freeze times for ice cream. The heavier the cream, the faster the freezing time. Since we used the 2nd heaviest cream (heavy whipping cream), we decided 20 minutes would be a good time based on their recommendation.

And this is what we got after 20 minutes of "play":

A little soupy

I was warned by a few parents at the last Science Saturday when brainstorming ideas for the next Science Saturday that ice cream making does take a long time, which is why I'm currently testing the ideas. Really, the ball took 20 minutes and it was soupy (but still good enough to eat as ice cream). Keeping J's attention that long was tough. Plus, it's too expensive to get enough ice cream balls to make it worth while for a Science Saturday event.

However, I'm still determined to make ice cream making work on a larger scale for a Science Saturday event. Tonight, we had much more success just making ice cream in a baggie. I have pictures, video, directions, and activities surrounding baggie ice cream that I'll post later in the week. Stay tuned.

Until then, I hope you are enjoying your summers thus far!

Related Posts:
*Make ice cream in a baggie

Rolobox: Car Wheels

I am at times an impulse shopper, especially if the item can be used towards many days of science fun. I was searching Amazon for cheap cardboard or reusable wheels that could be used with our sail/balloon cars. I did not find something compatible at first search, but I did find this product that seemed interesting: Rolobox Reuseable Wheel Kit for Boxes (affiliate link). It's just another tool we can add to our imagination and science play with boxes.

I like the minimal reusable packaging

I purchased Rolobox over the weekend and it arrived at my doorstep this afternoon, so we played a little bit after dinner. I'll admit that I didn't read the product description thoroughly before purchasing. The wheels are much larger than I expected. The wheels and axles are easy to assemble though parents should do the hole punching into the cardboard. Rolobox website shows a pencil for puncturing, but our shoe box needed scissors. Please use caution when cutting holes into cardboard (I am clumsy, which one reason I recommend hole punch + skewer sticks for axles when it comes to our toilet paper racers).

J and his new race car

Surprisingly, we had a shoebox handy (one that has outlasted the pair of shoes that came with them). I also thought a Cars box was pretty relevant for a (race) car science demonstration. It seems like it would work with tissue boxes and any corrugated cardboard box. 

Sciency things to do with makeshift car and Rolobox Wheels:

• Attach the wheels so you can put things in the box. How does the car move with different items in them? How does the car move when loaded down with rocks? How does the car move when loaded with tissues?
• How does the car roll on carpet vs. wood floor vs. linoleum/tile?
• Flip the box so the bottom of the box is the top of the car. Add a sail, balloon(s), or fan/motor(s). Can you get your car to move without pulling on the included string?
• Cut your car into a more aerodynamic shape (think "teardrop" or more like a triangle). Test it using gravity on a makeshift ramp (we use particle board as ramps) How does a more aerodynamic vehicle move in comparison to a boxy vehicle?

Now if only I could find reusable wheels small enough to attach to our toilet paper rolls (our most plentiful recyclable) that would also be light enough to move with simple kid power (blowing)...

Disclosure: I purchased Rolobox Wheels with my own money. Opinions are my own.

Official Rolobox Site and Rolobox's recommended place to purchase.

Kiwi Crate: Dancing Robot

I was featured in an ivillage piece on activities you could do with recyclables. Kiwi Crate was also featured in that same article. A day or two after it was published online, Kiwi Crate had contacted me praising Nerdy Science and offering me a free sample crate. I knew J was excited about our magnet detectives activity we had planned for the park the following week, and the moving Robot Rally crate seemed pretty sciency.

Kiwi Crate is a monthly-subscription activity kit, based out of the Bay Area. What we loved is that everything we needed to complete their activities was included in the one box (even kid-friendly scissors and a glue stick). I didn't tell J about it, but I let him be surprised by the nice green package on our doorstep. He was super excited the day it arrived!

We immediately opened it and got to work. The activity crate came with a tin, some popsicle sticks, wooden block, and double sided poster hanging tape to attach the robot parts to the body of the robot. It also included a magnet wand, a piece of cardboard, and a maze.

J with his robot arm

The magic behind the Robot Rally is that a simple tin (like an Altoid/mint box) is attracted to magnets.

The attraction is strong enough that the magnet sticks to the tin through cardboard!

When you place the magnet under the cardboard and the tin on top of the cardboard (above the magnet), you can move the magnet and see what happens to the robot tin on the top.

Kiwi Crate included a few mazes for the robot to follow, but J was most happy just seeing the robot dance (the maze frustrated him a little).

With our older kids who came to our first Science Saturday of 2013, Magnet Detectives, we showed them the cardboard + magnet trick, but we used pipe cleaners instead (much cheaper than mint boxes, especially at the last minute). Using the pipe cleaners, they created bugs and other critters and made them dance/move with the magnet.

Thanks Kiwi Crate for such a fun, learning activity!

Disclosure: Kiwi Crate sent me the Robot Rally crate as a sample crate. Opinions are my own.

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Edited 5/28/13: Kiwi Crate is offering friends and family discounts to Nerdy Science blog readers until June 3, 2013.

Edited 7/20/13: Deleted expired offers.

Goldie Blox - Engineering Toy

I was introduced to GoldieBlox via their Kickstarter campaign back in September. A friend had messaged me the link via Facebook since I'm very pro-science/engineering and also a Stanford alum. It turned out the inventor of GoldBlox graduated Stanford at the time I was entering grad school. Her back story also involves a lot of volunteer service and a desire to get young girls interested in engineering. Based on my desires to spread the love of science to the younger generation, I thought I'd support the cause just for that reason alone, even if I didn't have a young girl, let alone a kid in the targeted age group (6+).

J (almost 4) loves to read and is very excited when it comes to activities that involve science, so though it is geared towards girls (pink, light blue, main character is a girl), I figured J would still enjoy it. He has yet to distinguish between boys' and girls' toys (something I hope lasts as long as possible). I also wanted to show J what an engineer can do, especially since I am one.

I waited with anticipation for the box to arrive (he had no idea that I had purchased this toy). It arrived on our doorstep this Wednesday, the day after they shipped it out (a benefit of being in the same area as the company). It was so quick that I didn't even receive a shipment notice!

Our neighbors joined us for this toy debut in our household. We all had fun. I ended up reading the story aloud and supervising the kids as they followed directions. I noticed the peg board has a star design, so I used that star to assist for the overall 5 point star pattern. It kept their attention for about 45 minutes while we read through the story and tried the star design and two alternate designs (also included in the book). There were lots of "oooh's" and "aaaah's" and giggling coming from our household. It was a hit, for sure!

Minor room for improvements: The story is short, which is probably good for more of a toy than literature. Katinka (the pink dolphin) almost came off as cantankerous. As a mom, my first reaction is, "Who wants to give a grouchy character what they demand?" The crank (well, everything) falls off too easily from the wheels, and the grooves to connect everything should be a little deeper to omit frustration. The pegboard is very soft and already has scratches from the little playing we've done. I liked the star pattern, but I also wish the star pattern was drawn on the instruction pegboard in the book, so J could visualize what it looked like with the star as a reference.

Today, I stayed home with sick J, and he requested to do GoldieBlox. I asked if he wanted to read the book and try the star design again or work on the alternate designs it came with. He chose the alternate designs. He loved playing with the designs and learning how to do it himself while getting a grasp on the terminology. He also learned, "When things are a little bit hard, I can ask for help." This is a great engineering lesson since teamwork is a great engineering skill to have. He also told me, "This is science. It needs to go with the science stuff [and not in his game closet]." Success! Anything that is related to science is considered cool in our house.

J made the GoldieBlox G

Again, he has no idea this is a toy designed for girls, but he does know that it's fun. I know there is a disparity of female engineers (I was one of the two girls in my mechanical engineering graduating class of 20+ in undergrad). I think GoldieBlox should be marketed towards everyone since as a nation, we are falling behind in all areas of science, math, and engineering technology. My boy loved it. I'd hate for someone to tell him that it's just a girl's toy.

All-in-all, I am looking forward to future versions of GoldieBlox and seeing how the company grows and develops.

3/15/13 - Edit: Addition 6:30p - When John got home from work, J requested he played GoldieBlox. J set up his own design and called it a butterfly. He wound up Nacho's wheel and guided the ribbon around Katinka and the posts. He then attached the velcro'ed ribbon end to a wheel with the crank, and then he wound up the next wheel to use. I'm pretty impressed.

Now my husband got all excited that he can create things of his own with the toy too. He basically made a carnival ride:

However, he did note that the holes in the wheels are a different distance than the holes in the pegboard which actually limits some sideways building capabilities. However, I'm now excited to see what else we can come up with using this new family toy.

Disclosure: I purchased this toy with my own personal funds. All opinions are my own.


P.S. J has a sudden new interest in his blocks. I wonder if it's because of GoldieBlox.

Egg Maracas

We're approaching Easter. It's a good time to reiterate how much I hate eating just eggs, but I have no problem with using eggs for science experiments. Last year's experiments were fairly extensive, but I'll have some new ones to add this year.

The first one comes from an idea listed on Kiwi Crate's DIY website, Egg Maracas. I enjoyed the idea because somehow we end up with collections of these plastic eggs, and it feels so wasteful to just toss them.

Music is very science oriented. Sound, sound waves, pitch, tone, rhythm, etc all have their place in science. I never played a musical instrument, and I was banned from my elementary school chorus. I stuck to dance, which is deeply rooted in music, in particular rhythm and patterns.

Anyways, the basic maraca is easy to make. For each maraca, we used:
- A plastic egg
- Rice
- 2 matching plastic spoons (we collect these too)
- Masking tape (nothing fancy on our end)

What we did:
1. We filled the plastic eggs with rice. Since we had 3 eggs, we decided to use 3 different amounts of rice to see how that would affect the sound.
2. We taped the eggs shut since they seem to easily split open.
3. We placed the spoons so they cupped the egg and the handles met at the bottom. We needed two sets of hands, one to hold the spoons and the egg and one to tape.
4. While one person holds the spoons and egg in place, the other person tapes around the spoons and the egg (just once should be fine) and down where the handles meet.
5. We covered the whole thing (except Big J's maraca) with tape.
6. We decorated the tape with Sharpies (note that rubbing alcohol takes off Sharpie marker in case you have reservations about handing your little one a permanent marker). Crayola rubs off too easily when placed on masking tape.

Lil J, Big J, and my maracas (from L-R)

Science:
-Guess which egg has the most rice? You can weigh them or listen to the sound difference. A fuller egg should sound deeper.
- Play a "Simon" like rhythm game where you give a pattern of shakes and your kid repeats them. Get more complex as you go. Let your kid be the leader too.
- Use other items instead of rice. How do beans or pennies sound in your shaker?


**I apologize for the poor lighting and Craisins (and much more you don't see) on our kitchen floor. We were invaded by ants, so what's normally in our cupboards is sprawled on our counters, table, and floors. Good news was this experiment was able to be done in a very small space (and impromptu - right before bed).

Games and Science

As I sit here this Sunday morning, Big and Little J are playing some of our favorite old games. It warms my heart to see family time, and Little J is also learning.

The biggest thing I see today is hypothesizing, or trying to guess what the opponent is going to do next. In the gaming world, this is called strategy, knowing different ways to move next depending on what you think your opponent might do. Ultimately, the person who can see the many different ways to play the game and respond positively to those moves wins. The best thing to do is start with easy games and point out the many ways you can play when it's your turn. It helps to get your kid thinking ahead.

Trouble
This has been J's favorite lately. In it, J learns about counting, 1-6. Well, he's been good at counting for a while, but actually moving his pieces without skipping spaces can be tricky for a little guy. He also learns a little bit about strategy, like moving a guy out when he rolls a 6 or moving someone to safety when Daddy's right on your tail.

Connect Four
This one is a little tough for J. It's tough for Mommy and Daddy too since we don't want to frustrate J. We bought Connect Four while we were dating to challenge each other. We both claimed to be really good at the game. Well, I claimed to be the Connect Four champ of my after school day care center, and Big J is just really good at any strategy game. Most of our Connect Four games in the household end up in a draw/tie, so we stopped playing each other. Anyways, this is a good game for pointing out the different ways your opponent can move and how to block them or prevent them from winning.

Here's an earlier post about Cooties.

Kid friendly pumpkin carving

J's at an age where all of the holiday traditions start becoming fun! I really wanted him to get into pumpkin carving, but I wasn't sure of the knife aspect of pumpkin carving. Flashback ~8 yrs ago, my roommates and I found these cute pegs for pumpkins, Fright Lights; think Lite Brites but for pumpkins. I don't think I ended up with the pegs, but I bought new ones just in time for Halloween.

J's excitement builds as we open the pumpkin

Science time, how does that feel J?

Ewww, gooey!

J's turn to feel the pumpkin guts

Pumpkin's clean, now time to tape on the pattern and poke holes, which will be used for hammering in the pegs.

Hammer time!

Almost done. Instead of whacking every which direction, J figures out he can press really hard on the hammer against the pegs. It worked well!

The finished product (the pattern came with the pegs)

Kid friendly pumpkin carving

The happy carver!

Halloween light lesson: opaque, translucent, and transparent.

Pumpkins are opaque. Without carving them out, if you shine a light on them, you can't see the light through the other side of the pumpkin.

Light Pegs are translucent. Translucent items let some, but not all, light through. Another good example of this is a frosted glass shower door.

The carved part of the pumpkins are transparent. Light shines through transparent items, unblocked. Windows and clean glass are great transparent objects.

What happens if you change the quantity/quality of light?

Is it easier to see the pumpkin with the lights on/off?

Before carving, stick your lighting source in the pumpkin to see if you can see it. Can you see it when the lights are on or off?

How does the inside of a pumpkin feel?

Unplanned science lesson while prepping for the holidays? Check!

Happy Halloween!

Counting

It's no secret that I <3 math long before I had the same feelings towards science.

In order to be a successful scientist, a person should have a handle on math, which is why I sometimes highlight it on this blog.

I took J to the park last night and while we were playing, he counted to forty!  I was plenty impressed.  It's never too early to highlight numbers.

Some fun ways to incorporate numbers into your daily routine:

• Have a contest (prize or not): who can count the highest, the fastest, etc. without missing a number?  - This is good with siblings.
• Prompt your child to count when they are bored/antsy. It gets their mind on something else and might give you a few minutes to think of something to do with them.
• Start flashcards. Little kids might not know what multiplication means, but they can recognize the numbers. You can create your own with some index cards (which are cheap due to current back-to-school sales). We got our particular set during a nerdy themed baby shower I had for J on Pi Day 2009, and I've been too busy to make my own simpler ones.
• Negotiate. We have a picky eater (though he's nothing compared to how picky I was - sorry, Mom). I'm also in the mindset that Americans overeat. I don't want to get it in J's head that he has to eat everything on his plate, but he has to have some of everything, especially the healthier stuff. A common conversation at our dinner table, "Have 3-5 more bites of X before you can have 1-2 bites/sips of Y." This is a great place to introduce early subtraction. "You ate 2 bites. Good job. How many more do you have left to get to 3 bites?"
• Count money/coins.
• Highlight a number a day for small numbers or week for larger numbers. Have something you do that many times per day/week. For example, on 3 day, maybe you get 3 glasses of milk during the day, 3 fun things the kids can pick out to do, 3 books to read at night, etc. Find numbers in magazines and paste them up on the wall/fridge (#s or objects with the amount of the number).
• Have your child set the table.  How many plates, napkins, cups, silverware do you need for everyone to get 1 plate, 1 napkin (some especially messy people get 2), 1 cup, 1 fork, 1 spoon, and adults get 1 knife?
• Play with a candy you don't mind your child eating on special occasions (like counting!). We choose M&Ms. Fun for nerdy parents would be introducing your kids to graphs after counting!
• Create your own number puzzles (we use In N Out stickers since it's nearby and we go once every few weeks). Print out a picture, draw a grid on it, number the grid, cut it up, put pieces in a bag/box, shake it up. Have a blank piece of paper with the numbers for little kids to use to match the pieces. I love these things since this is the only time I've seen J sit still and focused for a more than 5 minutes.
• Connect the dots. There are plenty of apps and online print and play connect the dots to keep your little one counting while developing fine motor skills.
• Play the greater than/less than game. For example, J has 3 carrots and mommy has 1.  Who has more? How can you make them equal?

There are always more ways to have fun numbers. Knowing my feelings about math, a friend introduced me to the Bedtime Math website (which he found on NPR). I think it's a wonderful idea and project and done in a very cute manner. Check it out.

Rocket Science in the Park

Thanks Pepsi Refresh for the loads of fun we had in a local park Saturday to learning about rockets.  The main lesson was for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.  Without the nose cone (or the closure over the rocket tube), air will just shoot through the rocket tube and out the top, leaving the rocket still on the launcher (we demonstrated this with a broken rocket).  With the nose cone, there's now a place on the rocket for the air to push on and the rocket flies off of the launcher.  Now the amount of air pressure you create, will determine how high your rocket flies!

If you lightly tap on the stomp rockets like this:

It's not going to go very high (this one barely made it off of the launcher).

If you stand and do a medium stomp, it'll go higher:

Give it a "hard as you can throw down your foot" stomp and you get it about tree level:

But if you really want to get the stomp rockets stuck in the trees (or really really high up in the sky), you got to put your whole body into it and JUMP!!

Which will be met by the reactions of the people watching your rocket fly up into the sky (and hoping they don't have to do a rocket rescue from the trees):

Another fun thing you can try is playing with the angle of launch (making sure it's not directed into traffic, people, or anywhere dangerous, of course):

Which might surprise you where it goes (or maybe not)

I'll post a few lessons this week on how to make your own stomp rocket launcher from PVC pipe (~$10), paper rockets, and straw rockets.  I already posted a lesson on the squeeze rocket launchers which were also part of the fun day. However, I found mini 12oz empty soda bottles are much more resilient to little kid squeezes than small, crumply water bottles.  This find was a major improvement to the lesson.

Also, I was looking for replacement rockets since ours got beat up quite a bit from all of the fun and found the whole manufactured launcher kit to be on sale for $10.50 on Amazon (Ultra Stomp Rocket, affiliate link).  Also, make your own rockets (which offer a load of extra nerdy science-y goodness) which I will post tomorrow or the next day also work on the store rocket launchers too, so no need to buy extra rockets.

Hope the summer is off to a great start!