Experimental MumScience + Children = Fun + Mess

This weekend has been a scorcher, so work was cancelled. In the Highlands, we’ve got to take our summer when it arrives, so we took the day off and headed to Rosemarkie beach.

As we were preparing to leave the house, my daughter said, “I’m so glad we’re going to the beach today, last time it was this hot in Inverness, we wasted it by going on holiday to Legoland.”  (Right, so glad we haven’t booked anything for this summer holidays!)

It’s true that when the weather’s beautiful there is no where nicer than Scotland and the beaches are suddenly transformed from windswept walks into gorgeous suntraps.

The kids had a great time, burying each other in the sand.

Fern had a ball, running in the sea and then rolling in the sand (so glad I didn’t actually get round to cleaning the car last week!).

Whereas, silly Mammy, roasted.

I have typical Highland skin, so peely, wally, it’s almost blue. Today it’s glowing red and tomorrow it will be peeling.

Today we’re all in the garden, and I am hiding in the tent clarted with factor 60. Better stock up, according to the Met Office, we are in for a cracking summer.

This week I completed a cycling survey as part of the “Safer Place to Cross” campaign. It was very timely, as my eldest daughter claims she is the only girl in the class who doesn’t walk to school on her own. Most of the other children are very local to the school whereas Freya would need to cross a busy road that doesn’t have a traffic light crossing. I’m apprehensive about letting her walk and I can’t imagine ever letting her cycle the route. I used to cycle to work and had a few “hairy” moments.

Aside from the worries of her crossing safely, seeing her walk through the school gates gives me peace of mind. The school do have a policy in place to call home if your child isn’t in school by 9.10am – but it’s that half an hour between leaving the house and arriving at school that worries me.

I half-jokingly Googled “GPS for children” and was astounded to find that such technology is now actually available. The units and monthly subscription costs are still fairly expensive but even when the costs come down, is this really what I want? This article by Angela Carter raises some very interesting points.

I don’t want Freya to think that the world is so full of danger that I need to know her every movement but I know I’ll be anxiously clock watching on that maiden voyage and if she’s a minute late, I don’t think I’ll be able to resist the Buy it Now button….

Photo Credit: Locate My Things

We have nearly enough Playmobil in our house to accommodate a village of little people.

Our collection ranges from the very girly pink girly Fairy Castle to the gruesome Dinosaur Excavation set. The kids start dreaming up their Santa lists as soon as the new catalogue appears and they countdown to the big day with a Playmobil advent calendar. The new wedding range is top of the wish list at the moment! I think it’s safe to say, my kids are Playmobil fans.

I must admit, I love Playmobil too, it looks good, lasts forever and is about the only toy in the house that I don’t mind re-building. Just as well really, I’ve spent many Christmas Day hours, building the latest Santa offering.

As a child, I loved Lego.

I remember building a Lego hospital, when I was at home recovering from an operation. It won a competition in the local newsagent and I was so proud seeing my creation in the window!

As an adult, I love the fact that Lego have a fantastic education section on their site and I think I might have to put the Mindstorm on my Christmas list.

Then there’s Legoland - I think I enjoyed it more than the kids! I loved watching the model makers at work, playing with computers and Lego all day, I’d love Guy Bagley’s job.

What’s the winner in your house – Playmobil or Lego? [polldaddy poll="1647895"]

I thought I’d periodically review books that have encouraged our family to experiment.

This first review, isn’t a science book but it is a fabulous book for encouraging older children and teenagers to step away from the computer and explore the big wide world.

I reserved the book using my local libraries online “items recently added to stock” section, so I didn’t see the cover – I was sold on the title alone.

Written by Jo Schofield and Fiona Danks, “Go Wild! 101 things to do outdoors before you grow up” describes in 160 pages a ton of cool things to do outside.

Here an extract from the back cover:

Go Wild! Is about tempting teenagers outdoors to enjoy the natural world. The authors provide, clear, practical instructions for such activities as building a shelter, foraging for wild food, creating fire without matches and cooking on hot coals, learning to make tools and weapons from natural materials, and much more..

I had many favourite chapters but particularly enjoyed the sections on fire making and creating outside kitchens, although I can’t EVER see me skinning a rabbit!

The collecting and cleaning your water section are like little mini experiments in themselves, so we might give them a try in the back garden.

Freya can’t wait for it to snow so she can practice building an igloo, whereas Erynn, with her toilet humour, found the latrine making hilarious!

There is a fantastic website to accompany the book, Going Wild, and I for one will be looking out for their future books, Make It Wild and Run Wild.

In the meantime, I have reserved their earlier book, Nature’s Playground, from the library. Geared towards younger families, I’m sure we’ll get a lot out of it.

Photo Credit: Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd

This is one of  our favourite experiments, the kids like the farty noise and the dog likes the leftovers!

If you feel the need to re-create your own fart in a jar, here’s what you’ll need.

What You Need:

• An adult helper, to handle the hot water
• A strong glass bottle (we used a Tesco value brown sauce bottle)
• Some boiled eggs with shell removed
• A bowl containing a little bit of water
• Kettle of hot water

What To Do:

• Shell the boiled egg and leave it sitting in the bowl of water until required
• Carefully pour the hot water into the bottle and leave it to heat the bottle for a few minutes
• Carefully pour the hot water out of the bottle
• Quickly place the egg (pointy end down) over the opening of the bottle
• In a couple of minutes the egg should land in the bottle with a PLOP!

What’s Going On:

Before you start the experiment, the air pressure is the same inside the bottle and outside it.

You heat up the bottle with the hot water and when you pour the water out, warm air fills the empty bottle.

As the bottle cools, so the air inside cools. The cold air now in the bottle cannot provide the same pressure, but no new air can enter the bottle because the egg is in the way.

The air pressure outside the bottle is now greater than the air pressure inside it. The air above pushes down on the bottle and is stronger than the air inside. The egg – as it’s in the way – gets pushed down too causing it to drop in.

Once the egg is through the neck, air rushes into the bottle to equalise the pressure.

I wrote this experiment for my children’s school Family Science Night (more on that at a later date) but it would work really well at a summer fete too, perhaps charging 50 pence a go!

What You Need (per person)

• Plastic cup
• Plastic spoon

What To Do:

Mix the following in your cup:

• 1-2 heaped teaspoons icing sugar
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
• Enjoy with your liquorice stick!

What’s Happening:

The sugar is there to make the sherbet taste sweet.

The citric acid is there to make it taste tart and also to create the fizzy reaction along with the bicarbonate of soda.

When the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda dissolve in the saliva on your tongue, they begin to react and create the fizzy sensation.

Citric Acid + Bicarbonate of Soda à Sodium Citrate + Water + Carbon Dioxide

It is the carbon dioxide that gives the fizz, forming bubbles directly on your tongue!

P.S. Citric Acid can be difficult to find, I get mine from the local ironmongers within their winemaking section.

Next Time: Fun with Egg in a Bottle…

Aquafresh Iso-Active

I love new inventions and gadgets. They don’t even have to be big, flashy gadgets. I can even get excited about ordinary little ones, like toothpaste!

Perhaps it’s because I have a hole in one of my back teeth waiting to be filled. Don’t worry; I do have an appointment – in July!

Although it doesn’t hurt, now I know it’s there, I don’t want it to get much worse.

Sub-conciously I must be thinking about it quite a lot, as I keep seeing the advert for the new Aquafresh Iso-active® foaming gel toothpaste, and it’s obviously a good advert. Cause I bought it. Even if at £2.92 for 100ml it costs 3.5 times more than a regular tube of Aquafresh, which in my local Tesco costs £0.82.

So is a toothpaste that works beyond paste, removes 25% more bacteria and was voted product of the year 2009, 3.5 times better than standard toothpaste?

Well yes, I think it really is. My teeth felt cleaner than after I’ve been to the hygienist and they still felt so clean in the morning, I almost forgot to clean them again. (a side effect I’m sure they didn’t intend!)

I was intrigued as to why it worked so well, so I checked out their website.

It turns out the “magic” ingredient is isopentane, which responds to increases in temperature caused by the action of brushing and the warmth of the mouth.

You can read more about their product development at the Aquafresh Science Academy or watch the cool 3D movie at their consumer site.

Such a lot of science in a little can.

Of course, with my new trendy toothpaste, I thought I’d buy a new toothbrush to match. I bought the Aquafresh Interdental Action Buzz.

My teeth are really closely packed together, so I was attracted to the interdental bristles. The bristles are really soft but seem to work very well. Again I’m really pleased with this product but strangely Aquafresh don’t seem to advertise it on their sites.

As my children’s adult teeth are coming in, they too are getting crowded mouths, so I’d like to see a child version of this brush.

I’ve been so impressed with these products, I’ve actually emailed Aquafresh to tell them and ask if they have a children’s version in the pipeline.

Next Time: Summer Fete Science ~ Make Your Own Sherbet (I know, I know great for the teeth!)

Friday morning, my daughter Erynn didn’t want to go to school. We’d had a few sunny days and I think she just wanted to stay home and play. She had a definite “Friday” feeling!

Desperation in her voice she said, “But, Mam, why do i have to STILL go to school?”, “I can read now and do sums; I just don’t NEED to go anymore”. Oh, the world of a 6 year old!

I told her that we learn something new every day. “Well. what did you actually learn yesterday then!” was her charming response.

“Well, actually, I learnt how to embed videos into a Word Press blog!”

Now hurry up and get to school, so I can learn some more….

It started simply enough, I wanted to embed a video into my post.

Using the Word Press insert video function, I got an error message telling me that my file size was too small. I tried a tiny file but I didn’t like the way that Word Press created a link to the video rather than embedding the video directly into the post.

So I moved onto You Tube. I found it easy to use and pretty quick to upload. However, I didn’t like having links to similar videos at the end of my clip. What if there was something unsuitable for my intended audience there?

Next I tried Vimeo, but the upload time was so slow, I gave up.

I moved on to Blip.tv. Although my videos uploaded from my PC quickly and easy, they took an age to actually run in Word Press. They also had adverts along the footer, which I didn’t want.

Finally I tried Viddler. I liked this one from the beginning. I found it the most intuative to use and the clear dashboard view is a bonus. but most importantly, the videos loaded quickly and I love the neat format of the finished embeded clip.

Here’s to many more happy experimental videos….

Photo Credit: Reading in the Flowers by Norby

Next Time: A Lot of Science, in a Little Can…..

I’m sure the world and his wife have seen the infamous Coke and Mentos experiments.

There are loads on the net but EepyBird.com host a few of my favourites, the preparation must have been huge!

We read a bit further and discovered that the reaction isn’t due to a chemical reaction between the soda and the mints. The fizzy explosion is caused by the bubbles of carbon dioxide gas in the soda collecting on the rough surface of the mints.

Anyway the Science Sisters, otherwise known as Freya and Erynn, wanted to try their own version and see if only certain brands of soda and mints worked or if value brands would work too.

Last night, while brushing their teeth, they were chatting about, “What else might work?”. After a rather hilarious rude list of suggestions of things with a rough texture, this is what we decided to try:

1. Cola and Mints
2. Lemonade and Mints
3. Cola and Pebbles
4. Cola and Raisins
5. Cola and Dried Dog Food

What we found:

The mints and pebbles work well, though the pebbles get stuck in the tube, so don’t give such a big fountain.

Both the raisins and the dog food just float and so didn’t work.

The lemonade worked even better than the cola, we think this is because it looked really fizzy even before we started.

Enjoy the video – Excuse the wind, tartan blanket and choocter voice-over!

Mmmm…there’s also a strange pink glow radiating from Erynn’s head!

Next Time: I learnt something new today….

Apparently 13th May is Jumping Frog Day, the story behind this strange day can be found at Holiday Insights. 

To celebrate, the girls and I investigated how tricky it is to hop while holding your toes.

Erynn Jumping Frog

1. Crouch down and hop like a frog, (come on Mum – you can do it!)
2. Repeat, but this time hold your toes and try and hop.
3. You should find that it is much harder (if not impossible) to hop forward now.
4. By holding our toes, we can’t shift our balance to change our centre of gravity.
5. Our leg muscles aren’t strong enough to lift us off the ground and compensate for the unbalanced position too.
6. You might find that young children are still springy enough to manage it!
7. Mummies on the other hand fall over, that’s why there isn’t a photo of me trying it…

If you haven’t had enough hopping, you could try making some origami jumping frogs, from the great team at www.instructables.com

Next Time: Fizzy Fountain Mess: requires: two excitable children, one loopy dog, soda, mints, pebbles, dog biscuits, raisins and a sunny afternoon!