Experimental MumScience + Children = Fun + Mess

I’ve got a new toy piece of kit for my science workshops, a cool USB digital Microscope.

With x200 magnification it captures photo and video images. I got it here for £25.

Erynn's scratch

Yesterday morning the girls and I spent about an hour magnifying everything nearby.

I stuck to household objects, they mainly magnified themselves!

Erynn found a teeny, weeny scratch on her leg, you could barely see it. The magnified healing skin looks pretty amazing, if slightly gross!

So here’s wee quiz for you.

Below are 3 objects I found in my handbag, can you tell what they are?

It’s pretty easy – answers tomorrow!

Ecover Stain Remover

Ecover Laundry Products

Now, I’m sure like me you do enough loads of washing a day to find laundry products about the least exciting thing on the planet. However when Ecover sent me their Stain Remover, I knew I had the perfect tough stains to test their product.

First up was my brand new pair of jeans that had been delightfully decorated by my darling daughters (see yesterday’s post!). Mmmm…metallic paint and really dark denim, as I scrubbed on the stain remover with the little brush, I didn’t hold out much hope. I was sure I’d be left with a faded patch at best. Amazingly they survived and the stain was gone – result!

Oil Stain?

Next up was my daughter’s pink jacket. It’s had this dark stain on it for months, really not sure what it was but it looked like oil. I’d tried to remove it a few times using Oxiclean but with no luck. Although it took two washes at 40 degrees, it removed the stain almost completely with just the tiniest suggestion of a remaining mark. Well done Ecover – I’m very impressed! A 200 ml bottle costs around £2.80 and you can buy it here.

Back in March, McCains kindly sent us some seed potatoes, they are coming on great! This inspired the girls to plant some more vegetables and they carefully helped fill the reusable grow bags, plant out the seeds and they are very proud of their handiwork.  I love our wee patio veggie plot. It’ll be interesting to see how much veg we manage to grow in such a little space. Looking forward to bumper crops!

According to a recent survey carried out by McCain’s the food producers, out of 1500  7-11 year olds questioned, 10% of them believed that potatoes came from chickens!

In a bid to educate children about our food sources they have set up an excellent website with great resource sections for kids, parents and teachers. It includes everything from recipes to lesson plans.

Throughout the month of March they are also touring schools with the Potato Bus which judging by the photos looks a lot of fun! Here is the Scottish School Itinerary – hopefully your children will be getting a visit.

McCain’s kindly sent my girls their own gardening kits and seed potatoes, which are sprouting happily by the patio doors. This ” tattie holidays” my kids will hopefully have their own crop to pick.

P.S. Here’s a definition of  the tattie holidays and here’s a very Scottish description!

If your household has gone Wimbledon daft, here’s an tennis experiment to add to the mix!

What You Need:

• Freezer
• Two identical tennis balls
• Plastic bag
• Video Camera (optional)

What To Do:

1. Place one of the rubber balls into a plastic bag and place the bag into the freezer. Keep the other ball in a warm place like your pocket.
2. After a few hours, bounce both balls at the same time and compare their bounce. If you have a video camera handy you could ask someone to record you bouncing as this will make it easier for you to see.
3. You should find that the warm ball bounces slightly higher. The cold ball should bounce about 80% as high.

What’s Going On:

The materials in the balls are made up of long stretchy polymers. Normally when you drop the ball its molecules are stretched when it hits the floor and the ball is slightly deformed. After a moment, the molecules return to their original position causing the ball to bounce upwards. When the ball is frozen the polymers are less pliable and this makes the ball less bouncy.

Photo Credit: DaDaAce

Last week I embarrassed my children. I’m sure I’ve embarrassed them before now but this was the first time they’ve ACTUALLY told me. Mam. You. Are. Embarrassing.  A horrible glimpse into the teenage years to come perhaps.

My misdemeanour was to walk them to school whilst drinking a cup of tea. Written down it does seem a pretty daft thing to do!

But, see we usually drive to school and at least once a week I eat my breakfast in the car. Like many working mothers, my working day is pretty frantic from the minute I drop the girls off, as I cram a million tasks into 5 child free hours. So at pick up time I can often be found clutching my second mug of the day in my faithful travel mug.

And there lay the reason for the embarrassment – I walked up the street with a cup from the house and that in the words of an eight year old, was JUST TOO MUCH. Oh Joy to the tweenage years.

Photo Credit: I Love Tea Sleeve  (purchase here)

Opening a new packet of Twinings tea today, I noticed it was covered in a gold shiny wrapping with the words biodegradable on it.

Cool, now you can put the wrapping as well as the tea bag on the compost heap!

The NatureFlex ^TM film is made by Innovia Films and is said to break down in a home compost bin in a matter of weeks and has been well received in Which? Gardening magazine.

Makes you think that now that technology is available, why don’t more companies follow suit?

Photo Credit: Twinings

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!)