My 7-year-old daughter channels Bill Nye the Science Guy on a daily basis. I don’t blame her; growing up, I constantly tried to recreate Mr. Wizard’s experiments in our garage, much to my mother’s chagrin.
Since school left out for the summer my mad scientist has stirred up a bunch of weird-looking concoctions from various benign ingredients she found around the kitchen. However, last week she actually got to experiment with real science projects thanks to our “friends” who help staff a Parks and Rec summer program.
If you are looking to prevent brain drain this summer consider the following fun and educational science projects:
DIY Face Paint: Mix together 1/2 cup of cold cream and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Add more cornstarch if the mixture is too thick and clumpy. Next, stir in three drops of food coloring. (If you want the face paint to be really bright, then add more food coloring to achieve a darker shade.) Mix the paint well, and then apply it with cotton swabs to your child’s face or other body parts. If your kids are old enough, they can paint each other. To remove the paint, simply use soap and warm water.
Homemade Hot Air Balloon
Materials:
Large pieces of tissue paper or lightweight nylon
Cardboard or light plastic pint-sized container (the ones that blueberries come in work well)
Fishing wire
Adhesive spray
Sewing needle
Thread
Hair dryer
Directions:
Place a square of tissue paper on top of another square so that you have an eight-pointed star. Use the adhesive spray to attach the two squares together. Once dry, use a sewing needle to thread the fishing wire through each of the eight corners, and then to the end of the basket, making sure that you have about six to eight inches between tissue paper and the container. Turn on the hair dryer and let it fill up the “balloon.” Once the balloon is full of hot air, it will rise and stay afloat for a couple of minutes.
Related Articles:
Summer Fun for Kids in the Great Outdoors
Super Summer Sanity Savers for Parents
Affordable Ways to Keep Kids Busy This Summer