Science Potpourri

Summer classes are wrapping up and we are getting ready to assemble our fall schedule for September, but that doesn't mean we have to stop experimenting at home.

We started our week by carving a pumpkin.  One of our pumpkins was orange, and Genevieve wants it to be Halloween already so we worked together to carve it.  And we've observed the changes in it over the past week.  Jack-o'-lanterns aren't meant for 100+° F weather.

Genevieve painted some treasure chests to get ready for her play date with her science friend Mary.  They played games and used magnifying glasses to examine crystals.  Then we used 2 kits from National Geographic to dig for fossils and rocks.  The rock kit worked well.  The "dirt" was easier to break up and the rocks were easy to identify.  The fossil kit may was more difficult to dig into, and I'm not sure if it's because more moisture had leeched from the dig site because it had been boxed for awhile or because it started out drier to accommodate the more intricate detail.  The fossil kit also has some more delicate fossils that may break if your little paleontologist isn't careful and is a little more difficult to match some of the fossils to the ones in the book.

Thursday was a Predator and Prey themed zoo class.  They concentrated on three main prey - insects, fish and small animals.  Then they tried to identify some predators that ate that kind of prey.  They met a lizard and a hawk, and we're able to watch the otters eat.  The teacher had prepared some textured frog pictures for them to paint with water colors.  She made another worksheet to fill out at the zoo.  This time we named some predators and prey, and observed the zebras, giraffes, and lions.

We borrowed a book from the library called DIY Science by Nick Arnold.  I know him from the Horrible Science series, and I really enjoyed this collection of experiments.  Genevieve picked a few of the water ones, like using a coin to test surface tension.

Finally, daddy went to the art store with Genevieve and they created a glow in the dark solar system.  We experimented with mixing colors to create secondary colors.  She used those colors to paint a picture of herself feeling sad because she had to go to her room and a spider for Halloween.