The Idea Garden: Science Fun Day

Our Science Fun Day was a busy day full of building, exploring, examining, and playing.

We started out observing our new leaf bugs. They were discovered down the street from us hanging out (literally) on a blackberry bush- over 50 of them! They are called Spiny Leaf Insects or Macleay's Spectre Insects, from Australia. So how did they end up on bush in Ladner? Someone must have released one, or several, into the bushes. It only takes one, because the females can produce clones of themselves without having a male around. Amazing! Except not great for the environment, especially in a farming community. If you do have one or a few as pets, make sure you collect and destroy the eggs. One bug can lay 200 eggs.

If you've never played with a digital microscope, you have to! We had one that hooked up to our TV- very, very easy to set up and use. Magnified 200x, we looked at hands, arms and legs, (hairy ones), freckles, scabs, tongues, fabrics, bugs, coins... SO COOL! One of the most interesting was a chip bag - it looked orange to us, but it was actually small red and yellow dots.

Next, we had stations of various engineering activities. It is mostly about trial and error. Scientists don't get there on the first try; they keep working on making their ideas better. They also build on each others ideas and inventions. So that's what we did!

1. Marble track. It is amazing how this can captivate kids (and adults) of all ages. I challenged them to make the tallest, or slowest marble track structure they could.

2. Magnetic marble track. One of the most engaging toys we have. It was great to see the teamwork, and the continual trial and error to make it work.3. Magnetix. Using magnetic marbles and rods to build structures. We learned that triangles make the strongest and most sturdy designs.

4. Pipes. My apprentice plumbers got to play with sets of pvc pipe- straight ones, elbows, connectors- to make a flowing waterway. Problem solving at its best...

That only took us to snack time. I told you it was a busy day!

The Chemistry Magic Show-

Colour-changing water

Setting $ on fire without burning it.

Disappearing water

See Chemistry Magic Tricks from last year's science camp on how to do them.

Finishing off the morning with some candy and pop...

Putting Skittles in warm water will dissolve the outer shell and the S stamped on it will float up to the top.

The joy and excitement on their faces makes it all worth it!!!

And, oh, the classic Mentos and Coke (Diet for less stickiness). A handy contraption allows you to dump several in at once before it explodes.

Lunchtime was filled with lots of play at the park, trying out our giant styrofoam airplane.

Owen loves collecting Mighty Beanz. They are interesting, for a while, but I don't really understand what you are supposed to do with them. I did some internet searches and found some cool videos from creative kids, which gave us some ideas. Here are some things we tried:

1. Balancing 2 or more on top of each other.

2. Racing down 1/2 a pool noodle

3. Bouncing them off a balloon trampoline onto a target.

Props to texasmichael7 and his YouTube videos

Next we tried to make these balloon cars, but they were an epic fail. Just didn't go anywhere!

Oh well, we blew up the balloons and let them go all over the house anyway.

While all this was going on, we took turns going in the kitchen and making 5 minute ice cream.

Next we went outside and made flinging planes, poppers, and Alka Seltzer rockets. All 3 are quick, easy activities with big results !

See Last year's science club for directions

And the day was still not over...

We just happened to find some owl pellets in our forest recently. A perfect opportunity to show the kids! We went into the forest and collected about 10-15 pellets. Then we brought them back and pulled them apart to see what kind of animals the owls spit up. (They do not digest the fur or bones, so they store it in a special pouch called a gullet, and then spit it out.)

The kids were fascinated with the teeth, jaw bones, and even a tiny ball and socket hip joint. So interesting!

What a perfect time to play with soap and bubbles! (get those hands clean!)

I tried making various bubble wands and a played with making the right the bubble solution.We tested, tried and had some success with the wands- but the cut off water bottles worked the best.

We ended off with some Oobleck/ Goo: Mix cornstarch and water until it is the consistency of honey. It has a very interesting property- when you add pressure, it hardens into a solid, but when you release pressure, it returns to a liquid. Stirring it is bizzare- it is only something you can describe once you've tried it.