Science and Art Camp- Day 5.
The big finale.
The main reason that I love Science and Art together is that they share the fundamental concept of experimentation. Today was all about getting paint onto paper in interesting ways.

Unfortunately there was so much going on, I neglected to get many pics of the day! You'll have to use your imagination or see some of my web-based examples... (Images may not have been exactly as they appear!)



Puffy Paint

An example of what it looks like when it dries.

Mix equal parts shaving cream and white glue, and then add paint or food colouring. It makes a puffy paint that dries with a cool texture.

We decided to draw faces (I would suggest going over with a felt or sharpie), and then use the puffy paint to add in hair, moustaches, beards or other details. My only adaptation would be to give them smaller brushes so it didn't get everywhere and look so messy. But it was fun!



Blow Paint Monsters

Thin down paint with water until it is the consistency of heavy cream.  Spoon a little onto the paper, and use a straw to blow the paint in different directions. When dry, add eyes and mouths. Super cute!











Spin Art

My thrift store salad spinners came in super handy for spin art. Just put the paper inside so it lines the bottom and edges, making sure it doesn't go higher than the top edge (or it will catch on the spin mechanism). Put a few drops of paint on the paper, close the lid and spin! It has interesting results if you vary the consistency of the paint. We used tempera (a little more watery) and acrylic paints, and some food colouring. It was a fun, active, and super quick activity that produces beautiful results. Exactly the kind of art a mom of boys needs and loves!

Shaving Cream Paper Marbling

A pretty easy activity with a cookie sheet, shaving cream, paint, chopstick and a squeegee
Here's how

Elastic Band Painting

Just slip some paper in the box, put some paint on the elastic bands and snap 'em! Just make sure you're wearing old clothes, because the paint flings up too!













Magnet Painting

The results weren't really that pretty, but this one was all about process. I wanted the kids to see that they could paint in ways they had never thought of.












Pendulum Painting

Saw this one on Pinterest and had to try it. Could it get more art and science?
The only problem was that I didn't test it out first.  (WHEN was there time???)
Either the holes weren't big enough or the paint wasn't thin enough, but at first, we swung the cup but no paint came out. We watered it down on the spot, (not an ideal process) but it did work.

Personalized Canvases

I wanted to do some fling paint onto canvas, but I didn't want them to just have a randomly speckled canvas. I used painter's tape and masked out each of their first initials onto the canvas. It only took me 2 hours the night before...I was so thankful for the straight letters like L and T. The S's and C's did me in!

Then I let them go to town on their canvas... some used the pendulum and others just flung paint from their brushes. Oh the mess! Oh the fun!










Once dried, they peeled off the green tape and were left with an inverse print of their first initial.

Can you believe we didn't even have time for paint filled water balloons?

When everyone had left, we went out to the forest and finished off our wild and crazy week!

And then, it was about 6 hours of cleanup.

Science and Art Camp Day 4

Needless to say by day 4 I was getting tired. I think the science part was do-able, but adding the art component was very messy and time consuming. SO much prep and clean up. But that aside, I was super super stoked about today's theme:
OCEANS!


Glue Drawings!
We began with some drawings of fish, done with light pencil onto coloured cardstock, and then we traced the pencil lines with white glue. The white glue dries clear, giving the lines a clear, raised look.

This is what the finished product may look like.

The plan was to let them dry and colour them in with pastels before the day was over, but even by the next morning, some of them weren't dry. Go easy on the glue!


Measuring Ocean Animals!
We headed out to the park and drew some ocean animals with sidewalk chalk. I gave each child (or group of 2) a measuring rope. Well, it was a rope cut to 1 m in length. They drew life size versions of a sea otter (1m), a Giant Pacific Octopus (3m), a Great White (10m)... all they way up to a blue whale (30m). It truly is amazing to see the scale of these wonderously giant animals.

It took them a bit of thinking to figure out how to measure 3m when they only had two 1m measuring ropes. So great to watch!

30 m Blue whale

Fish prints!

We could not have an ocean-themed art and science day without... stinky fish!

I have a rubber fish too, in case some were squeamish- but all of them were up for the stinky fish challenge!



The little ones did some cool stuff too:

Use uncooked rice to get the look of the tubefeet underneath.
We kept ours white to stay true to real life!

Oh, and our suckers were
on the inside too.
Just keepin' it real.

Art and Science Camp Day 3

Chemistry!
The theme of today was that things in our world basically come in 3 states- solid, liquid and gas. When we add heat or cold, or mix things together, our objects can change. That is what we played with on Chemistry day!

To get their brains going on this morning, I gave them a squiggle, and asked them to turn it into something to do with Science. It was a super quick and easy activity and I loved the results!

snake

magnet

"I Love Sciens!"

mountains and fireworks

Shrinky Dinks!

The favourite activity of the day was making our own Shrinky Dinks.

Milk Art! Another favourite was mixing homogenized milk, food colouring and just a dab of soap on the end of a toothpick. The liquids don't blend, and it creates a colourful kaleidoscope that is continually moving. (Don't stir them - just poke with the toothpick).

Chemical Reactions!
I have some special paper from SteveSpanglerScience that reacts when it comes in contact with  a base. I believe it has the spice turmeric in it. When we dipped a Q-tip in a baking soda/ water solution, it turned the paper bright red

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the
difference between the boys and girls in
this activity was... interesting! One group
was quiet, sitting, drawing nice pictures.
The other was making huge messes and
haphazardly colouring most of their papers
red. But both were totally engaged!

Ice tunnels!

I tried a few different ways, but the best way we found was to pour rock salt on top of the ice blocks (previously frozen in 500mL yogurt containers), and then add food colouring on top. As the salt melts the ice (by lowering its freezing temperature) it forms tunnels in the ice. Adding the food colouring allows you to see the various tunnels in the ice. Not as much of a "wow factor" as all the other things we did this week, but some kids really enjoyed it. A great lazy afternoon activity to keep 'em busy for a while.

 Bubble prints!
Equal parts soap, paint and a bit of water. Blow bubbles and then place a piece of paper overtop to make a print of the bubbles. We tried the paper underneath, too, which can get really watery and it takes away the bubble prints completely. But if you leave them to dry with the bubbles on top of them, (see pics below) the bubbles will eventually pop and the paint will dry in cool patterns.

Disclaimer- We were so busy having fun that I forgot to take pictures.
I stole this pic from the internet. Ours weren't as dark as this.

Being crazy boys! I'm pretty sure K. is about to make an armpit fart.