I'm starting a new and ongoing project called "Science Saturday." Every Saturday, I'm going to get together with my babies and do some fun chemistry for kids. Like today, for example, when we began with simple gas experiments for kids.
Jayman and Missy are getting old enough that they are really starting to understand the world around them. Or, at least, starting to become very curious about the world around them. They ask, "Why?" about everything. It's a moment I've been eagerly anticipating-the advent of preschool science activities! I'm so excited to start delving into the mysteries of the natural world and sharing my love of science with my curious babies. They're ready, I think.
On to today's lesson: gas experiments for kids.
I remember learning about the Gas Laws in high school. It was like a light went on. Gas Laws explain so much about our world - everything from how a perfume spreads around a room, to how pressure cookers and thermometers work.
We began our gas experiments for kids by simply turning on my Scentsy candle warmer. The kids and I sat at the table and chatted while the warmer heated up. Did you know that tiny molecules of gas are all around us? I told Jayman and Missy. They're so small that we can't see them. But we breathe them and we feel them on our skin.
Before long, we started to smell the candle wax from across the room.
"Do you smell that?" I asked the kids. They nodded. "But how? The candle is way over there. Those tiny molecules of gas are floating across the room and reaching our noses."
The kids looked at me with wide eyes. This was mind-blowing.
But our gas experiments for kids were just beginning.
I took the kids outside. With us, we took a 2-liter bottle of soda (diet works best, but we only had regular), a roll of Mentos, two index cards and some tape. I rolled up one of the index cards so it was just larger than the diameter of the Mentos roll, and taped the card. Then we opened the 2-liter bottle and placed the other index card flat over the bottle mouth. Very carefully, I placed the rolled index card on top of the flat index card and stacked the Mentos inside it.
Then I yanked the flat index card out and the stack of Mentos went plunging into the soda. EXPLOSION!
It was better than fireworks. Cheaper, and much safer. Even little Frankette enjoyed the show.
"You see," I explained to the kids, "the soda has a whole bunch of little gas molecules hiding in the liquid. When we dropped the candy into the soda, the gas bubbles all wanted to find places to grab onto the candy. So they all came out of solution at once, pushing and shoving. Remember what it was like at the carnival when we were standing in line to get on the carousel and they finally opened the gates? Stampede. That's just what the gas molecules were doing."
It was such a fun day of gas experiments for kids. I'll be darned if Jayman and Missy aren't learning the rudiments of science, and loving every second! Mama has lots more preschool science experiments planned. It's going to be a blast.
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