Science Mommy

It's been a while...

2011-05-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

We have been taking a bit of a break from our home-schooling and science fun, for two main reasons. The first being that the whole family has been sick since Wednesday and the second is that we took a wonderful trip to Philadelphia this weekend. Though we did not focus on formal lessons as much in Philly, we definitely learned some really wonderful things, while we were there. The friends we visited are such great hosts, in part because they enjoy our oddities and are happy to explore with us. In fact, the wife is so happy to play along with us that she accompanied kiddo and I to the Philadelphia Insectarium, which is the countries largest. This was honestly one of the coolest "museums" I've ever been to, though the kiddo was less than impressed (though I am hoping that his lack of enthusiasm was due to his beginning to be sick, rather then a patent disinterest in gross bugs). My friend's husband drove us to the insectarium. We missed the place entirely the first time we drove down its street, though we all laughed and joked about how ironic it would be if the museum were in the huge exterminator's office we saw. Well, of course, the insectarium really was a part of the exterminator's office (Steve's Bug-Off Exterminating Company). Just to give the quick background story...Steve Kanya, owner of Steve's Bug-Off Exterminating Company, decided to open the insectarium in 1992, to show off his love of bugs (ok...arthropods, not bugs...) So, the exterminator company occupies the first floor of the building and the museum occupies the second and third stories. A bit weird, but why not?

We start on the third floor, where all of the exhibits are alive. This is beyond cool. I am seriously like a kid in a candy store and my friend, though a bit wary, is definitely fascinated.

We scope out scorpions, tarantulas, meal worms and...giant vinegaroons...what? I've never even heard of them! Of course, I have to look them up, in part because they are just that gross. Honestly, even just writing about them now makes my spine crawl!

So...apparently, they are whipscorpions that produce acetic acid (otherwise known as vinegar) as a defense mechanism against predators. Ok, so that's cool...my opinion of them have raised slightly. They are not actually "bugs" but rather are arachnids (arthropods with an exoskeleton, jointed appendages, four pairs of legs) and they are highly recommended as...pets...well, pets for arachnid collectors. And no, I absolutely will not get one as a pet. I don't care how well it would round out my "collection", I am not doing it.

Insects were somewhat the focus of the weekend in Philly (other then being sick). Kiddo was passionate about going on a "bug hunt". During our hunts, I basically dug up dirt, flipped over stones and picked up all sorts of creepy crawlers, while my fearless son acted as foreman. He did not so much as get his hands dirty, but I'm ok with that, since he really really got excited about these bugs. In fact, he really wanted to bring them home with us (no, we didn't).

Anyone have a clue what these eggs might be?

Pea Planting and Butterflies

2011-04-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, today's post is going to be very short. It's been a very crazy week. I handed in my final project for a graduate class I am taking at AMNH yesterday and today will be handing in a draft of a huge work project (NAIS 20/20 challenge). I have been doing science with the kiddo, but sadly haven't had time to catch up on the blog. So, I'm focusing on two (ok, three) of the things we've been working on:

1. Pea Planting
This project was started a while ago (first post 4/25/11). The peas have done a great job sprouting, so I figured it was time to do
something with them. I had been planning on using the sprouts from our sprouting
jar to make grass caterpillars, but amazingly, the sprouts got too big too quickly (so,
now we're just eating them). So, I decided to plant the peas in the caterpillar egg
cartons. I let kiddo decorate the egg cartons and we planted one pea per egg "cup".
What's particularly cool is the ones in the cardboard cartons can just be put into the
ground with the carton, since it is biodegradable.

2. Caterpillars
I am totally blown away by the caterpillars. Kiddo and I are so super-excited by them. They have begun to pupate. It has been so awesome watching them grow from little caterpillars into big fat ones.

And as of today, they are officially pupating! When I saw that, I literally grabbed kiddo and started pointing like a loony at them (trying to not shake them and dislodge them from the top!). He promptly began exclaiming "Mommy, mommy, mommy, they're pupating!"

I couldn't help but tell one of my coworkers (a physics and chem guy) about my pupating caterpillars. Here's the convo:

me: my caterpillars are starting to pupate!!!!

it is so gross and cool at the same time

r physicsguy: "it is so gross and cool at the same time".... pretty much applies to all of bio

3. Crystals

So a quick, quick, quick update on the crystals. They worked BEAUTIFULLY. My son is in love with them. My only complaint is that they barely glow in the dark, but they do look like huge wonderful diamonds.

Family Participation

2011-04-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's been really wonderful having family participation in home-schooling my son. My mother and I live together and essentially co-parent my son, so she has played a very active role in educating the kiddo. She focuses more on math and reading, while I do more science and art. My mother has been reviewing numbers with the kiddo, particularly counting to 50 without skipping. When he counts objects, he has the habit of skipping numbers, simply because he is rushing, so she is working on helping him slow down and count more carefully. They have been working on shapes and colors. One of their favorite activities is sounding out words. I'm also pleased that mom has been slipping in a little bit of science, by discussing water conservation with him. This is particularly helpful, since one of the next lessons I want to work on with kiddo is on the water cycle.

My father has also joined the "educate kiddo" team. He came to visit on Friday and as a gift brought kiddo a "Strange Plant Collection" kit. It was really fantastic to watch the two of them planting the seeds together. I can't wait to see what grows! The kit contains a terrarium and four different sets of seeds: space plant (Mimosa pudica), eyeball plant (Spilanthes oleracea), brain plant (Celosia amigo) and pitcher plant (Sarrancenia minor).

I am particularly psyched about the pitcher plant, since I have a "thing" for carnivorous plants. I'm a bit disappointed though with the kit, since it will be a couple of months before we really see anything and in the case of the pitcher plant, it needs to germinate in the fridge for 6 weeks. So, this kit is an exercise in patience.

Easter Science and Crafts

2011-04-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

This has been a bad week for science lessons, what with the holidays and all. But we managed to fit in some science.

Crystal Making: We did get the chance to do the first of the experiments in our glow-in-the-dark crystal set. I realized as I was boiling water and putting alum powder into an old cup that this was probably not the safest thing to be doing with a three year old. But, as usual, I plowed ahead. I let the kiddo pour the somewhat cooled water into the cup (he helps me cook all the time, so is very reliable and careful with hot materials) and then stir the alum powder in. He did a great job actually. He did not like the idea of not being able to touch cups of liquid, but I hid them. The crystals that formed are awesome! I haven't had the time to show them to kiddo or take them out of solution, but I think that is tonight's activity.

Paper towel chromatography, with an Easter spin: I was at a bit of a loss one afternoon what to do with the kiddo. He only wanted to play with "ink" (what he calls food coloring), but didn't want to make packing peanut sculptures and I was a bit lacking in creativity at the moment. So, I whipped out some paper towels and a straw and had him do "paper towel chromatography". Basically, we sprayed the paper towel with some water, then dipped the straw in food coloring and tapped it onto the damp paper towel. The wicking of the food coloring led to these really cool tie-dye sort of patterns. Since it was the week before easter, I laminated the pieces of paper towel and cut them out in the shape of eggs.

Though not related to this directly, on the upper right corner of the picture is an egg that we made using tissue paper. I cut laminating paper out in the shape of an egg and had the kiddo tear up tissue paper and stick it to the paper. Then I put laminating paper on the back. It was a nice, quick activity that allowed him to take part in decorating for Easter.

Grass Caterpillars: (This is yet to be completed, but as soon as I get them done, I will post a picture). The idea of this activity was to cut out an egg carton, so there are four egg cups in a row. Give the kiddo the cups and let him decorate the "caterpillar". Then put dirt in each cup and add grass seed, to make a grass caterpillar. Well, apparently, one cannot buy grass seed in Downtown Brooklyn (not sure why this was a surprise). So, instead I bought a sprouting jar and a sprouting seed mix. We are currently in the middle of sprouting our spouts to plant. We have not made the caterpillars yet, but we have been enjoying watching the seeds sprout.

Growing Peas: This is one of my favorite activities ever. It is so easy and simple, but infinitely rewarding.
Step 1: Soak dried peas (Goya works best) overnight in a small amount of water in a ziploc bag (this will allow for the peas to germinate).
Step 2: Take a small container (plastic cup or tupperware container) and add damp crumpled up papertowel
Step 3: Stick your germinated peas in and around the papertowel (no it doesn't really matter where or how, let your toddler do it!)

Step 4: Put in the window and water everyday

Step 5: (optional) Once the pea plants have gotten sizable, you can plant them. I am going to plant the peas in egg cartons as soon as ours are big enough. As always, I will post some pics!

Science Background: The only thing that a seed needs to begin germination is water. It does not require dirt or nutrients (this makes sense if you think about it. Seeds germinate normally underground, in the dark. They have all of the nutrients they need stored along with them in their seed.)

Update on snails and caterpillars

2011-04-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last evening, my snails and caterpillars were looking a little sad. The caterpillars were basically non-moving by the bottom of their cups and the snails were non-moving by the top of their aquarium. I was a bit concerned that maybe I was mass-murdering our pets, but luckily, today was a turning point for the critters. The caterpillars woke up and are now moving around...I assume that the trip from the company was a bit traumatic. I can't blame them for that one. The snails, I think were unhappy with their accommodations. As soon as I put organic mesculin lettuce into their home, they started moving all over and eating like crazy. So apparently, LIC snails have expensive tastes. But, I'm happy that they are now happy and eating.

The now happy snails

Acquiring Pets

2011-04-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

The arrival of my Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) larvae today reminded me that I wanted to write about all of the pets that I have/will have acquired in the name of toddler science. As a preface, I want to let you know that we started off with 2 hamsters (Bob and Rosalina, both boys, who we got a bit over a year ago) and 3 goldfish (one named "nothing" who I won at a fair and two unnamed fish that were bought to keep "nothing" company).

Bob (in the corner) and Rosalina (climbing the door)

A few weeks ago, we added a very cool ant farm to the mix. Putting the ants into the farm was honestly terrifying. I hate ants and the tube they came in was tiny and the top was really hard to get off. I almost had ants flying across my living room. Not the smartest thing...If I'd thought it through, I would've done it outside, but as the saying goes "fools rush in where angels fear to tread." But, once I had them in there, I fell in love with them. I have to say that it is unbelievable how much time I have spent just watching them build tunnels and march through their farm. Unfortunately, kiddo is not quite as riveted with them, but he has enjoyed learning about their life cycle and anatomy. I taped diagrams of both right in front of the ant farm, so we can talk about them at the same time we watch the ants.

I had thought that I was pretty content with the number of pets we had, but then I discovered snails (and slugs...) I was walking to a friend's house in Long Island City (Queens) on Tuesday, when I looked down and saw 3 snails on the sidewalk. I was standing right by a chain link fence enclosing a deserted, grass-filled lot. I knelt down and watched the snails (and yes, I got very, very weird looks). As I stood up to walk away, I realized that there were snails all along this area, as well as mutantly large slugs (ok, not that huge, but in my mind, LIC shouldn't have slugs, so having ones this big was highly wrong.)

Of course, I couldn't help but want some as pets. So, I found a discarded Starbuck's cup and scooped up 6. Let me tell you, the reaction of my friend when he opened up the door was priceless. The first thing I said to him was "do you have a take-out container?" To make a long story very short, the kiddo and I now have a plastic fish bowl covered with cheese cloth (held on by a pony-tail holder) containing six LIC snails. And we love them. I haven't put up an anatomy chart or life cycle (more info), but that will happen tomorrow. As will buying all the supplies for the snail's home (which is a lot of stuff, surprisingly).

Well, back to the original point of this post: butterflies. Last week, I suddenly got possessed with the need to raise butterflies. To be honest, I really don't remember how/why this idea struck me, but it did and within minutes, I had ordered a kit from Carolina Biological Supplies. Today, my caterpillars arrived and I am beyond excited. It's a bit anti-climactic though, since all we do now is wait until they become pupa. But, that's ok, I'm fine with waiting. I was very pleased with myself...on Tuesday, I took the kiddo to the Museum of Natural History and we visited the butterfly house. I took this as a great opportunity to talk to him about our new pets. He seems to have really absorbed my lesson, because when I mentioned our new pets to a friend, he corrected me and said that we were getting pupa soon. I haven't started to prepare lessons/charts to go along with the butterflies yet, but I'm very pleased with the worksheets that came along with the kit. I will keep you apprised of our progress!

Our newly arrived larvae (cup one of two)

On a less science related note, I am pretty sure that we will be getting a cat on Monday. A coworker of my mother's suckered us into it. I wonder how the cat will get along with the rest of our menagerie?

My first few weeks

2011-04-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

So, since I just started this, I wanted to give you a quick idea of the fun things I have been doing with my son. In the future, I will try to post these every couple of days, so that I am not listing things like this. But, I'm still new at this.

Anatomy of a flower: This is what got us started with science homeschooling...kiddo and I were eating dinner, when we began discussing the lilies in a bouquet on our table. I decided to show him the anatomy of the flower, plus how the pollen sticks to the stigma. He loved it! So, being the geek that I am, I ran and got the 7th grade life science textbook I use and showed him the diagram of the flower. Next thing I knew, he was pointing to the picture and back to the flower, cataloging the different parts. We ended up "dissecting" 4 more flowers. Since it is almost Easter, I plan on repeating this "lab" with him using Easter lilies, lily bulbs and some fun worksheets. I plan on dissecting the lily, examining the bulb and then planting it, so we can watch it grow.

Anatomy of a flower
http://kvhs.nbed.nb.ca/gallant/biology/biology.html

Chemical Reactions: We started this experiment by mixing baking soda and vinegar together. We followed this up by adding dish washing detergent to the reaction, which results in some really awesome and huge bubbles. Then, kiddo wanted to try different liquids. So, we tried lemon juice, water and fruit juice. I didn't warn him about what would happen, so he really got to enjoy the surprise of science. I did explain to him that the production of gas indicated a chemical reaction, so he was able to talk to me about which ones were a chemical reaction and which one wasn't.

Science background: This is an acid-base reaction between acetic acid (vinegar) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). When you mix these two chemicals, you produce carbon dioxide gas, which is why it bubbles and froths so much. The production of a gas is one of the signs of a chemical reaction or a chemical change.

Water flow in plants: This was a spectacular fail...we've tried it twice with flowers and celery and it's been a fail both times. I do this with my seventh graders every year and it ALWAYS works! To show how water travels up a plant, you add food coloring to water, then place a flower or celery stick in it. Over a few hours, you can watch the dye flow up the plant. When I figure out what went wrong, I'll let you know!
Science background: The two key components of a vascular plant's transport system and the xylem and the phloem. The xylem is responsible for transporting water and nutrients, while the phloem is responsible for transporting sugars (trick: the phloem flows down).

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_xylemphloem.html

For even more detail, check out this website for a good discussion of root pressure and transpiration-cohesion-tension mechanism.

Crystal Formation: This was another spectacular fail. I made a supersaturated solution of sugar/water and another of salt/water. I put them in the fridge and nothing happened...then a few little crystals formed. But that was it. The results of this experiment was a bowl full of sugar sludge and a disappointed toddler. Rather then fuss around with this (ok, yes, I'm being too lazy), I ordered a crystal making set online. I will let you know how it goes.
Science background: Crystals are formed from regular, repeating patterns of atoms or molecules. They are grown via nucleation, where particles attach onto each other until the crystal nucleus is large enough that it falls out of solution.

Packing Peanut Sculptures: This is a great activity that I got from Carolina Biological Supply that uses the dissolving packing peanuts "puffins". What I love is that Carolina uses puffins to pack all of their shipments and includes in the box a set of activities that you can complete using the puffins you just received! This is such a simple but fun activity. Take a whole bunch of the packing peanuts and either dip them in water or spray them with water, then stick them together. The peanuts will dissolve somewhat and become super-sticky, so you can make really weird interesting abstract sculptures. For added fun, drip food coloring onto your newly created sculpture.
Background: These really great packing peanuts are made from cornstarch, with the result that they dissolve in water and are biodegradable. Doing activities with these packing peanuts are a great way to bridge into a conversation on eco-friendly living, etc. One really interesting fact (that could be an interesting activity...I'll have to try this) is that starch-based packing peanuts are soluble in water, polystyrene packing peanuts are soluble in acetone, but not vice versa. (FYI: acetone nail polish remover is the easiest source for acetone. Just be super careful when you purchase it that you did not choose a "non-acetone" nail polish remover).

Food Dye Chromatography: I am not sure that this was my smartest activity ever, but it happened because kiddo got a bit too excited with the food coloring. I didn't want to waste the food coloring, so I had the questionable idea to do chromatography using that ink. I don't use a coffee maker, therefore no coffee filters (note to self: always have coffee filters on hand!). My substitute was cut up tea bags. I sliced the tea bags open, dumped the tea out (need to think of a good use for this tea) and cut the filter into strips. Using a toothpick, kiddo dotted food coloring onto the filter paper. We let it dry, then dipped the bottom of the strips into alcohol (I used Pitu, which is awfully strong, but I don't drink it, so this seemed like a great use for unpalatable alcohol). The result was a really pretty bleeding pattern of ink. Since I used primary colors, the colors did not separate. I want to try this again with different colors and ink materials.
Science Background: When the filter paper is dipped into the alcohol, via adhesion, the alcohol travels (wicks) up the paper. As it travels past the dye, it grabs a hold of it, carrying it up the filter paper. If there are multiple colors within your ink, they should separate allowing you to see the component colors.
This is a much safer and more logical chromatography exercise for kids: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/papertowelchromatogr.html

Density: Of course, we did the good ole traditional density lab. We mixed food coloring in with water, then poured on a layer of oil. Because the oil is less dense than the water, it rises to the top. If you gently wiggle the cup, you can get really cool wave patterns that not surprisingly toddlers (and adults!) love.

Starting my blog

2011-04-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

I recently made the decision to home-school my high energy or "spirited" son. He's bright, he's interested, he's a lot of fun, but he is still learning how to interact in a classroom setting. I want him to be in a social environment, so am putting him into nursery school, but I didn't want him to miss out on learning. So, I have committed myself and my mother has committed herself to homeschooling my son. I figured that we should be able to do a good job, since both of us are teachers. I teach middle and upper school science (life science, chemistry and AP biology) and my mother is a college professor and the Dean of a School of Nursing, so we are an educating family! Why wouldn't we be able to teach a toddler?!? Well, we didn't really take into account that we have never taught kids younger then 7th grade and frankly, don't know very much about educating little ones. But...we're always up for a challenge. So, we are into week 2 of our "homeschooling" and it has actually been wonderful, if somewhat bemusing. My plans for this blog are to basically chronicle our experience with homeschooling and to talk about what worked and what didn't work. I'd love to hear back from you (my imaginary readers)...