Category: Fun Science Activity (Page 40 of 112)

Exploring the Importance of Water to Living Things

June 30, 2013 / Roberta / 1 Comment

Summer is a fantastic time for kids to learn about water through books and hands-on activities.

Water is essential for life, yet we tend to take it for granted because it is generally so readily available. Over the next few weeks, we will use children’s books to explore the water in different ways, including why it is important, the water cycle, and water in our homes.

Today’s post will help children become aware of how important water is to living things and all the ways that it is used.

Our lesson was inspired by Why Living Things Need Water (Acorn: Why Living Things Need) by Daniel Nunn, an informational picture book for the youngest set illustrated with bright color photographs.

Activity 1. Brainstorm how humans use water, creating an age-appropriate list. Either make a collage out of photographs from magazines showing the ideas or have the children create their own illustrations.

Preschool examples:Â Drinking, bathing, cleaning up

Grade school examples:

Water is used for…

Drinking
Bathing
Washing/cleaning
Cooling off
Heating (some homes)
Cooking
Growing food
Swimming
Painting and creating art
Boating and skiing on (recreational activities)
Getting rid of wastes
Making electricity
Transportation of goods
Putting out fires
Making products like paper and steel
etc.

People have used boats and water to get from place to place for ages.

High school biology examples:

Within our bodies we use water:

To regulate internal temperature
To move nutrients
To move oxygen
To move hormones and other chemical signals
As a medium for chemical reactions
To remove wastes

Did you know that the lungs must be moist to work properly?

Â Activity 2. Investigate how animals use water by putting out a bird bath.

Make or purchase a bird bath. The style will depend a bit on the type of birds that commonly visit bird baths in your area. According to the Audubon Society, the ideal bird bath should contain no more that two inches of water and should have variable depths so birds can walk in and out.

Once you have it set up, record what types of birds visit and what they use the water for.

You might see some birds drink water, like the owls in this video.

Many living things use water to help keep cool. My sister and her family had a hawk lay in their bird bath on a hot day, soaking the water into its feathers.

This robin is using a pool of water to take a bath in. Why might it be important for birds to take a bath?

Certain types of birds, such as grackles, have been known to wash their food and other objects in a bird bath.

Birds like ducks and geese use water for protection. If a land-basedÂ predator comes by, they can simply swim away. They also use water for transportation, by swimming from place to place in it to find food and nest sites.

Make this activity an experiment by:

recording the number and species of birds visiting throughout different times of the day
comparing bird visits to different styles of bird baths

You also might want to visit a pond, lake or ocean and observe all the living creatures that use water for a home.

Activity 3. Water use by plants

We all know we must water our houseplants, lawns, and gardens, but what are plants doing with the water?

Primarily, the plants have chemicals in their leaves that can use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make food in the form of sugars. This is called photosynthesis.

Plants also use water to move nutrients, to add support to their structures, and to keep cool.

Gather:

Clear plastic bag big enough to hold a few leaves
Twist-tie or chenille
Tree or shrub (with leaves close enough to the ground to put a bag over)

On a warm sunny day, slip a clear plastic bag over some leaves on the end of a branch of a tree. Tie the bag tightly to the branch with the twist-tie or chenille, trapping the leaves inside and preventing air from escaping. Visit the tree in fifteen minutes and then again in a half hour. What is happening inside the bag?

You should see the bag start to fill with condensing water. Trees release a lot of water on a hot day through a process known as transpiration. You are capturing the water that is being released. Some figures suggest that more water enters the air from plants than from the surface of the ocean.

Transpiration cools the plant on a hot day and is also involved in helping the plant move water.

How to make this activity an experiment:

compare the rate of transpiration at different times of the day or at different temperatures (by measuring the amount of water produced in a given time)
compare transpiration rates between different trees and shrubs

Overall, we have seen that water is necessary for life. Next week we’ll look at how water is moved through the water cycle.

Why Living Things Need Water (Acorn: Why Living Things Need)
by Daniel Nunn

Reading level:Â Prek-1
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Raintree (March 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1406233757
ISBN-13: 978-1406233759

The book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

25 Items for a Chemistry Activity Box

May 25, 2013 / Roberta / 0 Comments

Summer is on the way and it’s a great time to have a bin or box of items on hand for when the kids are looking for something to do. Last year I suggested 25 items for investigating physical science. This year let’s gather 25 items that will be sure to excite your child’s inner chemist. (Note:Â These suggestions are mostly for ages 5+ and always keep safety in mind by reading and following the safety warnings on the labels of any product.)

Chemistry-themed activity box:

1. Measuring cups and spoons

2. Clear plastic cups to serve as beakers – washable and reusable, or clean baby food jars

3. Goggles for eye protection, one set for each child

4. Clean plastic soda or water bottles for mixing

5. A big box of cornstarch, to mix with about equal parts water to make cornstarch goo. Kids of all ages love to revisit this messy activity again and again. Mix outside or cover the table with a large garbage bag for ease of clean up. See also activity 4 of the Agricultural Science post for instructions for making cornstarch plastic.

6. Bubble mix -or the ingredients to make bubbles, see bubble science , rainbow bubbles. Add glow paint or glowing highlighters to make glowing bubbles.

7. Blackboard chalk and/or sidewalk chalk – see what liquids dissolve chalk (water, lemon juice. vinegar, soda, etc.)

8. Hydrogen peroxide – for elephant’s toothpaste

9. Rubbing alcohol – use to build a density column

10. Tonic water and a black light for more glowing chemistry

11. Vegetable oil, food coloring and water to study oil and water separationâ€¨, make a lava lamp

12. Vinegar– common acid to explore acids and bases

13. Baking soda to make volcanoes and rockets. For an incredibly simple, yet effective volcano: Have your child make a volcano shaped heap in a sandbox or loose soil, if no sandbox is available. Make a hole in the top, about 1 1/2 inches deep, and pour in some baking soda. Then pour in about 1/2 cup vinegar and stand back for the eruption. The cone can be rebuilt again and again. Add red food coloring to the vinegar to simulate lava. (Celebrate Chemistry has more information).

14â€¨. Yeast– see #15 and elephant’s toothpaste (#8)

15. Sugar, balloon and a water bottle. Mix the yeast, sugar and water in the bottom of the water bottle and then cover the opening with the un-inflated balloon. Watch what happens as the yeast begins to grow. Also, add sugar to your bubble mix (#6).

16. Tumeric – can be used as a pH indicator, see acids and bases section of Chemistry Day post.

17. Salt – chemistry of rust, for example

18. Baby oil – density columns and lava lamps

19. Iodine – for older kids, indicates presence of starch. Iodine is available at many pharmacies. See Iodine Chemistry post for experiment ideas

20. Dish detergent– useful for DNA extraction and elephant’s toothpaste (see #8)

21. Mentos candy and soda for geysers – I know it has been overdone and it is definitely a messy outdoor project, but kids do still like it. Soda is also useful for exploring acids and bases.

How to get started from Steve Spangler (there is a pop-up ad):

22. Metal objects such as nails, washers, paper clips, etc. Place in jars with either plain water, water plus salt, or plain vinegar and see what happens. (Chemistry of Rust)

23. pH paper – If you don’t have a favorite science supply store, pH paper can be found in garden supply stores for soil testing or some aquarium suppliers for water testing.

Other items to have on hand in the fridge:

24. Lemon juice can also be used to make invisible ink and with Pennies, nails. Add lemon juice from the kitchen to clean the penny, and copper plate the nail.

25. Red cabbage juice to explore acids and bases, or make a fried green egg

All you need is red cabbage from the grocery store, a blender (adult help), glasses or plastic cups and items to mix with the red cabbage solution, such as lemon juice, soda, vinegar, baking soda, dish detergent and laundry detergent.

Some recipes call for boiling the cabbage (smelly!), but you can just grind up the fresh red cabbage in small batches with enough water to allow the blender to work properly. Pour the batches together in a pitcher, which can be placed in the refrigerator for use later in the day if necessary or even frozen. Pour about 1/3 cup of the red cabbage juice into testing containers such as clear glasses or plastic cups. Then mix in about a Tablespoon of one of the testing compounds. Does the color change? Try another material in the next glass. Does the color change more if you add more test material? What happens if you mix two materials, like vinegar and laundry detergent? Have fun admiring the wild colors you can make.

You can also use frozen mixed berries ground in the blender with a bit of water. The mixed berries smelled better, although they donâ€™t give quite as good a range of colors as the red cabbage.

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We’d love to hear your suggestions for more fun ways to explore chemistry with kids!