Slime

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Contact lens solution containing boric acid makes a good Borax substitute for making slime, when combined with baking soda and glue. (Note: Most liquid laundry detergents in recipes for “Borax-free” slime contain Borax.)

What’s the science behind the fun? To make slime, you need a chemical called a crosslinker to make all of the glue molecules stick together. When you use contact lens solution, the boric acid in contact solution combines with baking soda to make borate, the same crosslinking solution that Borax contains.

IMG_3646[1]

To make Borax powder-free slime, just add a pinch or two of baking soda per ounce of glue (around 1 tsp per bottle of clear glue), stir, add food coloring or glitter and then keep adding contact lens solution and stirring until the glue isn’t sticky any more. You can add water to the glue before adding the contact solution to change the consistency of the slime.

You can find more slime recipes here.

Frozen Bubbles

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Soap bubbles are made up of two layers of soap with a thin layer of water sandwiched between them. It’s fun to watch the beautiful crystal patterns that form in the water layer when bubbles freeze on a very cold day. Adding sugar and corn syrup to the soap stabilizes bubbles so that they won’t pop before they freeze. (Bubble recipe below video.)

To make frozen bubble solution:

  1. Dissolve 2 Tablespoons of sugar in I cup very warm water
  2. Stir in 2.5 Tablespoons of corn syrup.
  3. Add 2.5 Tablespoons of dish soap (Blue Dawn works well.)
  4. Mix well.

Find a spot out of the wind. Use a straw to blow a bubble on a smooth plate. Alternately fill a container with a narrow mouth, like a bubble solution bottle, with the mixture above and use a straw to blow a bubble right on top of the bottle.

If it’s below zero degrees Fahrenheit, the bubble will start freezing within seconds.

Tabletop Science Trick- Balancing Forks on a Toothpick

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Every object on earth, whether it’s a boat, a person on a bike, or two forks attached to a toothpick, has a single point called the center of gravity (or center of mass) which gravity acts on. This fun trick demonstrates how you can balance the mass of two forks and a toothpick sitting on the edge of a wineglass. The center of gravity on a curved glass exists in the space between the glass and the forks! Amazing!

If you light the toothpick inside the glass on fire, it will burn out when the flame hits the cooling glass. Because the toothpick is so light (has very little mass), the center of gravity doesn’t change much, so the forks remain balanced.

Oozing Halloween Pumpkins

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Use hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and dry yeast to make a Jack-O-Lantern ooze beautiful green bubbles! (*Don’t forget the safety goggles. Adult supervision required)

Click here to watch the chemical reaction in action!

Ingredients:

-large bottle of 6, 10 or 12% hydrogen peroxide, or 20, 30 or 40 volume hydrogen peroxide clear developer (found at beauty supply shops or online.) * note: concentrated hydrogen peroxide can burn eyes and damage clothing

-Jack-O-lantern with top

-dish soap

-food coloring

-water

-dry yeast

-jar that will fit inside pumpkin

-Large rimmed baking sheet or tray to contain the mess

-safety goggles

Instructions:

  1. Add a few tablespoons of water, 3 Tbsp. dish soap and a tsp. green food coloring to the jar. Mix well.
  2. Put the pumpkin on the tray and the jar in the pumpkin. Carefully add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide to the dish soap mixture in the jar. Stir to mix.
  3. In a separate container, mix 3 teaspoons yeast with 1/4 cup warm (not hot) water. Mix well.
  4. To start the chemical reaction, quickly pour all of the yeast mixture into the hydrogen peroxide and immediately put the top on the pumpkin.
  5. Watch the chemical reaction happen.

The Science Behind the Fun

A chemical scissors (an enzyme called catalase) in the yeast breaks hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into water (H20) and Oxygen (O), making lots of bubbles in the soap. The reaction feels warms because it releases energy. Reactions that give off heat are called exothermic reactions.

14 DIY Halloween Science Projects for Kids

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Turn your kitchen table into the coolest mad science lab in the neighborhood. Click on the project name for a link to instructions and to read about the “Science Behind the Fun.” Most of these projects can be found in my book “Kitchen Science Lab for Kids,” the perfect gift for any young scientist!

1. Frankenworms– Bring gummy worms to “life” using baking soda and vinegar.

2. Alien Monster Eggs– Make creepy, squishy monster eggs.

3. Oozing Monster Heads– Combine science and art to create Halloween fun.

4. Bag of Blood– Amaze your friends with this magical science trick.

5. Vampire Rock Candy

Vampire Rock Candy (kitchenpantryscientist.com)

6. Cornstarch Goo

7. Jell-O Eyeballs

Jell-O Eyeballs
kitchenpantryscientist.com

8. Vegetable Vampires

Vegetable Vampires kitchenpantryscientist.com

9. Magic Potion– Make a color-changing, foaming potion using red cabbage and water.

10. Halloween Soda Explosion– The classic Diet Coke and Mentos explosion is perfect for Halloween.

11. Foaming Alien Blood– Bring the X-Files to your kitchen with this creepy green fake blood

12. Mad Scientist’s Green Slime– Because everyone loves slime

13. Homemade Fake Blood– It’s simple to make non-toxic fake blood in your kitchen.

edible fake blood

14. Fizzy Balloon Ghosts– Draw scary faces on balloons and inflate them using baking soda and vinegar.

Invisible Ink

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Write secret messages using baking soda and water and make the big reveal using a bright yellow spice called turmeric!

(safety note: small children should be supervised around rubbing alcohol. It is poisonous.)

You’ll need:

1 Tbsp. baking soda

1 tsp. turmeric

rubbing alcohol

cotton swabs

paper

Instructions:

For invisible ink, mix 1 Tbsp. baking soda into 1/2 cup water

For revealing paint, mix 1 tsp. turmeric into 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol (isopropanol)

  1. Use a cotton swab dipped in invisible ink to write a message or draw a picture on a piece of paper.
  1. Let the ink dry
  2. Use a second cotton swab dipped in revealing paint to make the message appear, as if by magic.

The Science Behind the Fun:

Baking soda is white, and when it dries, you can’t see it against the white paper because it is camouflaged and blends into the paper. Turmeric is a kind of chemical called an acid-base indicator that changes color depending on whether it’s in a solution with a high pH, called a base, or a solution with a low pH, called an acid. Baking soda is a base, and turns the turmeric bright red where you wrote the message. Paper has a neutral pH (isn’t an acid or a base), and the turmeric on the paper stays yellow.

Color-Changing Chia Seed Pudding

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Chia seeds are superfoods with a powerful combination of fiber and nutrients, but what makes them really special is their ability to absorb up to twelve times their own weight in water and produce a clear gel that makes an excellent thickener. With coconut milk, natural sweetner and chia seeds, kids can make a fun, delicious no-cook pudding. Add butterfly pea powder to the mix to turn the pudding blue, and then squeeze in some lemon juice to make it turn pink.

The Science Behind the Fun: Colorful pigments called anthocyanins give butterfly pea flower its blue color. When you mix it with an acids such as lemon juice, it turns purple or pink. The color change occurs because the acid changes their shape, causing them to reflect light differently.

  • 5 tablespoons food-grade chia seeds
  • 1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Tiny pinch kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon butterfly pea flour
  • fresh lemon juice
  • Fresh fruit or jam to mix into the pudding (optional)

Mix the chia seeds, coconut milk, honey, vanilla, salt and pea flower together. Stir until the seeds are evenly distributed and refrigerate overnight, stirring occassionally.

To make the color change, stir in some lemon juice and add more honey to taste. Top with fresh fruit or jam.

Store in refrigerator for up to three days.

Note: If you don’t like the seeds, blend the mixture before refrigerating. To make chocolate pudding, leave out the butterfly pea powder and add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the mixture.

Five Ways Kids Can Decorate Eggs Using Science

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

It’s fun to create colorful, swirling marbled designs on eggs, and there’s science behind the fun! Here’s a brief description of each. Click on the blue titles for more instructions and science explanations.

Olive Oil Marbling: You’ll need hard boiled eggs, olive oil, vinegar, and food coloring. We used green, yellow and brown food coloring to make robin’s egg colors.

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Whipped Cream Faux Marbling: You’ll need hard boiled eggs, a shallow container, cool whip or whipped cream, food coloring, and a toothpick. (Project from Star Wars Maker Lab -DK Books)

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Lemon-Painted Eggs: Dye eggs with cabbage juice and use lemon juice and backing soda to “paint” pink and blue designs on the purple eggs. (Project from STEAM Lab for Kids- Quarry Books)

Natural Dyes: Experiment with fruit, coffee, tea, spices, veggies and even onion skins to create beautiful, natural egg dyes.

Nail Polish Marbling: This one is obviously inedible, but it’s a fun craft project! You’ll need eggs with the yolks and whites blown out, a container that can be thrown away, nail polish in two or more colors, and water. (Project from STEAM Lab for Kids-Quarry Books)

nail polish marbled eggs

The science behind the marbling fun: Egg dyes and food coloring require an acidic environment to form bonds. That’s why you add vinegar (also called acetic acid) to water and dye when coloring eggs. Things that are less dense than water, like olive oil and nail polish, float on top of water, allowing you to create designs that can be transferred onto your eggs.

Ecology for Kids

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

I’m really excited about my newest book, Ecology for Kids. It’s full of activities perfect for Earth Day, or any day when kids want to get their hands into some fun biology projects that teach them about Earth’s ecosystems. ( Ecology for Kids is available everywhere books are sold.)


Click here to watch a TV segment where I demonstrate how to make terrariums (rainforest ecosystems) and expanding cacti (desert ecosystems). I also illustrate ocean acidification using color-changing purple cabbage juice, baking soda, vinegar and carbonated water.

The book was illustrated by Kelly Anne Dalton and photographed by Amber Procaccini. Here’s a peek at a few images from the book, which contains biographies of 25 inspiring ecologists, paired with projects that help kids explore the work of those scientists.

Wangari Maathai

Prairie Plant Lab

Lesley de Souza
Soil Erosion Lab

Orchestraw Science

 - by KitchenPantryScientist


This is a simple, fun, extremely noisy experiment that will teach you a little bit about sound. All you’ll need are a straw and some scissors!

First, make a straw into a reed-like instrument by flattening one end and cutting off either side near the tip so that it looks like an arrow, but leave a small, flat area between the angled cuts (see photos.)

top view of straw instrument

side view of straw instrument

Now, put your lips around the straw, past where the point is, and blow hard. Be careful not to completely flatten the straw or air can’t go through. As the ends of the straw vibrate, they cause the air inside the column-shaped straw to vibrate, creating sound waves. The longer the column, the lower the sound, since longer sound waves sound lower! The shorter the column, the higher the sound.

Your straw instrument should sound like something between a squeaky oboe and a duck call.

Try making different length straw instruments.

NASA Soda-Straw Rockets

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

This fun activity will teach you a little bit about rockets. It is from one of NASA‘s educational websites and the great rocket template you’ll find below is provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

All you’ll need is a plastic soda straw, some paper, scissors and tape.  For the body of your rocket, you can use this template or simply cut a strip of paper an inch or two wide. If using the template, wrap the rectangle of paper around a pencil and tape it into a tube.  If you’re using a strip of paper, wind it around a pencil (as pictured above) so it forms a tube. Tape it well, so it holds its shape.

Now, remove your rocket from the pencil, fold one end over and tape it down.  This will be the nose of your rocket.  To the other end, you can make fins using the template, or design your own fins to tape on. Fins work best at right angles, or near right angles.  Now you can decorate your creation.

Put your rocket  over the end of a straw and use the force of your breath to launch it!  How far does it go?  Try making longer and shorter rockets. What happens if you change the shape or number of fins?  Record your flight lengths.

What does this teach you?  Paper rockets demonstrate how real rockets fly through the atmosphere and some of the forces working on them!

Drag is the force of air getting in the way of your rocket.   Weight also drags your rocket down as gravity pulls on it.  The lighter you make your rocket  (less paper, less tape), and the less drag it has, the farther it will go!

Fins stabilize the rockets’ flight.  The size and design of the fins affect how well it can be controlled.

We launched some straw rockets at the Kare11 studio, if you want to see them in action!

Hard Candy Stained Glass- Edible Science

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Most clear hard candy has what scientists call a glass structure. It’s a disorganized jumble of three kinds of sugar: glucose, fructose and sucrose, which can’t assemble into organized crystals, so it remains transparent when you melt it and allow it to re-harden.

 

Hard Candy Stained Glass “STEAM Lab for Kids” Quarry Books 2018

To make stained glass for our gingerbread house windows, I adapted the crushed stained glass candy project from my book “STEAM Lab for Kids.” The challenge was figuring out how to create perfect rectangles. After some trial and error, I discovered that scoring the candy when it was still warm and soft created weak points, which allowed me to snap the candy into clean shapes once it had hardened.

Stained Glass Candy “STEAM Lab for Kids” Quarry Books 2018

You’ll need:

-Jolly Ranchers, Life Savers or another clear, hard candy

-a baking sheet (spray or grease the baking sheet, if not using a silicon liner)

-a silicon liner for the baking sheet, if you have one

-a metal spatula or dough scraper

-an oven

Safety tip: Adult supervision recommended. Hot, melted candy can cause burns. Don’t touch it until it has cooled.

What to do:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
  2. Unwrap the candy and arrange the pieces on a baking sheet so that they’re close together, but not touching.

    Stained Glass Candy “STEAM Lab for Kids” Quarry Books 2018

  3. Bake the candy for 7 to 8 minutes, or until it has melted. 
  4. Remove the candy from the oven. Tilt the baking sheet, if needed, to fill gaps.
  5. Use the spatula to score (make lines in) the candy, creating whatever shapes/sizes you need.

    Stained Glass Candy “STEAM Lab for Kids” Quarry Books 2018

  6. When the candy has cooled, snap it carefully along the lines you made. (See photo at the top of this post.)
  7. Eat your creations, or use them to decorate some edible architecture.

    Stained Glass Candy “STEAM Lab for Kids” Quarry Books 2018

  8. Try crushing the candy before you melt it for different visual effects. What else could you try?

    Stained Glass Candy “STEAM Lab for Kids” Quarry Books 2018

 

 

 

Three DIY Home Science Experiments for the Holidays

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

It’s fun to bring a little science into the holidays! Here are three fun projects from my new book Sheet Pan Science. Click here to watch the segment and learn to make Ice Globe Volcanoes, Epsom Salt Crystal Ornaments and Gelatin Window Stickies.

Ice Volcanoes, Epsom Salt Crystal Ornaments and Gelatin Window Stickies

For more detailed instructions, more science and more sheet pan science, click here to order the book ($19.99) from Amazon, here to order from other online retailers or grab a copy at your favorite brick and morter bookstore!

Sheet Pan Science

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted, but I’ve been busy writing new books! My latest, Sheet Pan Science, comes out on Sept.13 and is available now everywhere books are sold.

My motto for Sheet Pan Science is “Contain the mess, not the fun!” and I invented “Ice Globe Volcanoes” just for this book. (You can see the volcanoes on the cover below!) Amazon ordering link here.

Check out some of the projects from Sheet Pan Science that I demo’d on television by clicking here or here.

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist- Physics for Kids

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

I’m thrilled that the third book of my Kitchen Pantry Scientist series will be released on Feb.8th and is available for order everywhere books are sold (link here.)

Yesterday, I went on Twin Cities Live to demonstrate some projects from the book and show some videos of whales, whale sharks, plankton and scorpions from a trip I just took to Baja Sur in Mexico. Watch the short segment here!

Homemade thermometer from Galileo Lab in The Kitchen Pantry Scientist- Physics for Kids (Quarry Books)

Think #STEAM! Homemade Holiday Window Stickies

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

 

Gelatin is the substance that makes Jell-O jiggle. See what happens when food coloring molecules move, or DIFFUSE through Jell-O.

IMG_3674

This creative science experiment that my kids and I invented lets you play with floatation physics by sprinkling glitter on melted gelatin, watch colorful dyes diffuse to create patterns and then use cookie cutters to punch out sticky window decorations.  Water will evaporate from the gelatin, leaving you with paper-thin “stained glass” shapes.

You’ll need

-plain, unflavored gelatin from the grocery store or Target

-food coloring

a drinking straw or toothpicks

-water

-a ruler

-glitter

*You can use the recipe below for two pans around 8×12 inches, or use large, rimmed cookie sheets for your gelatin. For a single pan, cut the recipe in half.

Step 1. Add 6 packs of plain, unflavored gelatin (1 oz or 28 gm) to 4 cups of boiling water. Stir well until all the gelatin has dissolved and remove bubbles with a spoon.

Step 2. Allow gelatin to cool to a kid-safe temperature. Pour the liquid gelatin into two large pans so it’s around 1-1.5 cm deep. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Step 3. Sprinkle glitter on the gelatin in one pan.  What happens?
IMG_3623
Step 4. Allow the gelatin to harden in both pans.

Step 5. In the pan with no glitter, use a toothpick dipped in food coloring to make designs in the gelatin. Alternately, use straw to create holes in the gelatin, a few cm apart, scattered across the surface. It works best to poke a straw straight into the gelatin, but not all the way to the bottom. Spin the straw and remove it. Then, use a toothpick or skewer to pull out the gelatin plug you’ve created. This will leave a perfect hole for the food coloring. Very young children may need help.
IMG_3628
Step 6. If you poked holes with a straw, add a drop of food coloring to each hole in the gelatin.
IMG_3640
Step 7. Let the gelatin pans sit for 24 hours. Every so often, use a ruler to measure the circle of food coloring molecules as they diffuse (move) into the gelatin around them (read about diffusion at the bottom of this post.)  How many cm per hour is the color diffusing?  Do some colors diffuse faster than others? If you put one pan in the refrigerator and an identical one at room temperature, does the food coloring diffuse at the same rate?

Step 8. When the food coloring has made colorful circles in the gelatin, use cookie cutters to cut shapes from both pans of gelatin (glitter and food coloring), carefully remove them from the pan with a spatula or your fingers, and use them to decorate a window. (Ask a parent first, since some glitter may find its way to the floor!) Don’t get frustrated if they break, since you can stick them back together on the window.
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Step 9. Observe your window jellies each day to see what happens when the water evaporates from the gelatin.
IMG_3688When they’re dry, peel them off the window. Are they thinner than when you started? Why? Can you re-hydrate them by soaking the dried shapes in water?
IMG_3691The Science Behind the Fun:

Imagine half a box filled with red balls and the other half filled with yellow ones.  If you set the box on something that vibrates, the balls will move around randomly, until the red and yellow balls are evenly mixed up.

Scientists call this process, when molecules move from areas of high concentration, where there are lots of other similar molecules, to areas of low concentration, where there are fewer similar molecules DIFFUSION. When the molecules are evenly spread throughout the space, it is called EQUILIBRIUM. 

Lots of things can affect how fast molecules diffuse, including temperature.  When molecules are heated up, they vibrate faster and move around faster, which helps them reach equilibrium more quickly than they would if it were cold. Diffusion takes place in gases like air, liquids like water, and even solids (semiconductors for computers are made by diffusing elements into one another.)

Think about the way pollutants move from one place to another through air, water and even soil. Or consider how bacteria are able to take up the substances they need to thrive. Your body has to transfer oxygen, carbon dioxide and water by processes involving diffusion as well.

Why does glitter float on gelatin? An object’s density and it’s shape help determine its buoyancy, or whether it will float or sink. Density is an object’s mass (loosely defined as its weight) divided by its volume (how much space it takes up.) A famous scientist named Archimedes discovered that any floating object displaces its own weight of fluid. Boats have to be designed in shapes that will displace, or push, at least as much water as they weigh in order to float.

For example, a 100 pound block of metal won’t move much water out of the way, and sinks fast since it’s denser than water. However , a 100 pound block of metal reshaped into a boat pushes more water out of the way and will float if you design it well!

What is the shape of your glitter? Does it float or sink in the gelatin?

Here’s a video I made for KidScience app that demonstrates how to make window gellies

Credit: My 11 YO daughter came up with the brilliant idea to stick this experiment on windows. I was just going to dry out the gelatin shapes to make ornaments. Kids are often way more creative than adults!

Rainbow Sugar-Water Density Columns

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

You can make colorful columns that demonstrate the concept of liquid density at your own kitchen table with just water, sugar and food coloring.  An eyedropper, siphoning bulb, syringe (minus a needle,) or anything else that allows you to slowly drip liquid from one cup to another are useful for the layering step.  If you have a tall, thin glass, like a cordial glass, or a test tube, it’s easy to see the layers in your gradient!

Start with two cups of hot tap water and measure half a cup into each of four cups. To the first cup, add 2 Tbs. sugar, to the second add 4 Tbs. sugar, to the third, 6 Tbs. sugar and to the fourth, 8 Tbs. sugar.  Stir until the sugar dissolves. If the sugar won’t dissolve, an adult may microwave the cup for 30 seconds and stir again. Always use caution with hot liquids. If the sugar still won’t dissolve, try adding a Tbs. warm water.

Now, add 2 drops food coloring to each cup. We added red to the cup with 2Tbs, yellow to the one with 4Tbs, green to the to the one with 6Tbs, and blue to the cup with 8Tbs.

Density is mass (how many atoms are in an object) divided by volume (how much space an object takes up.)  Sugar molecules are made up of lots of atoms stuck together.  The more sugar you add to a half cup of water, the more atoms it will contain and the denser it will be. Less dense liquids float to the top of more dense liquids.  Which of your sugar solutions is the most dense? The one with the most sugar in it (8 Tbs.)

Put the most dense sugar solution(blue in this case)  in the bottom of a tall, thin glass or test tube.  Now, use your dropper to gently drip the next densest liquid (green) on top of the blue layer.  It works best to drip the sugar solution against the side of the cup just above the surface of the liquid.  You can also drip it onto the back of a spoon, like in the photo above.  Add the yellow layer, and finally the red layer, which only contains 2Tbs sugar per half cup and is the least dense.

What happens if you mix the layers up? They won’t separate back out like oil and water would, because the sugar will disperse (spread) equally through the mixture.

Researchers sometimes use density gradients to isolate different parts of cells by breaking the cells up, putting the cell debris on top of a density gradient and spinning it in a centrifuge.  Cellular fragments of different shapes and molecular weights move through the gradient at different rates.