Tag: contest’

Fun Science Contest for 6-12th Graders

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

This morning, Twitter led me to a great website filled with science news for kids.  Check it out at  http://sciencenewsforkids.com/.

The Society for Science and the public, who sponsors the site, is having a contest for kids in grades 6-12 where they can enter their own podcast talking about what they’ve learned about science from the website.  Go here for more details.

It sounds like a great way to keep your kids reading about science this summer!

Sweet (and Salty) Lava Lamps

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Pull out a jar, a bottle of vegetable oil, some food coloring, salt, sugar, and water to mix up this easy experiment! 

Fill the jar about halfway up with water and add a few drops of food coloring for contrast.  Add about half as much vegetable oil to the jar and watch it float to the top.  Now, a spoonful at a time, add salt to the jar.  The salt will pull some of the oil down with it, but will release the oil as it dissolves and the oil will float back to the top.  This will make your science experiment look like a real lava lamp.  Keep adding salt to make it keep working.  Now, try adding sugar or even sand.   Kosher salt worked really well!

What worked the best for you?  Do you know why oil floats to the top of the water?  Email me your answers in the comments section of this post for a chance to win a KITCHENPANTRYSCIENTIST.COM tee shirt (size M.)  I’ll do a drawing for a winner in two weeks!      Thanks to PBSkids/DragonflyTV’s website for this fun idea.  Check out their website for more great kids’ science!

National Geographic Kids Design Contest

 - by KitchenPantryScientist

Do you have a child that loves the ocean?  My son, a budding marine biologist,  is very excited about this National Geographic Kids design contest.  Some lucky kid’s winning design will be made into a flag and fly on the National Geographic Ocean Now expedition ship in 2010. Go to http://ow.ly/KnDO for rules and details! Entries must be postmarked by February 20, 2010 and the contest is for kids 8-14 years old (much to my 7-year old daughter’s disappointment.)