Impromptu Science

Yesterday I got my goat's milk soap and lotion in the mail. The box was filled with packing peanuts. In the past, I've saved those things, just knowing that they have art project potential.

Yesterday, I googled it and found out I was right. First we dipped them in water and determined that the ones we had were the biodegradable kind; they're made from cornstarch, which I thought was pretty cool.

They're actually a great material for sculptures. A little bit of water is enough to "glue" them together to that end.

First the kids experimented with different levels of saturation to determine what would work best for their sculptures. Then they played with it.

Next came the fun part!

I went to the kitchen and spooned a little bit of three different white substances on the counter, with the suggestion that the kids explore each material with their senses in effort to identify each. I used cornstarch (since that's what the peanuts are made of), flour, and baking soda.

We reviewed the five senses and I encouraged each kid to use their senses to identify the substances. As they were touching, tasting, smelling, and looking at the substances, I was asking them questions about what they thought and why. I then wrote down their guesses for each substance.

Then we put water in each to see what would happen. The kids mixed in the water with their fingers. They watched and felt the marked difference in how each substance changed when water was added. My 6 year old daughter noticed that the substance she was experimenting with felt the same as the packing peanuts had when they were mixed with water. She correctly changed her answer as a result.

Then, we added vinegar to a small pile of each substance. After seeing the bubbling and fizzing of the baking soda/vinegar concoction, my oldest realized that his initial guess had been wrong. (They've seen the baking soda/vinegar reaction enough to know.

Not surprisingly, Annacie, my little chef was able to identify all of the substances before anyone else because she had been in the kitchen enough to know.

This is definitely an experiment that I'll do again with different substances, though I foresee that they will need far less coaching and questioning next time.

If you're like me, there's so much stuff laying around in your house that can be used for experimentation. You are far better equipped to provide these hands on learning opportunities than classroom teachers are.

This is how kids learn. And it's how we learn too.

As William Butler Yeatts said, ""Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." 

Love them, play with them, and learn with them. That's what it's all about.