Fun Science Craft for Spring

Are you ready for spring!! 

In preparation for a workshop I did over the weekend, I came across an activity that discussed painting by freezing colored water. Those of you who know me really well, know that I am not one of those people to simply just believe something works. True to form, I tried it out.

Let me just say, this is one of the coolest things I have done in a long time! It just made me say-I Love Science!

This activity is a fun and inexpensive way to teach children about melting and freezing.  So go to the store today and get the supplies.

Here is what you need:

Bag of Straws

Ice tray

Food coloring-red, blue, yellow

This is what you do:

Add water to the tray and then the food coloring; stir

Straws-cut them and put in the water. These will be your handles-just put in before freezing

Then all you do is put in freezer and freeze!! When you take them out of the tray, they will look like this:

Cute!

 And soon you will be able to do this!

Painting a rainbow with colored ice!

This is a picture I painted. Don't you just want to say Science Rocks!!

New Spin on an Old Idea

I love being cheap! Especially when it comes to teaching and teaching science! As I sit through various trainings, I love to take an idea and figure out how to do the same thing for less. Here is an example of one of my favorite activities to do with preschoolers.

The gist of the activity deals with how do you form various colors from the three main primary colors. You can find everything for this activity at Wal-Mart!

In the cooking section, go and get 3 condiment bottles-you can find them for about 99cents! Then go to the beauty section and find clear hair gel. Next, go to the paper/plastic section and find zip-lock sandwich baggies. Lastly, go to the baking section and find the food coloring.

In the clear condiment bottles, put some hair gel in all three bottles. Then add the food coloring and shake really hard! This will mix up the color throughout the gel. Once you are done-you will have three bottles with your three primary colors.
The next step involves squeezing some out into your plastic bag. Let's say we want to make green-put a dab of blue hair gel and the yellow hair gel, seal the bag, and then using your finger, move the gels together. Eureka! You have just made green. I know it is hard to tell from my photos-but trust me-the kids love this! Great activity for motor skills!