Friday Fun Fact

Turtles breath through their butts in the winter.

No, really, I'm not kidding.

Some reptiles bury themselves in the mud and go into a torpor - where they are dormant - others like turtles are active in winter. Turtles are not as active in the winter because the temperature is lower, but they do feed and swim around.

Reptiles breath air just like we mammals do. But in the winter with ice covering the surface of most fresh water, s0 they cannot come to the surface. Turtles have sacs in their cloacas (the science word for reptile butt) with lots of blood vessels so they can take the oxygen directly into their blood from the water.

If you don't believe me, check this more detailed explanation.

Citizen Science

This winter we have seen some birds in our yard that we've never seen before - well never in our own yard before. How do we know this? We keep lists!

We've had a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Carolina Wren visit the feeders. The wren we've heard before but never seen.

This weekend is the Great American Backyard Bird Count. This is a fun way to actually do some science and collect data that will be used by scientists to learn about the habits of our local birds.

My friend, and fellow science lover, MamaJoules has a nice post about the GBYBC here.

To get your official rules and checklists, go here.

We are going to participate - what about you? If you can't participate, you can post your observations below.

Air

Air is invisible yet has properties we can see, touch and observe at very early ages. Even the youngest of children respond to the wind or will try to blow out candles. Air is all around us and is always pushing on your body. Your body pushes back equally so we don't feel the air pressure directly.

Wind has such clear effects on our environment. We can see it blow leaves, move trees, and move water. We can experience made-made wind by standing in front of a fan or make our own with our breath. Try some of these fun and easy games with air,

Straw races. Try blowing a cotton ball with your breath. Just blow on it. It will go pretty far. Now try blowing with a straw. The cotton ball can sail across the room. The straw helps to concentrate the force of our blowing. Try the same thing with other toys such as small balls or cars.

Launching: Make your favorite paper air plane. Try throwing it with your right hand and mark where it lands. Try with your left hand. Which launched better? Now try outside. Does wind affect your plane? Now challenge a friend. Try both of you adding a paper clip or a special fold in similar places. How does that affect your flights?

Parachutes: Take a piece of fabric that is about 12 inches square. Cut four 10 inch pieces of heavy thread or light string and tie to each corner of the fabric. Tie a weight to the four strings such as a washer, bolt, or small toy. Now drop it by standing on a chair or from the top of the stairs. What happens to the fabric? Can you fold the parachute in different ways that affect its float down? Does a change in the weight change the float down for the parachute? What if you made it out of different fabric?

Music: Some musical instruments use air to make music. What instruments do you have or could make that use air? Kazoos, harmonicas, recorders, flutes, trumpets and whistles all use air. Try making a jug instrument my blowing across a glass bottle or jug. Does the amount of liquid in the bottle matter to the sound?

Bath Time: Add a cup to bath time. Turn a cup upside down and slowly push it down in to the water being careful not to tip it sideways. A bubble or two might leak out but the idea is that water and air don’t occupy the same space. Water will push air out of the way if it can. What happens when you reach the bottom? Is the cup full of water or air? What happens when you let go? Try again with cups of different sizes and shapes.

Books:

Air is all around you by Franklin Branley

Kite in the Park by Lucy Cousins (of Maisy fame)

Up, Up & Away!:The Science Of Flight. By Barbara Taylor.

Feb Schedule

1. This Tuesday 10:30 - Millbury Public Library

We are going to play with AIR. We will make simple gliders, have cotton ball races and fling things off the balcony (always one of MY personal favorites!). You are welcome to call the library on Monday 508 865 1181 to reserve as spot or just show up on Tuesday.

2. Feb 24 (Note this is a THURSDAY) at 1pm

ICE - this is a program for preschoolers and their school aged siblings. There is a limit on the space of 20 kids and we will be going in and out so bring slings for the babies and wear boots!

Cheers!!
Michele

Try This TODAY

We decided to see if we could replicate the video of the woman in Canada who threw a cup of hot water into the air and watched it turn to snow.

It worked!! While our temperatures were not the -45' temps seen in the video, it is certainly cold enough to see this sudden change in water - turning from liquid to solid nearly instantly.

Here is a nice article with a link to the original YouTube video.

Today is a one day serious cold snap in New England - so today is the day!

5 Fun Things to do in the Snow

Here in New England we just had a lot of snow and I know we are not alone - lots of other places in the country have plenty of the white stuff on the ground! While it is too cold to spend a ton of time outside, there are plenty of fun things to do. Here are some older posts with ideas:

1. Blow bubbles! The weather is cold enough now to try blowing bubbles in the cold. Blow the bubble and catch it on your wand. What might happen?

~I posted a challenge last January here.

~Check out my results here.

2. Grab some snow and melt it in a coffee filter. Take two snow samples, one clean and one dirty. Melt them in separate containers. How long do you think it will take? Once melted, pour the water through a white coffee filter. Was the "clean" snow really clean?

3. Paint the snow. Grab some water colors and a big brush. You can paint the snow. The snow will seem to absorb the painting. What is really going on?

4. Track. Check out the animal tracks in the snow. At my house, there are tons of tracks under my bird feeders. There are small birds, big birds, and two kinds of squirrels. The other tracks are my mom's from when she fills the feeders every day!

5. Have fun with Ice. Where does ice melt better? There are some really fun ideas here.

January Dates!

All our programs are at the Millbury Public Library at 10:30 and are geared for preschoolers aged 3-5 and their parents.

We are going to do BEARS on Jan 4 and Simple Machines on Jan 18.

Check out Bears from 2008.

Go Science!