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!

Sense Safari

We went on safari with our five senses - playing with sound and smell matching, color hunts, and making a texture collage. If you want to play along here are some fun ideas:

Touch – Go on a texture hunt at home. Try and find matching textures or try dressing in as many textures as you can .


Sight – Use blocks or cut out shapes from paper in geometric shapes like squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, or rhombuses. Go on a shape hunt around your house.


Taste – Try eating foods while holding your nose. Does that change the way food tastes? Most, as much as 80% of the “taste” of food is the smell. What happens when you have a cold – does food taste as good?


Smell – Try making play dough with different smells.
• 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 (4 g) packages unsweetened Kool-Aid powdered drink mix
• 2 cups boiling water
• 3 tablespoons oil
1. Mix flour, salt, Kool-Aid until blended.
2. Add oil to boiling water, mix with spoon until cool enough to knead.
3. Continue kneading until color is blended.
4. Store in air tight bag or container in the refrigerator.


Sound – Stand with your eyes closed and have someone else ring a bell. Point to it with your finger. Move the bell around and see how easy or hard it is to find. After a few tries, cup your hands around your ears and try again. Is it easier to find the sound now?

Bad Blogger

Yikes - I have been such a bad blogger. For those who don't know me well, I participated in a special writing project in November and perhaps Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon were just too much for me! I haven 't been writing quite as prolifically since December 1. I think I am coming out of my writing fog and am ready to rejoin the blogging on a regular basis.

With great apologies!