Rock Candy Lab
You will need:
- A wooden skewer
- A clothespin
- 1 cup of water
- 2-3 cups of sugar
- A tall narrow glass or jar
What to do:
- Clip the wooden skewer into the clothespin so that it hangs down inside the glass and is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the bottom of the glass. (as shown)
- Remove the skewer and clothespin and put them aside for now.
- Pour the water into a pan and bring it to boil.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of sugar into the boiling water, stirring until it dissolves.
- Keep adding more and more sugar, each time stirring it until it dissolves, until no more will dissolve. This will take time and patience and it will take longer for the sugar to dissolve each time.Be sure you don’t give up too soon. Once no more sugar will dissolve, remove it from heat and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes.
- Have your friendly ADULT carefully pour the sugar solution into the jar almost to the top. Then submerge the skewer back into the glass making sure that it is hanging straight down the middle without touching the sides.
- Allow the jar to fully cool and put it someplace where it will not be disturbed.
- Now just wait. The sugar crystals will grow over the next 3-7 days.
Slime Lab
You will need:
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1/4 cup of white craft glue (like Elmer’s glue)
- 1/4 cup of liquid starch (used for clothes)
- Food coloring (optional)
- Mixing bowl
- Mixing spoon
What to do:
- Pour all of the the glue into the mixing bowl.
- Pour all of the water to the mixing bowl with the glue.
- Stir the glue and water together.
- Add your food color now – about 6 drops should do it.
- Now add the liquid starch and stir it in.
- It should be nice and blobby by now. As you play with your slimy concoction, it will become more stretchy and easier to hold.
Soap Powered Boat Lab
What to do:
- A foam tray (like the kind meat comes in) or a piece of non-currogated cardboard
- A tray, bowl, or cookie sheet full of water
- Liquid dish soap
- A toothpick
You will need:
- Cut the foam tray or cardboard into a boat shape as shown below:
- Dip the toothpick into the liquid soap and use the toothpick to put soap onto the sides of the notch at the back of the boat.
- That’s it! Now carefully place the boat onto the surface of the water and watch it scoot across the water for several seconds – you’ve made a soap-powered boat! To demonstrate the boat again, you will need to rinse out the tray to remove any soap from the previous demonstration.
*Also, another fun idea would be to get a science kit- it provides a variety of different experiments that can be easily cleaned up and stored. For example, here’s one from Amazon.
