This theme was such a hit with the Hoppers. The amount of interest, curiosity and questions that came from the Happy Hoppers was awesome to see and to hear. We didn’t do any art activities this week as this is a very practical theme. We hope that the Hoppers went home with some experiment knowledge to share with you!

 We did the following experiments in class:

1. Rubber Egg
2. Colour Hopping
3. Skittle Patterns
4. Dancing Rice
5. Lemon Volcano
6. Static Electricity

 Rubber Egg

For this experiment you need a raw egg and a cup of vinegar. The shell of an egg is made up of primarily calcium carbonate. If you soak an egg in vinegar you start a chemical reaction that dissolves the calcium carbonate shell. The acetic acid reacts with the calcium carbonate in the eggshell and releases carbon dioxide gas that you see as bubbles on the shell. Leave the egg for 24 hours and you have a “naked egg”. It is squishy and can bounce, but be careful not to bounce too hard as it will pop. When our “naked egg” was ready, each Hopper got a turn to feel the difference between a regular raw egg and our egg after the experiment to compare the hard shell and the membrane shell. At the end of the experiment, we popped the egg to show the kiddies how thin the membrane was.

Colour Hopping

For this experiment we got 4 cups of water and added green, pink, blue and orange food colouring. We placed folded tissue paper from cup to cup. As the tissue bridged over the cups, the colour water soaks into the tissue and hops over the bridge.

 Skittle Patterns

The children’s favourite experiment was the skittles experiment! We placed skittles in a circle on a plate, made up of different patterns. We then added warm water to the plate and once the water had touched the skittles the colour from the skittles started to move out into a pattern towards the center! This was a very pretty experiment.

 Dancing Rice

This experiment did not exactly go according to plan, which was not a bad thing because it taught the children that sometimes not all experiments work out and that is exactly why we try out experiments!

The intension was to add bicarb, water, vinegar and a table spoon of raw rice together. As the chemicals react, it starts to fizz and causes the rice to “dance”. This would be a cool experiment to try at home with your Hopper! If it works out, let us know!

 Lemon Volcano

 We cut a lemon in half and added pink food colouring to one half and blue to the other. We then added bicarb and a few drops of vinegar to the lemon. The chemical reaction caused the lemon to fizz like lava running down a volcano!

 Static Electricity

 We blew up a few balloons and rubbed them against everyone’s hair to show them how the static electricity makes their hair stand up! You can just imagine the giggle reaction we got from this!

Our theme next week is: Autumn, Birds Migration and Easter.

 Have a safe and lovely weekend!

Work, Fun & Play!

Play is the highest form of research! (Albert Einstein)