From the category archives:

Working Scientifically

Consider the humble milk bottle

April 2, 2012 Food

In my lifetime it’s gone through a lot of changes, it’s interesting to consider why. Obviously technology has had a lot to do with it, but social changes have also been part of it. What does a milk container have to do? Be watertight. Allow pouring. Allow mass production and transport. Protect the milk. Glass [...]

Little Girl’s Easter Egg Activity

March 29, 2012 Activities

Sometimes it’s tough being the youngest. You rarely get to lead, you’re never the expert, and everyone’s done it before. And if you have the same teacher as your older siblings, you don’t even get to come home and say ‘Guess what we did!’ because they probably did it two years ago. So when the [...]

It’s not the Snowy River Scheme

March 22, 2012 Activities

When we were in Perth we spent time at the newest nature playground in Kings Park, seeing ‘children in their natural habitat.’ One of the things I loved were the groups of kids, who had never met and didn’t introduce themselves, working together to dam the creek, then undam it, then dam it at another [...]

Wordless Wednesday – Light

March 21, 2012 Energy and Change

A torch and a glass of water. The rays actually come from the LEDs of the torch. If you hold it just right, you get little rainbows. Or shine it straight down for glowing water. What pictures can you make?

Spinning Eggs

March 15, 2012 Activities

This is something that has been on my list of possible activities literally for years. But I’ve never got to it because it feels so contrived. I mean when would you have a reason to do this? No, it’s just a fun trick, not something you’d ever actually do. Except, first watch the movie. Now, [...]

Living Things Scavenger Hunt

March 8, 2012 Activities

The girls adore taking pictures, but tend to just snap away and we get hundreds of photos of leaves, or the sky, or their fingers and then they are forgotten. At the same time we keep finding fascinating things outside but not having a way to record them. So we remembered to take the camera [...]

Wordless Wednesday – Glue on your hands

March 7, 2012 Materials

Putting glue on your hand then peeling it off? That’s totally science!

Road Runner is funny because he breaks the laws (of physics)

March 5, 2012 Energy and Change

While researching this post (watching cartoons on YouTube) I discovered that Road Runner cartoons are from the 60s – a lot older than I thought. Which shows that some things are timeless, especially what makes us laugh. Road Runner is funny because it breaks the rules. When people watch something like Road Runner they always [...]

Singing in the Rain

March 2, 2012 Activities

It’s raining again here. And raining, and raining. So I’m updating a post from over two years ago when I was starting out – it’s still fun today. Firstly – get out there! Before you go, get some towels and nice warm clothes ready and some soup or hot chocolate that can be easily heated. [...]

9 Things to do with Bicarb Soda and Acid

March 1, 2012 Activities

Bicarbonate soda and acid is one of the most common and fun chemical reactions. It’s closely related chemically to an extremely important environmental reaction – calcium carbonate and acid. This is the one where slightly acidic water slowly wears away limestone cliffs, but it is also extremely important to balance in the oceans and the [...]