This activity is definitely an "adult supervision only" activity. It involves the use of a hot stove and handling hot liquid.

• A wooden skewer or thick string (you can also use a clean wooden chopstick)
• A clothespin(for the skewer) or pencil (for the string)
  
• 1 cup of water
• 2-3 cups of sugar
• A tall narrow glass or jar(a mason jar is perfect for this!)

To start set up the following:

1. Clip the wooden skewer into the clothespin so that it hangs inside the glass about 1 inch  from the bottom. If you are using the string and the pencil, tie the string to the pencil and place it over the glass. The string should hang inside of the glass, also about an inch from the bottom.
   
2. Remove the skewer and clothespin and put them aside for now. You will need this later!

After set up:

1. Pour 1 cup of water into a pan and bring it to boil.
2. Pour about 1/4 cup of sugar into the boiling water, stirring until it dissolves.
3. Begin to slowly add more sugar. Pour a little at a time and stir it dissolves. Keep adding sugar slowly until no more will disolve. (This is when the solution is fully saturated) This  will take time. Each time you add more sugar it will take longer for the sugar to dissolve each time. Have patience! Be sure you don't give up too soon.
   
4. Once no more sugar will dissolve, remove it from heat and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes.
5. While it is cooling dip half of the skewer in the sugar solution and then roll it in some sugar to help jump start the crystal growth. Be sure to let the skewer cool completely so that sugar crystals do not fall off when you place it back in the glass.
6. 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.
7. Allow the jar to fully cool and put it someplace where it will not be disturbed.
8. Now just wait. The sugar crystals will grow over the next 3-7 days.

When you mixed the hot water and sugar you made a saturated solution.  A solution is saturated when the liquid holds as much of the compound dissolved in it as possible. In this type of solution, the molecules are constantly bumping into each other. As they do this, they sometimes stick to each other. In a saturated solution, the molecules bump into one another frequently because there are so many of them. This begins a crystallization process and is called nucleation. Once several molecules are already stuck together, they attract other molecules to join them. This is a very slow process that makes crystals grow.

As the water cools the sugar is forced out of the water solution. The skewer (and sometines the glass itself) gives the sugar something to grow on. With some luck and a whole lot of patience you will have a tasty scientific treat! Enjoy!

This is a fun at home craft to do as a family- Make your own paper!

Materials:

• 4-5 sheets of newspaper
• glass bowl
• hot water
• cornstarch
• measuring spoons
• aluminum foil
• wooden spoon
• scissors
• sharp pencil
• decorations for your paper, like construction paper scraps, dried flowers, confetti, or

• glitter

Instructions:

1. To make your own recycled paper, you need to turn paper into pulp, and then back into new paper. Here's how to do it.
2. Start by cutting the newspaper into small pieces. About 4 or 5 sheets of newspaper will be enough to make two small pieces of recycled paper.
3. Put the newspaper scraps into bowl, cover them with hot water and mix it up until all of the paper is wet.
4. Let the paper sit for a few hours, until it's all mushy. Stir it occasionally. When it looks and feels like oatmeal, you're ready to make new paper.
5. Add a few tablespoons of cornstarch and a little more hot water. Mix it all up once more.
6. Now you have a pulpy, watery mess. Pulp is what you need to make paper, but you need to get rid of extra water first. You can make a strainer to help you do that.
7. Take a piece of aluminum foil and fold into a square or rectangle about the size of the paper you want to make. Punch holes in the aluminum foil with a sharp pencil.
8. Now it's time to make the paper. Take a new sheet of aluminum foil and put it on top of extra newspapers.
9. Then, spoon some pulp on top. When the aluminum foil is covered with a layer of pulp, use your strainer to press out the extra water. The pulp that's left behind will become your new sheet of paper.
10. Add decorations to your paper, if you want. You can use dried flowers, confetti, or anything else you find.
11. Pinch together any holes in the paper. You're almost done!
12. Finally, put aluminum foil and books on top of your paper and press it flat. Then take off the books and the top layer of foil and leave it out overnight so that it can dry.
13. When it's done, peel the paper from the aluminum foil. You can leave the edges rough or trim them to look like a card you buy in the store.

Materials Needed:

• crispy rice cereal
• paper plate
• record album
• wool (A wool sweater will work great!)
  

Instructions:

1. Make sure the record you are using is not important! I suggest picking one up from a thrift shop- they usually run for about $0.50
   
2. Rub the record with wool. You can use a sweater or a scarf, anything made out of wool will do.
3. Hold the record above some cereal. Make sure it is a light cereal, like Rice Crispies!
   
4. See how the cereal stands on end and then jumps from the table and then back again? That's static electricity!
   

First of all, you need to understand that everything is made up of atoms. You're made of atoms; the record is made of atoms, even the cereal is made up of atoms. These atoms are made up of smaller particles; protons, neutrons, and electrons. Electrons have negative charges.

 When the wool rubs the record, electrons from the wool stick to the record. This gives the record a negative charge.  Negative charges don't like to be near other negative charges. In fact, when they come in contact with negative charges, they repel them. On the other hand, when they come in contact with positive charges, they attract to them and stick!

The negatively charged record will push away negative charges and pull positive charges close to it. As you hold the record above the cereal, it will pull the positive charges from the cereal up to the record. The cereal will stick to the record.

When the cereal touches the record, electrons on the record move to the cereal. Now the cereal has a negative charge. Since the record and the cereal both have a negative charge, and negative charges don't like to be near each other, they repel each other and the cereal jumps down from the record.

This will happen over and over again until the charges balance out and become neutral.

To make it start again, you need to rub the record with wool!

I am on an earth science kick these days. The summer has given me less time than expected to keep up with this blog, but I have been able to sift through some of my fun Earth Science resources! Here is one of my favorites- a hands on model of fault motion. I originally got the idea from a CalTech student who brought in a gigantic model showing fault motion. I adapted it for student use. Its great fun! Hope you enjoy!

You will need a fault line template for this. It is a trapezoidal prism- each side matches up at a slant to demonstrate plate movement. a trapezoidal prism is pretty crucial to this activity. A simple cube doesn't give as good of a visual.

The top of the box is decorated by students to show the earth's surface. Below the surface are three different layers of the crust. This bit is crucial to show what happens when plate move and how geologists are able to study plate movement based on how the layers are mismatched on each side of the fault. You can take this activity pretty far! Have students show strike slip and dip slip motion with their models. Have them observe and take notes as the go along. I love this activity!

Materials:

• A packet of yeast (available in the grocery store)
• A small, clean, clear, plastic soda bottle (16 oz. or smaller)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• Some warm water
• A small balloon

Instructions:

1. Fill the bottle up with about one inch of warm water.
( When yeast is cold or dry the micro organisms are resting.)

2. Add all of the yeast packet and gently swirl the bottle a few seconds.
(As the yeast dissolves, it becomes active - it comes to life! Don't bother looking for movement, yeast is a microscopic fungus organism. We will observe the yeast under the microscopes later.)

3. Add the sugar and swirl it around some more.
Like people, yeast needs energy (food) to be active, so we will give it sugar. Now the yeast is "eating!"

4. Blow up the balloon a few times to stretch it out then place the neck of the balloon over the neck of the bottle.

5. Let the bottle sit in a warm place for about 20 minutes
If all goes well the balloon will begin to inflate!

As the yeast eats the sugar, it releases a gas called carbon dioxide. The gas fills the bottle and then blows up the balloon as more gas is created. The more the yeast eats, the more gas it creates and the bigger the balloon gets!

Believe it or not, yeast is actually living microorganisms! When bread is made, the yeast becomes spread out in flour. Each bit of yeast makes tiny gas bubbles and that puts millions of bubbles (holes) in our bread before it gets baked. So essential, the bubbles in your bread are waste from microscopic organisms called yeast! Yum?

Questions to investigate:

1. Does  temperature affect how much gas is created by the yeast?
2. What "yeast food" helps the yeast create the most gas? (try sugar, syrup, honey, etc.)

Alright, the day I was assigned a 6th grade Earth Science teaching position was admittedly not my favorite day. I LOVE science, but as a kid earth science bored me to tears. Three years later, I have to say it is my favorite thing to teach (and study!)



Making earth science fun for kids isn't hard. Here is one of my favorite lessons, a Transform Boundary in action using Legos and Play-Doh - what kid wouldn't love this?!



Here is what you will need:

1. A Legos Building Plate
2. Long bricks (1x_) any length will do. Mix and match is part of the joy of building with Legos!
3. Flat tiles (1x_)
4. Flat Plates- These should be long and wide. The wil be the base of each side of the plate boundary.
5. Play-doh

Below are some examples of what I used. Please note: I dumped out an old box of old Legos and played a fun game of mix and match. I am sure you could do this by carefully purchasing pieces but, what's the fun in that? :)

Step 1: Building the Plates
Next up, build each side of the earth's crust on either side of the plate boundary. It is best to have two layers of the flat plate Lego pieces for this. You will want a sturdy base. You will also need your 1x_ bricks to act as a track for the sliding plate.

Step 2: Build Your Track
Next, you need to put a track on the building plate. Use the Plates built in the step above to measure where the tracks need to be placed. For the tracks you will need 1x_ bricks and flat tiles. The flat tiles are needed to make the track slide smoothly. You can do this with out them if absolutely needed but the track will get stuck. Make the track slightly longer than your Plates

All done! Push different colors of Play Dough on top of the Plates and watch the movement!

This is a classic fun experiment- watch your plants grow! Using a plastic bag, you can watch a plant grow, allowing for close examination of the root system!

Materials

• three seeds -- corn, bean and radish 
  
• Piece of cardstock or light cardboard
• ziploc bag
  
• paper towel
• tape
• water
• 2 to 4 weeks of experiment time

Directions

1. Fold the paper towel in half and crease.  Unfold.  Poke three very small holes, equally spaced, along the fold of the paper towel Place the seeds over top of the holes (one over each hole).
2. Fold the paper towel back up and staple up the side (to make a pouch).
3. Label the top of the paper towel (bean, corn and radish)
4. Carefully place the paper towel (fold side down, so the seeds don't fall out) into the ziploc bag.
5. Tape the ziploc bag onto the piece of card stock, leaving the top open.  Tape as firmly as possible.
6. Pour a small amount of water into the bag (the paper towel should end up damp)  Do not close the bag  
7. Hang your experiment on the wall in a bright location

Directions - Maintenance:

• Each morning, check the experiment.  Pour more water in to keep the paper towel moist.
• Peek inside the ziploc bag/paper towel to see what the seed is doing
• The seed should break open.  The roots should grow down through the small hole you poked in the paper towel.