Secret Messages

Have you ever wanted to send a message to someone but did not want anyone else to be able to read it? In this activity, you can pretend to be a secret agent and send a special message to a family member or friend. For this activity, you will need lemon juice, Q-tips, paper, and an iron or a hair dryer(a heat source). Since you will need some heat for this science experiment, you will need to have a adult around to help you. In this activity, you will use the lemon juice to write your secret message. When the lemon juice dries on the paper, you will not be able to read it. Now, here is where the fun starts! Use the hair dyer or the iron to add some heat to your paper. What happens to the message you wrote? For more information about this activity, watch the video and click here.

Color Changing Flowers

As the weather starts to get warm outside, you will notice that the plants outside are changing. The trees are starting to get tiny buds on the end of their branches, the grass is starting to look a little more green, and you may even be able to see some tiny green flowers in the flower bed starting to come up. This is because the warm weather tells the plants that Spring is getting closer and it will be time for the plants to bloom soon!

In this science experiment, we will answer the question: "What happens to the water when you water a plant?" Have you ever had a vase of flowers that has water in it? Have you noticed that the water level goes down? We know that plants drink water, but where does the water go? In this experiment, you will get to see the water travel through the plant. For this experiment you will need either white flowers or some celery, food coloring, a glass, and water. But... you must be patient!! This science experiment could take a while to work! For instructions on how to complete this experiment, click here.

Shaving Cream Cloud

This time of year we get to watch all types of weather outside our window. We get to see rain, snow, and even ice! But how does it rain or snow or ice? Clouds are made up of water that is in the sky. When the clouds get too heavy with all of that water, little droplets start to drip from the cloud. Depending on the temperature outside, many times those droplets are rain. But sometimes, it is cold enough that those little droplets that fall are snow (or ice crystals)! But sometimes those droplets are rain and then when they get down near the ground, they freeze into ice!

In this fun and colorful science experiment, you will be able to make it rain in a jar! For this experiment, you will need some water, shaving cream, a few jars, and a very small spoon. We will pretend to make a cloud out of shaving cream. Then we make the cloud really heavy using the colored water. When the water gets too heavy for the cloud, it starts to rain! But this time, it's colorful rain! See what colors of rain you can make in your rain cloud!

For more information on this activity, click on the video links. You can also click here for more instructions.

Salt Painted Snowflakes

January brings an exciting time in the year... it brings snow! There are so many fun activities that we can do with snow and snowflakes! In this activity, you will create a beautiful snowflake from glue and salt. Then you will use food coloring to paint your snowflake. Watch how the food coloring moves to along the salt to color the snowflake. Use different colors and watch to see what happens. For complete instructions and snowflake templates click the link here.

Magic Milk Experiment

Christmas Edition

It's that time of the year where we are starting to get so excited about Christmas! There are so many fun activities and crafts that you can make for Christmas using your knowledge of science! In this experiment, we are going to use some simple materials found in your kitchen to create Christmas colored milk. For this experiment you will need: milk, a shallow pan, food coloring, q-tips, and Dawn dish detergent. Click on the video link to see how this works. Click here to see instructions on how to create Christmas Milk. You can also add fun things like glitter too, to make this experiment extra special!

Homemade Butter

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, many of us are beginning to dream of all of those delicious foods that we will be eating! But did you know that cooking is all about science? From the turkey to the casseroles to the cakes and cookies, all of the amazing things that happen in the kitchen come down to science! In this activity, you can make your own homemade butter using only a glass jar and some heavy whipping cream. Get in on the action of Thanksgiving Dinner and make homemade butter for your family. Check out the link here for instructions on how to make your own butter!

Dissecting A Pumpkin

One of the best things about fall is the arrival of pumpkins! There are so many fun things that we can do with pumpkins. But have you ever thought about how pumpkins grow? Pumpkins are just like any other plant. They need food, water, sunlight, and enough space to grow. Click on the link to watch a video about the Life Cycle of A Pumpkin! Wouldn't it be fun if you could open a pumpkin and see inside? Check out the Pumpkin Dissection video to learn more about pumpkins!

Walking Water

Science is all about questioning and observing what is happening around you. In this simple experiment, you can watch as the water "walks" from cup to cup creating different colors. All you need is cups, water, paper towels, and food coloring. For directions on how to conduct this experiment and more information on the activity, click here!