Science Lab Magic
Give them a science lesson they'll think is cool!

Invitation Ideas:
Ooze on over to "Child's Name" Wild Lab
Use graphics of test tubes or lab equipment
Purchase some largish
test tubes with rubber stoppers and roll up the invitation inside the test
tube. Put a label on the test tube that says:
EUREKA! WE HAVE DISCOVERED THE SECRET FORMULA FOR
BIRTHDAY PARTY FUN! Needless to say, these must be
hand-delivered!
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Decorations:
Black and Silver for a high tech lab or green for ooze and
slime.
Or blue, white and silver for an institutional look.
Cake:
Any cake covered with green frosting to look like
slime. OR
A Cake made from two pound cakes, sliced
horizontally, and positioned end to end. Rounded one end, and use
the scraps at the top to look like a test tube. Frosted part
white, for the empty part, and the lower 2/3 blue. Use blue M&Ms for
bubbles coming up from the bottom and overflowing the top.
Use sparkler candles.
Have the birthday child blow through a funnel to put them out, while you
talk about air pressure.
Goodie Bag:
Add goodies like face mask, lab Dr. stuff, magnifying glass and they will have the things
they make. 'Exploding' capsules that expand into sponge animals or
things, tablets for bath that turn colors or fizz.
Activities:
As the kids arrive,
assign them name tags that identify which "lab team" they are
on. Ask some teens or pre-teens to be the lab team leaders and take
a group.
Have each team paint a
volcano landscape previously made out of papier-mâché formed around a 2
liter soda bottle. They can also set up a town scene around the
volcano using mini people, legos, etc.
Next, watch "Ms
(or Mr.) Wizard:
(1) Red cabbage
extract will turn some amazing colors depending on what you mix it with --
acid or base. Colors range from blue to yellow to pink to
orange. You boil about a cup of shredded red cabbage until the water
is dark, strain it, and then dilute with water until it's medium purple
rather than black. Keep a beaker of the stuff around to compare the
original color, then add small amounts to whatever clear liquids you have
around the house: Sprite or 7-up, baking soda dissolved in water,
white vinegar, ammonia, chlorine bleach, pickle juice -- use your
imagination -- and common sense! You don't want to mix ammonia with
bleach, for instance.
(2) Make a "ball of oil" by filling a glass jar half full
of water, slowly
adding a layer of rubbing alcohol (floats on top of the water) and then
dropping in a tablespoon of oil. It's heavier than the alcohol but
lighter
than the water, and if it gets equal pressure from all sides, it makes a
cool sphere.
Have the teams rotate to
stations:
Chemical Lab:
Ooze
Need 3/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water
Mix together. Add green food coloring to look like ooze.
Is it a solid or a liquid?
Both water and cornstarch (one liquid one solid) have long and floppy molecules allowing
them to take on different shapes. Gravity or you can pull on the molecules.
SLIME
(need: cups, Popsicle sticks, glue, water and borax)
Need the following per child.
1sturdy disposable cup
Popsicle stick
2 oz white glue
2 oz water
Put both the glue and water in cup and mix up.
Mix together 1 1/2 teaspoons borax per each 1/2 cup water.
Add 2 oz of this mix to each child's cup. Have them stir, it will instantly began to
cling together.
What happens?
Glue molecules are long and stringy. Borax hooks them together.
Oil
and water prints
take a pie pan, fill half full of water, mix some powdered tempera paint
with oil and spoon onto the water. The drops of oily paint float on
the water and if you push a piece of paper onto it, the resulting print
looks a bit like marbled paper.
Light prints on blueprint
paper -- from a kit;
Electric Lab
Static Electricity (need: balloons, aluminum soda
can)
1. Have them blow up their balloons and rub them in their hair to make their hair
rise with the electricity.
2. Set soda can on a hard surface so it can roll. Use one of the rubbed
balloons and move it closer to the can. Does it move the can?
3. Will the rubbed balloon stick to a wall?
Why?
Molecules are charged (+ and -). Normally, the amounts equal each other, they are
neutral or have no charge. When one type moves, it makes electricity. Objects
with the opposite charge will be attracted to each other. Objects with the same
charge will move apart.
A Shocking Experience
Need one per child,
1 penny
1 lemon
1 paper clip
Cut slit 1/4 inch in to the lemon to fit the penny, then another for the paperclip, close
to but not touching the penny.
Let the kids touch their tongues to each of the metals. Can they feel the
electricity?
What the heck happened?
The child's tongue serves as a bridge to allow electricity to flow in a complete circuit
or cycle.
Motion
Falling Coin (or why we need to wear our seat belts)
Need:
1 glass
1 index card
1 coin
Place card over glass evenly. Place coin in center.
Flick the card end with your finger to send it flying. What happens to the coin?
It should fall into the glass.
What's going on?
The Law of Inertia: An object in motion will tend to stay in motion, while the
object at rest will tend to stay at rest.
This is why we wear seatbelts...if a car we rode in were to stop suddenly, we would go
flying.
It's a Gas
Suck an Egg into a Jar
Need:
1 hard boiled egg, peeled and at room temperature
1 narrow top jar (most baby food jars work well)
HOT water
Show the children how the egg will not fit into the jar on it's own.
Now, fill the jar with the hot water for 2-3 minutes. Pour this out and set the egg
on the opening. The egg will end up inside the jar.
What's happening:
Hot air expands and takes up space. When the jar begins to cool, the air
inside cools. This cooler air contracts, pulling down, while the outside air
pushes down. The egg is sucked into the jar.
Volcano: Make a volcano from a soda
can, set on a tin pan and form papier-mâché around it. Leave the hole in the top
open. Dry and paint browns and greens.
To make the volcano 'perform' put baking soda in the can then pour in vinegar, tinted with
food coloring. (best outside)
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