Science Experiments After School

Instead of the usual, "Can I play with a friend?" or "What can I do before dinner?", I did not give Collin an option.  We sat down and worked through all 6 of the Super Science elective activities for a Bear Cub Scout.  Collin experimented with:

• A balloon and static electricity learning what objects would be attracted to a "charged" balloon and which ones would not be.  We guessed wrong on a few of them like string (not) and foam (not).
• A balloon and rolling objects to show how a "charged" balloon could make an object roll toward it.
• Eggs dropped in water, water with salt and water with sugar.  This was one of our favorites.  Collin thought it was cool to see a floating egg on it's side in the salt water.  
• Food coloring, water and oil mixing the food color in the oil and watch it eventually mix slowly with the water learning that oil and water do NOT mix.  
• Static electricity and packing peanuts watching them move around in an empty liter bottle

This took about an hour but was so much more fun to do this together rather than doing something separately.  I won't lie, I did have to twist his arm a little bit only because there was reading involved.  Of course I made this fun AND a learning project.  He did not like to read the background about each of the experiments even when I explained this reading would could for the 30 minutes of reading he had to do anyway.  He just does not get that reading this way, while having fun, is so much better than trying to fit reading in after dinner or right before he goes to bed.  Enough of that.

Collin liked showing Dad some of the experiments and explaining what we did.  Dad then had to guess what he thought the result was for each of them.  See, fun for all of the family.  Even Burke was interested in the balloons rolling on the floor.