Science

To keep the boys entertained and educated over the summer I invested in a bunch of awesome science experiments from the Steve Spangler website.


The first one we did was the UV ray beads. A bag of pure white beads that change color based on UV exposure. They are super cool! The color change has nothing to do with hot or cold or light or dark... it's purely UV exposure - which is a great lesson for them. We made bracelets with our white beads and then went outside and saw them instantly change into a rainbow of colors. They turn white again when indoors. Then we put a few into a bag and lathered it with sunblock to see how well the sunblock protects us. Then we covered some more beads with UV sunglasses. The sunblock still let in a good amount of UV, but the sunglasses totally blocked it out. The kids love seeing the amount of UV that comes through the car windows or on a cloudy day. A great, fun experiment! And a great visual that will probably stick with them when it comes to keeping safe from UV exposure.

White beads

A happy string of colored beads

The next experiment we did was with these 8 foot long plastic bags called 'wind bags'. Step one is to have each person see how many blows it takes to blow it up. Most people give up after about 5 or so when they see that they are barely adding any air to the bag - an 8 foot bag takes a lot of air! Then the cool part is when someone who knows the science behind it takes one breath and fills the entire bag! Super cool! Of course I wont spill the secret since you may be one of the ones the boys will want to share their knowledge of wind and air with. Can't wait to dive into the rest of the experiments in the box!

The boys with their one-breath wind bags