5 kid day

Today, we had N and C.  There are still on break from school so I invited them to spend the day with us.  N loves to go to the Museum of Nature and Science so we put that on the schedule plus school.  We started the day playing Wii while the kids worked individually with me until we were ready for our science experiments.  Andrew worked on learning how to tell time to the hour and reviewed his states he learned yesterday.  Cairn worked on typing and state shapes.  Skylar was still asleep.

They watched the science video from the Happy Scientist about what is science again.  I really want to get in their heads that science is about observations and experiments within the natural world and all around us. We talked about hot air and cold air.  I emphasized that cold air contracts and sinks - not just that is sinks and hot air expands and rises.

Then we did an experiment about which candle will go our first when they are place under a short glass and a tall glass.  They all predicted they would go out at the same time.

 They quickly learned that the shorter glass runs out of oxygen first and the flame goes out.

The Happy Scientist had a video about a short candle and taller candle and which one goes out first if they are inside the same container.  They all predicted the shorter candle would go out first.  They were super surprised when the taller one went out.  But the Happy Scientist did a great job of explaining why.  I wish I could link everyone to the videos but it is a member only site for many of the videos.  I think it is well worth the $20 a year for access to all these incredible videos, experiments and blogs that he writes daily.  More then we will ever be able to cover.

Finally, we did an experiment with baking soda and vinegar.  They all agreed the candle would go out but some thought it was because I would pour the vinegar on the flame - yep that would definitely put out the flame.  Others weren't sure but knew it would go out.

So after watching the flame go out with the resulting bubbles being made they realized that gas made the candle go out.  Which gas?  What gas was created?  They didn't know but they liked learning about carbon dioxide.

After our experiments we headed to the museum where it was SUPER SUPER crowded.  We won't be going back on another break again - we didn't get to enjoy our visits like we usually do.  Even N was disappointed.

We got home and I just let the kids play with each other.  They were having fun and playing nicely except the occasional argument.

Everyone went to bed early and tired.  I asked Andrew about what he learned today at bedtime.  He said he learned about oxygen.  What about oxygen?  If there isn't enough oxygen, then a fire will go out.

Bingo!