November 12th, 2009 Steven Spangler Science activity Posted by Melitsa in play activities

Before Halloween I entered a contest to win 50 gallons of slime. Not really comprehending what 50 gallons would look like. ( I’m a metric girl!) Both kids have a fascination for science so I thought it would be an excellent prize for them and they could share with their friends.

We won!
The boxes arrived.
I worked with my son’s elementary teacher and she suggested sharing with the whole year group.
Imagine a whole class of children making oobleck! This is exactly what they did!

Clear and simple instructions with a scientific explanation meant it was easy to set up and deliver.
Having two liquids in plastic cups was exciting especially with one being green.
Mrs S. had primed the class with a story beforehand and had prepared a worksheet. The kids were right to it with their observations and drawings.

I knew the best was yet to come……adding one liquid into the other and stirring. Oh….my ….. goodness! Mrs S had enlisted a fourth grade buddy class to help. So each child had an older partner.
………….Pour slowly and stir carefully………… The normal level of talking slowed as the mini groups poured and stirred with concentration. The classroom was suddenly very small with lots of children doing a fantastic experiment. There’s always a first group who can’t help themselves, ” Wow! Look at that!” followed very quickly by the same thing happening all around the room. The liquid was turning into a “semi-solid” .( A term the kids coined. I have no idea how scientific it is but really summed up what we could see happening in front of us.) I thought at this point we’d loose some of the stirring because they were so excited you could feel and hear the excitement rising in the room. But everywhere I looked I saw the back of heads and kids peering into their experiments. As I went by, or any adult, they were telling you about what they could see in a rush of jumbled words. It was way cool to see a whole bunch of kids so excited conducting a science experiment.

Thank you for reading my Tell me Thursday story. Please find the others at Tell me Thursday.

Melitsa Avila is a former teacher, mother of three boys and military wife who talks about living an intentional play lifestyle using practical and everyday play activities to do with the under 5s. She publishes related ebooks & newsletters. Melitsa is the host and producer of a weekly Early Childhood radio show: Raising Playful Tots bringing parents and carers together with Early childhood practitioners. Thanks for reading!

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