Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Make a Record Player! (Inspired by Travels with Charlie) #bookingusa

Today I'm going to share with you how I made a record player using materials found around our apartment.  *pauses*  Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking, "What are you doing Leslie?  A DIY record player?  Why would you even try to build one in the first place?" Well, friends, before I answer those questions, let me first show you the finished product:

Kid Science:  How to Make a Record Player

how to build a DIY record player from household materials


Yes.  This baby plays.  Yes.  I have a video of it playing a record down below.  And yes, I will share the inspiration behind this fun project!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Build a toy car that moves

I love painting things with Chuck, but sometimes I yearn to make things that actually move or do things.  So when a mommy friend suggested that we build cardboard toy cars that actually move, wowzers, I had to say yes.  She found the directions in an old kids' science book (that I don't remember the name of... sorry).  And that's how we spent an awesome play date with five kids- eating pizza and then building and racing some cardboard racing cars

Kid Science: Let's Build a Car that Moves!

how to build a cardboard car that moves
Today's craft is awesome for 2 reasons:

1.  The cars really move.  Really.  You just twist the tin can and then let go.  Bam.  The rubber bands store the potential energy and then once released, they turn the can... and your car moves by itself!

2.  You don't need any expensive materials.  In fact, you probably have most of the items already at home.  

Have I whet your appetite enough?  Ok.  Let's build! Vroooom!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy

Lately Chuck and I have been infatuated with things that fly. That's why we made our cardboard space shuttle a couple of days ago.  So today I took things one step further to create a handmade toy that actually did fly.  Modeled  after a plastic toy that hubby brought back from one of his trips, here's our version of a DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy.

DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy

DIY Flying Whirly Copter Toy


It's pretty neat that the toy actually does fly.  You simply spin it between both hands and the copter flies out and floats to the ground.  Keep reading to see how we made it (and a video of it flying!)

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Oil and Colored Ice Cube Science

When you were a kid, did you enjoy seeing how oil and water would not mix?  I always thought that was so neat.  (I'll even admit, sometimes even now as an adult, I shake salad dressing bottles at the store just to watch that happen.  Is that weird?)  Eh hem... anyway... a couple of days ago, Chuck and I played around with this phenomenon.  We placed some colored ice cubes into cooking oil and watched them melt.  The results were just really, really beautiful.


Observing colored ice cubes melting in oil


Colored water droplets in oil
Can science be dreamy?  I hope so, because that's the best word that I can think of to describe what I saw.  Now Chuck didn't appreciate how the colorful bubbles looked like jewels, but he did enjoy swishing and moving the liquids around.  

Keep reading to see how we played with oil and water!


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Cardboard Space Shuttle Craft (template included)

A couple of weeks ago we visited our nearby Science Center and Chuck fell in love with a small space shuttle toy.  Of course, the wheels in my head began whirring and I knew that we could easily transform a  paper towel roll into our very own rocket ship.  So after a couple days of planning, cutting, and painting, we are now the proud owners of two cardboard roll space shuttles:

Cardboard Space Shuttle Craft


make cardboard roll space shuttle craft

Want a ride to the moon on your very own cardboard roll space shuttle?  Then keep reading to see how we made them (template included)!


Monday, March 10, 2014

DIY Cardboard iPod Projector

I've been on a crapty DIY technology kick lately.  A couple of weeks ago, I made this set of  DIY Cardboard roll iPod Speakers.  After making those speakers, I wondered if I could take the idea one step further.  Could I somehow make an iPod projector out of everyday materials?

After searching online, I saw that others had some success with a creating a DIY iPod projector out of a cardboard box and magnifying glass.   So, of course, I had to try it for myself. 

Tada!  Here's today's craft- a DIY Cardboard and Magnifying Glass iPod Projector  

DIY Cardboard iPod Projector

Wanna see how this projector works?  Keep reading for more!

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Make Rainbow flowers

Rainbows and bright colors are currently on my mind.  Chuck and I are impatient for spring to come.  So when I stared at our white flowers (leftovers from Valentine's Day- can you believe they lived that long?) I knew the perfect "almost-spring-but-not-yet" craft.  Painting rainbow flowers!  
 
super easy way to make rainbow flowers

Heh heh.  We couldn't wait for Mother Nature to give us colorful blooms, so we painted our own.  Keep reading to see a super easy way to make your own rainbow flowers!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Make a square and cube bubble

We are definite bubble lovers over here.  With the colder weather outside, we've just been blowing them at home over a beach towel.  Recently I learned that bubbles didn't have to just be spherical shaped.  They could also look like squares and cubes too. What? No way! 

Yes way!  Behold!  A cubic bubble!
Make a cube bubble

Whoa.  It's bubble play for us older folks! Keep reading to see how we made different shaped bubbles:

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

DIY IPod Speakers from cardboard roll and cups

Ever notice that how your iPod or mp3 player just doesn't play music loud enough?  Well, if you have a cardboard roll and two cups lying around, you can fix that problem in a couple of minutes.  Yup.  Just make yourself a set of makeshift cardboard roll speakers!

diy ipod speakers from cardboard roll and cups



Keep reading to see how I made these bad boys...


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Make Rainbows using CDs

Did you know that you can make rainbows using CDs?  Yup!  It's true.  Check out this rainbow that Chuck and I made right in his room.  All we needed was a bright patch of sun, a CD, and a white surface.

Make rainbows using CDs

Keep reading to see how we made these lovely rainbows!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Homemade Gluten free Puffy Paint Recipe and free Lincoln Coloring Page

Recently I found this great recipe for homemade puffy paint from  Happy Hooligans.  It was a simple recipe and called for only four ingredients, one of them being self-rising flour.  Since Chuck's allergic to wheat, we only have gluten free baking mix at home.  I was curious whether we could obtain the same results.  Well, after messing around in the kitchen we painted Mr. Lincoln's beard and hair with our very own homemade brown puffy paint.

Four score and seven years, our puffy haired fathers....
Homemade gluten free puffy paint and LIncoln coloring page

Would you like to see how we made our own homemade gluten free puffy paint?  Keep reading to find out!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Make butter by Shaking up Heavy Cream

Did you know that if you shake heavy cream long enough, it will make butter?  *Pause for effect*  Yup.  It's true.  It takes about 20-25 minutes to turn 1/2 a pint of heavy cream into butter.  You don't even need special equipment to do it!  How do I know?  Because I roped hubby into making some homemade butter with me this past weekend!

Let's Make Homemade Butter from Heavy Cream!

 
Make easy homemade butter by shaking up heavy cream

Why this sudden interest in making homemade butter?  Don't worry, I'm not swearing off all processed foods.  I recently found out that February 7th was Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday.  She was one of my favorite authors as a young girl.  I loved reading Little House on the Prairie and thought this would be a great way to celebrate her (and try out some cool food science too.)

Keep reading to see how we made our own homemade butter from heavy cream!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Make Shaving Cream Clouds and Paint the bathtub walls

With all the crazy weather that's been happening around these parts, I thought Chuck and I could try creating some of our own crazy weather... indoors!  So we made a shaving cream cloud and watched it rain rainbows...

Oooh.  Isn't it pretty?
Make shaving cream clouds and rainbow rain

Keep reading to find out how we made it rain rainbows!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Make Fake Snow from Diapers

Guess what Chuck and I played with today while it snowed outside? Fake snow!  We made some from a Pull up Diaper.

Make fake snow from diapers

Say what?

Oh yeah.  We visited our nearby science center last week and the kids loved playing with their fake snow.  I found out that the fake snow was made from the same material found inside of diapers!  Wow.  Mind blown.  So of course we had to make it at home. 

Keep reading to find out how we made our fake snow!

Friday, December 27, 2013

Disguise your jump drive in a rubber toy

Man oh man, there are a lot of crafty techy people out there.  A couple of nights ago I kept looking at all the ways that people disguised their USB drives.  There are plenty of DIY instructions to make Lego USB drives, Chap Stick USB drives, and even mini Cooper USB drives. With all those cute DIY drives out there, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own too.

Since we don't own many power tools (and if I'm going to be honest, I'm quite ill-equipped to use them since I'm dangerously clumsy) I ended up going the easy route.  I disguised my USB drive inside of a rubber frog toy.  So the only "tool" I used was an exacto knife.  

"Ribbit, ribbit!  Feed me data!" 
Keep on reading to see how I made this little guy...

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Make your own gummy candies

Did you know that you can make your own gummy candies?  I didn't know that it could be done so easily until I saw this fruit juice gummy candy recipe on Instructables. 

Last week I roped my sister into trying the recipe out.  Using just four ingredients, we made homemade gummy candies in a  little over an hour.  Here are our results:

make your own gummy candies- fun STEM activity for kids

Ingredients:
  • 2 envelopes of Knox Original Unflavored Gelatine
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar (or more if you want them sweeter)
  • 1 C of juice
  • Canola oil

Directions:
1.  Combine gelatine, sugar, and juice in a pot.  Let the mixture sit there for a minute.

2.  Lightly oil your mold.  (If you skip this part your gummy candies will break apart as they pop out of the molds.)

3.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Let it boil for 10 minutes.  The liquid will become more viscous.

4.  Spoon the hot liquid it into your molds.
 Notes:
  • I placed my mold on top of a plate before I did this to catch my spills.
  • I had some extra liquid, so I lined a glass baking dish with saran wrap and then poured the liquid into that.  Once the liquid hardened, it was easy to pop out a very large gummy candy.  
  5.  Put your mold into the fridge until your candies harden.  (Mine took about 1 hour to solidify.)
make your own gummy candies- fun STEM activity for kids
6.  Pop your gummies out and enjoy!
make your own gummy candies- fun STEM activity for kidsmake your own gummy candies- fun STEM activity for kids


Can you believe that the recipe worked?  I was super stoked because the resulting gummies had a great texture and easily slid out of their molds.  I also liked that they weren't too sweet.  Next time I'll probably try using fruit juice concentrate instead of juice (as recommended by the original recipe.)  That should give them a more intense flavor.... and maybe they'll taste more like the store bought ones.

Happy Wednesday!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Make Borax Crystal Flowers

Why make borax crystal flowers?  Well, do you love the look of freshly cut flowers sitting in a vase?  I do.  But I never buy them because of my cursed black thumb.  While most people's cut flowers last for weeks, mine always start turning brown and wilting within a day or two.

Boo, black thumb!   

Last week our craft store had a sale on fake flowers.  I was so tempted to buy them, but they looked kinda cheesy and screamed, "I'm fake and I attract dust."

But I ended up getting the flowers anyway, because I wanted to make something pretty with them.  Here's what I came up with:  Crystal Flowers 

Make Crystal Flowers!


DIY Crystal borax flowers
Yes.  My fake flowers are covered with real crystals... that I grew from Borax.  Lovely, aren't they?

Would you like to make your own frosted-looking flowers?  Read on!
  
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Friday, September 6, 2013

Blowing up balloons with baking soda and vinegar

Did you ever make homemade volcanoes as a kid?  I made one in elementary school and remember being amazed by the chemical reaction.

A week ago Chuck and I played around with that classic baking soda and vinegar combination.  But this time, instead of making a volcano, we blew up some balloons.

(Note:  I can't take credit for this idea at all!  I saw in on Pinterest and then found some really clear directions on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.)

Materials:
  • Balloon
  • Plastic bottle
  • Funnel
  • Vinegar
  • Baking soda
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Chopstick (optional)

Directions:
1.  Fill your plastic bottle a little less than half way with vinegar.  (I added some blue food coloring so we could see the reaction better.)



2.  Using the funnel, fill your balloon half way full with baking soda.  (If your baking soda is full of clumps, like mine, a chopstick will help to break those up so the baking soda falls into the funnel.)


3.  Attach the balloon's mouth to the bottle, but don't let the baking soda pour out just yet.



4.  When the balloon is attached the bottle, empty out the baking soda and watch the reaction unfold. The combination of vinegar and baking soda will bubble up, and the gas released from the reaction will blow up your balloon!


Balloon magic!


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

6 things to do with gummy bears

I thought you might need a giggle, so here's a list of six things you can do with gummy bears (besides eat them).

6 Ways to Play with Gummy Bears

6 Ways to Play with Gummy Bears - Fun and tasty STEM activity to do with the kiddos!


Monday, June 10, 2013

Make a sailboat out of a shampoo bottle

((Thank you to everyone for entering my Kiwi Crate Giveaway.  Before I talk about today's crapt, let me just announce that the winner of the giveaway is Mel!  Congratulations!  Please email me your mailing address so I can send you a Kiwi Crate straight away.))


Hi everyone!  Today I'm going to share how I made this shampoo bottle sailboat after being inspired by this DIY boat kit found here:

Materials:
- empty shampoo bottle <-- crap!
- 2 rubber bands
- wine cork <-- crap!
- drill
- stirrer <-- crap!
- straw <-- crap!
- pair of scissors
- triangle from a potato chip bag <-- crap!
- tape (packing tape is best, but I only had clear plastic tape)

Here are the boat's main components:

Directions:
1.  Cut your cork in half lengthwise.  Then, drill a hole through the middle.  The hole should be big enough to hold your stirrer (aka the mast) up.

2.  Your straw is going to be the horizontal bar holding up your sail (aka, the boom).  Cut your straw to the desired length.  Then, make two triangle cutouts on each side of the straw, so that your stirrer (aka the mast) can slide into the straw.  Both your stirrer and straw will support your plastic bag sail.  





3.  Cut your plastic chip bag into a triangle sail shape.  Tape the plastic bag onto your stirrer and straw to create a sail.



4.  Use two rubber bands to attach your cork to your shampoo bottle.  Then, stick your stirrer into the cork's hole and voila, instant sail boat.

The boat sails nicely in your bathtub, but Chuck and I took it one step further and sailed the high seas (eh hem... a nearby lake.)  We just tied a ribbon to it so that it wouldn't float away.

Hope you and your little one enjoy this crapt!