Make Your Own Barometer

Kids will enjoy making this barometer and watching it every day. They will also learn about the weather and how it is measured.

What You Need:

• Glass 
• Ruler 
• Tape 
• Tube
• Chewing gum

Activity:

Place the ruler in a glass and hold it against the side.

Tape the ruler to the inside of the glass making sure that the numbers on the ruler are visible.

Stand the plastic tube against the ruler in the glass.

Make sure that the tube is not touching the bottom of the glass by positioning the tube and securing to the ruler by tapping it.

Chew a piece of gum so that it is soft.

While you're chewing, fill the glass about half way with water.

Use the plastic tube like a straw and draw some water half way up the tube.

Use your tongue to trap the water in the tube.

Quickly move the gum onto the top of the tube to seal it.

Make a mark on the ruler to record where the water level is in the tube.

Each time you notice a change in the water level, make another mark.

You'll notice, over time, that the water level rises and falls because of air pressure exerted on the water in the glass.

The change in barometric pressure will help you to forecast the weather.

Colourful Milk Swirl Experiment

Simple science experiments using kitchen and pantry items are fun to do and a great way to help your kids learn. Try this colourful milk swirl experiment. Just watch the video tutorial to show you how.

Number of Players:

1

What You Need:

• 1 cup full-cream milk (skim milk contains too much water to be effective with this experiment)
• 4 different food colourings (you have to use the standard ones, natural ones are not as concentrated and so don't work as well)
• Dishwashing liquid
• A medium-sized bowl

Activity:

Watch the below video to see how to do a colourful milk swirl experiment.

Pour the milk into the bowl.

Place one drop of each of your colours into the milk, keep the drops close together.

Add a drop of dishwashing liquid to the mix.

Watch the colours swirl around.

Why is it so?

The fat and protein molecules in the milk are altered by the soap. This causes them to roll around. Once the soap molecules have mixed evenly with the fat and protein molecules in the milk the motion will stop. So keep adding drops of dishwashing liquid when the action slows down.

Balloon rocket experiment

Simple science experiments are a fun way to get your child learning about how things work. This rocket balloon science experiment includes an easy how-to video.

Number of players:

1+

What you need:

• Balloon
• Long piece of string (about three metres)
• Drinking straw
• Masking tape
• 2 stick-on hooks (optional)

Activity:

Watch the below video to see how to make a fun balloon rocket at home.

First, thread the string through the straw.

Next, either hook your piece of string across a large archway using the two hooks, or rig it up between two chairs.

It works best if one end of the string is higher than the other.

Blow up the balloon but don't tie it off, just hold it pinched shut.

Without letting the balloon deflate, tape it to the straw on the string.

Slide the straw and balloon up to the high end of the string.

Let go and watch your balloon rocket shoot to the end of the string.

How does it work?

Energy is created by the balloon forcing the air out.  This then creates a motion called thrust that pushes the balloon forward.

In a real rocket, thrust is created by the force of burning rocket fuel as it blasts from the rocket's engine - as the engines blast down, the rocket goes up.

Bouncing Raisins

Simple science experiments using kitchen and pantry items are fun to do and a great way to help your kids learn. Get them into the kitchen, follow these simple steps and watch the bouncing raisins go up and down, up and down.

Number of players:

1+

What you need:

• a tall clear glass or jar
• water
• vinegar
• baking soda
• eight or more raisins

Activity:

Begin by half filling your glass or jar with water.

Then add the vinegar and baking soda to the water.

The mixture in the glass will begin to fizz.

Drop the raisins one at a time into the glass.

The raisins may initially sink to the bottom but eventually they will rise up and then sink, then rise again.

Children should be able to watch the raisins bounce for up to an hour.

Make a lava lamp

Making a lava lamp is not only fun, it's a sneaky science experiment. Try this simple science experiment, which will teach your children about density. Your kids will love making their own homemade lava lamp.

What you need:

• clear plastic bottle with lid
• vegetable oil
• water 
• food colouring
• Alka-Seltzer tablet

Activity:

Watch the video to find out how we made our homemade lava lamp.

Fill the bottle three quarters of the way with vegetable oil.

Fill the rest of the bottle with water that has been coloured with food colouring.

Close the bottle lid tightly.

Wait for the two layers to settle.

Break the Alka-Seltzer tablet into small pieces.

Drop small pieces of the tablet into the bottle to create a bubbly fizzy lava lamp.

How to bend the light

Do your kids dream of creating a wizard's invisibility cloak? Well with this light bending kids science experiment they will discover one of the elements that go into the science behind Harry's cloak: It's called refraction! Enjoy this science project experiment with your kids today.

Number of players:

2+

What you need:

• Water
• Scissors
• Small rectangular box or shoe box
• Square or rectangular jar
• Torch

Activity:

Use the scissors to cut a narrow vertical opening at one end of the shoe box.

Fill the jar with water.

Put the jar in the shoe box with a corner of the jar against the opening.

Turn off the lights and pull the curtains to make the room as dark as possible for the best results.

Turn on the torch and hold it against the opening so that the beam of light shines straight through to the jar of water.

Watch the light bend, right before your eyes!

Notes

• This is called refraction. Refraction occurs here due to the light moving more slowly through water than through air. When the light enters the water it slows and bends. When the light exits the water, it speeds up and bends again.

The egg float experiment

Do you have curious kids? Follow the simple steps to this egg float experiment with them and it will teach the kids how it floats, then sinks. They'll be amazed!

Number of players:

1+

What you need:

• egg
• water
• salt
• a glass
• spoon

Activity:

Fill a glass half full with water.

Next, place an egg into the water and help your child notice that the egg sinks.

This is because it is more dense than the water.

Start adding salt to the water one tablespoon at a time and gently stir it into the water.

Eventually, the egg will start to float.

One question is how much salt do you have to add to get your egg to float?

Now, have your child slowly add a cup of fresh water to the same glass with the floating egg and watch what happens.

It will start to drift back towards the bottom.

How much fresh water do you have to add to get the egg to sink to the bottom? Why does this happen?

Adding salt to the water squishes more molecules into the water.

This makes the water more dense.

When there was no salt in the water, the egg was more dense than the water and it sank.

Adding salt to the water makes the water more dense than the egg which makes the egg float.

If you weigh a cup of saltwater and a cup of fresh water, the saltwater will weigh more than the fresh water even though it is taking up the same amount of space (a cup).

This is because the saltwater is more dense than the fresh water.

Wave in a bottle experiment

Explore the wonders of how nature works with wave in a bottle, a fun science experiment and learning game. Kids will discover how and why water behaves and will be amazed at the power of the natural world. Kick start a possible love of science with this project today.

Number of players:

1+

What you need:

• empty plastic bottle and cap
• vegetable oil
• water
• food colouring

Activity:

Wash a bottle and take off the label by soaking it in hot water.

Fill the bottle with 3/4 cup of water.

Add a few drops of food colouring.

Pour 1 cup of oil into the bottle.

Screw the cap on.

Roll the bottle on its side and let it settle for a few minutes.

The water will sink to the bottom and the oil will rise to the top.

Now tip the bottle back and forth and make some waves.

The waves will be bigger at one end of the bottle and smaller at the other.

Why?

Your bottle wave is like an ocean wave.

Water moves up and down and doesn't go forward as the wave goes through the water.

The friction between water and wind makes a wave.

Longer waves travel faster than shorter ones and go further before friction makes them disappear.

From kidspot

Riddles

Lets do this riddles...

See how well you know about animals... click on the link below

Riddles

CUCUK SAYA – AIR TIDAK AKAN KELUAR

(‘Stab me – the water doesn’t come out’) 

Bagaimana melakukannya? (‘How to do it?’) 

1. Bahan – bahan yang diperlukan (‘What Do I Need?’) 

• Beberapa pensil yang ditajamkan (‘Sharpened pencils’) 

• Beg plastik bersaiz sederhana (‘Plastic bag (medium size’) 

• Air (‘Water’) 

2. Isikan plastik beg dengan air dan ikatkan atasnya. (‘Fill a plastic bag with water and seal the top tightly.’) 

3. Cucuk satu pensil ke beg plastik. (‘Stab one pencil into the plastic bag.’) 

4. Kemudian, cucuk lagi beg plastik dengan beberapa pensil yang ditajamkan, air tidak akan keluar dari beg plastik walaupun setitik. (‘Puncture the bag with several newly sharpened pencils, the water won’t leak out, never a drop.’)

Bagaimana ia berlaku? (‘How this works?’) 
1. Plastik adalah sejenis polimer sintetik. Ia diperbuat melalui proses polimerasi dan bahan asalnya ialah (etilena – sejenis gas) yang terhasil daripada petroleum. Ia sangat murah dan digunakan dalam aplikasi kehidupan seharian. (‘Plastic is a form of synthetic polymer. It is made through the polymerisation process, and its raw material (ethylene-a type of gas) comes from petroleum. It is tough yet cheap and widely used in everyday applications.’) 

2. Kebanyakan beg plastik diperbuat daripada polietilena. Apabila polietilena ini dipanaskan, molekul – molekulnya yang mengecut, jadi apabila anda mencucuk pensil menembusi beg polietilena, geseran antara pensil dan plastik memanaskan molekul polietilena dan menyebabkan molekul – molekulnya mengecut mengelilingi pensil. Itu merupakan satu sebab mengapa air tidak bocor keluar. (‘Most plastic bags are made of polyethylene. When polyethylene is heated, its molecules shrink, so when you stab a pencil through the polyethylene bag, the friction of the pencil against the plastic heats the polyethylene molecules and causes them to shrink around the pencil. That’s one reason why no water will leak out.’)

Cara Membuat Pelangi

Cara Membuat Pelangi

Pelangi memiliki 7 warna, iaitu : merah, jingga, kuning, hijau, biru, nila, dan ungu. Pelangi terjadi, jika cahaya matahari dibiaskan secara berganda oleh butir-butir air hujan sehingga terurai menjadi beberapa warna. Kalau kita perhatikan, cahaya matahari yang memancar seolah-olah hanya mempunyai satu warna, iaitu putih. Peruraian cahaya putih menjadi berwarna tersebut disebut dispersi warna. Deretan warna yang dihasilkan oleh dispersi warna disebut spektrum warna.

Kita dapat menguraikan warna putih matahari menjadi warna pelangi dengan melakukan percubaan berikut ini :


Alat dan Bahan :

• Cermin datar
• Baskom atau bak air
• Air bening
• Kertas manila putih

Langkah-langkah :

1. Bawalah semua peralatan ke luar ruangan yang cukup sinar matahri.
2. Aturlah baskom, cermin datar, dan kertas manila putih sehingga pantulan cahaya matahari dapat dipanulkan cermin ke kertas manila putih.
3. Isilah baskom dengan air bening sampai hampir penuh.
4. Pantulan cahaya putih yang tertangkap layar kertas manila putih akan menjadi beberapa warna pelangi.