kitchen science | There's Just One Mommy

How to Make a Crystal Egg Geode

OneMommy — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 20:48:13 +0000

If you have kids, chances are at some point they’ve collected pockets full of small rock treasures that sometimes wind up in the washing machine.

As adults we don’t always understand why that tiny grey rock is so special.

But when it comes to sparkling geodes, everyone seems to agree. Geodes are amazing to look at.

You and your child can learn about how geodes form by making your own salt crystal egg geodes, a favorite when it comes to STEM activities because of the beautiful results.

Egg experiments like this one are always popular in the springtime.

If you are looking for other ideas, you’ll want to discover how to make a rubber egg. It even glows!

Your child may also enjoy doing the egg drop challenge.

Crystal Egg Geodes

Affiliate links have been provided below. See my full disclosure for more details.

Materials Needed:

3-4 Raw Eggs
Craft Glue
Epsom Salt
Food Coloring
Small Containers
Small Paint Brush
Toothpick
Water
Small Pot and Stove
Small Screw Driver (optional)

To make your egg geode, carefully crack your egg at the narrow end.

We found that this was easier to do if we tapped the end with a small screw driver.

Slowly widen the hole in the egg until it is a little larger than a quarter.

Empty the contents of the egg into a bowl. You can use it later to bake some fabulous muffin recipes with the kids.

Rinse the egg shell out.

Then gently rub your finger around the inside to remove the egg’s membrane.

Once the membrane is removed, you can dye the egg shell if desired. Or, you can skip this step.

Either way, make sure the shells are dry before proceding to the next step.

To dye the shells, use a few drops of food coloring in white vinegar. Simply let them sit in the color for 3-5 minutes. Then remove the shells to let them dry.

Dying the shells allows you to create geodes with 2 different colors, one for the shell and a different color for the crystals inside.

Once you’ve dyed the shells, turn them upside down on a paper towel and let them dry completely before moving on to the next step.

How to Make Geodes

Once the shells are dry, use a paint brush to coat the entire inside of the shells with a thin layer of craft glue.

Then sprinkle Epsom salts onto the glue, shaking off any excess. This will act as a starter to help grow your crystals in your homemade geode.

Let the glue dry completely.

Once the glue is dry, boil 1 cup of water.

Remove the water from the heat source and stir ins 1/2 cup of Epsom salt. Stir it until it s completely dissolved.

Continue stirring in 1-2 tablespoons of salt at a time until it not longer dissolves. Your super-saturated solution should be thicker that water when you stir it.

Place each hollow egg in a small container. You could also use a Styrofoam egg carton for this part.

Use a small ladle to fill each egg with your super-saturated salt solution.

Add a drop or two of food coloring and stir it with a toothpick.

Place the egg shells somewhere where they won’t be disturbed for several days. We had to put ours on top of our refrigerator to keep the cat from messing with them.

Check your egg experiment daily, and use a toothpick to break any thin solid layers that may form on top. You want the water to be able to evaporate.

After a few days, the water will evaporate, leaving behind beautiful homemade geodes!

You may even want to display them in one of these geode holders.

How Geodes Form

Actual geodes are rocks with open spaces, or cavities, inside that are lined with crystals.

The crystals form through a process called sedimentation, where particles (solute) are suspended in fluid (solvent) and then come together, accumulating to form crystals as the fluid disappears over many, many years.

When creating your salt crystal geodes, the Epsom salt acts as the solute and the water as the solvent. The water is so saturated with Epsom salt that the salt particles fuse together, forming crystals as the water evaporates.

Love geodes? We fell in love with these beautiful geodes with mini air ferns.

These egg geodes are fun to make and display.

Fizzing Halloween Science

OneMommy — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 20:12:22 +0000

I can hardly believe it is halfway through October. It feels like time speeds up when we enter the last few months of the year.

Thankfully there is still plenty of time for some fun Halloween activities with the kids.

This time of year has us running quite a bit, but this Fizzing Eyeballs Halloween science experiment takes just minutes to set up and is perfect to share with the kids when they return home from school or even as a quick party activity.

This is one of our favorite simple Halloween STEM Activities. It’s easy to set up and fun for all ages.

Toddlers and preschoolers will watch with wide eyes as the bubbles and plastic eyeballs ooze over the side of the container. Older kids will giggle and may even want to add their own unique twist to it.

When you finish this experiment, you may want to continue the fun and make your own pumpkin volcano.

Affiliate links have been used below; I may receive a small commission for qualifying purchases. Find my full disclosure here.

Fizzing Eyeballs Halloween Experiment

Materials Needed:

Vinegar
Baking Soda
Orange food Coloring (or color of your choice)
Ping-Pong Ball Eyes
Liquid Dishwasher Soap
Small Container

To make the experiment extra fun, try using a fun container, like this skull mug or a plastic pumpkin bowl.

I highly recommend putting the experiment on a tray with sides to help contain the mess.

Squirt a a few drops of liquid dish soap in the bottom of your container. This will help enhance the amount of fizzing and bubbles you’ll get from the chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar.

Add the plastic eye balls and have your child sprinkle baking soda over them. (For younger kids you may want to put a small amount in a separate container and have them use a spoon to add it.)

In a separate container, mix a few drops of orange food coloring with 1/3 cup of vinegar.

Have your child poor the vinegar slowly into the container.

Be ready for plenty of ooh’s and ahhh’s!

Not only is vinegar and baking soda science fun to watch, it is also inviting for small hands to touch and explore.

If your child is anything like mine, they will ask to do the experiment several times. (That’s why, even though my husband laughs, I always buy the gallon-sized bottle of vinegar.)

The Science Behind the Vinegar & Baking Soda Fizzing

As you probably already know, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (diluted acetic acid) produce carbon dioxide gas when mixed together. This gas escapes in the form of bubbles.

Adding a few drops of liquid dish soap doesn’t affect the chemical reaction, but it does make it more foamy and fun to watch.

No matter how many times we do a variation of the baking soda and vinegar experiment, the kids always love it.

I hope you and your child enjoy this Fizzing Eyeballs Halloween Experiment as much as we did.

You’ll also enjoy these posts:

Vanishing Ghosts — Simple Halloween Science
How to Make a Pumpkin Pulley — Halloween STEM
Halloween Science Experiments for Kids from Playdough to Plato
Inflate a Balloon with Science
Fun & Simple STEM Activities for Kids

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Amaze the Kids with This Simple Sound Wave Experiment

OneMommy — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 16:09:09 +0000

Kids have a natural desire to experiment.

That’s what makes science class so much fun at those early grades. There are so many simple experiments that are perfect for bringing science to life in the classroom.

This simple sound wave experiment is perfect for introducing the concept of how sound travels.

You may also like these other music STEM activities.

As kids get older it’s important to remember that science shouldn’t be taught only through books. Sure, you can read about how some cereals are higher in iron, but being able to actually extract iron filings from their breakfast cereal brings the lesson to life and helps them remember what they’ve learned.

Before you begin you may want to explain to your child that sound actually travels in waves. This experiment will allow them to test how those sound waves travel.

For another sound wave experiment, try making a paper cup phone.

Sound Wave Experiment

Materials Needed:

2 Pieces of Yarn, 2 Feet Long Each
Metal Hanger
Metal Fork or Spoon

Tie the end of each of the 2 pieces of yarn to your fork (or spoon).

Have your child wrap the other ends of the yarn around their pointy fingers several times.

Then have them place their fingers over the opening of their ears. (They shouldn’t stick their fingers into the ear canal, just over the opening.)

Now for the fun part. Have your child tap the fork against the edge of a table or wood chair.

Anyone else in the room will only hear the tap of the silverware against the table. But the child holding the fork with the yarn held by their ears will be delighted to hear a bell-like sound.

Quick Explanation of the Sound Wave Experiment: Tapping the silverware will cause it to vibrate, and those vibrations will make sound waves. The yarn will act as a conductor, and the sound waves will travel up the yarn, instead of just spreading in the surrounding air.

After a few tries with the fork, ask your child what they think will happen if they use a larger metal object, like a metal clothes hanger.

Untie the yarn from the metal fork and tie the two pieces to opposite sides of a metal hanger.

Once again have your child wrap the yarn around their fingers and place their fingers over their ears before hitting the hanger against the table edge.

They may be amazed to hear how different the sound is. The sound will be almost like a gong instead of the higher bell-like sound of the fork.

Take the sound wave experiment farther:

Let your child explore how the sound changes depending on hard they hit the fork or hanger against the table.
Try using sewing thread or kite string to see if this will change the results.
Your child may also want to see how changing the length of the yarn will affect the sound by winding it more around their fingers and shortening its length.

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The post Amaze the Kids with This Simple Sound Wave Experiment first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Magnetic Cereal! Extract Iron from Breakfast Cereal

OneMommy — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 18:23:44 +0000

Kids love playing with magnets. When we did our magnet exploration the kids kept coming back to it throughout the week.

You can impress your child with this simple experiment to extract iron from cereal.

No matter what your child’s age, this magnetic cereal experiment will get quite a reaction.

Who says breakfast has to be boring?

A little kitchen science will give that first meal of the day a whole new meaning.

(Affiliate links have been used below. Find my full disclosure here.)

Magnetic Cereal Experiment

Materials Needed:

1/2 cup of iron fortified cereal (We used Total.)
strong magnet (We found this one worked great.)
water
zippered sandwich bag
shallow dish

Pour a small amount of water into a shallow dish. Float 2-3 pieces of Total cereal on the water.

Now is the perfect time to ask your kids what types of things are attracted to magnets. Metal!

Ready to wow them?

Place your magnet close to one of the pieces of cereal and watch what happens. The cereal will move across the water towards the magnet!

Explain that the breakfast cereal is fortified with iron. You might even want to look at the nutritional information on the side of the cereal box and point out where it mentions iron.

In today’s experiment you’re going to extract iron from cereal.

The first step is to break the flakes up into tiny pieces. Your child can do this with their fingers, or they may choose to use a rolling pin.

Place the crushed up cereal in a small zippered plastic bag.

Fill the baggie 1/3 of the way with water and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes have your child shake the bag a little while holding a strong magnet against the side of the bag.

The iron filings will collect against the magnet.

This is easiest to see if you lay the bag down on a flat surface and then slowly lift the magnet away from the bag.

You can even use the magnet to pull the dark iron pieces around the bag of cereal.

Want to take the magnetic cereal experiment a little further?

Try it with several different cereals to see which one has the most iron in it. Then check out the nutrition labels to see if you’re results match up.

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2 Simple Science Experiments: Exploding Milk and Exploding Pepper

OneMommy — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 14:48:40 +0000

Kids love doing science experiments. (Ever let yours play in a Mad Scientist Lab?) Here are 2 experiments your kids will love: Exploding Milk Experiment and Exploding Pepper Experiment.

Exploding Milk Experiment

Pour a small amount of milk into a shallow container. Then have your child put a few drops of food coloring on top.

Now for the fun part — you need a couple “magic wands.” Don’t have any? You just need a toothpick with a little liquid dish soap on the tip. (For extra affect I said a few “abracadabra’s” while I prepared them.)

Once the soapy end of the toothpick touches the food coloring, BOOM! It’s like mini fireworks of color in the milk.

If your kids are anything like mine they will ask to do this one several times.

Exploding Pepper Experiment

The exploding pepper experiment is very similar to the exploding milk experiment.

Start with a small amount of water (1/4″ deep) in a plastic container.

Have your child shake a bit of pepper on top of the water. I think this might have been their favorite part. (There is just something about shaking stuff when you’re a kid.)

Once they have some pepper floating on top of the water, give them the same “magic wands” as before.

POOF!

The pepper immediately scatters away from the toothpick.

This was another one my kids had to do over and over again. (I have to admit, I was pretty impressed by this one, too!)

Science experiments are always a hit with kids. After trying out the exploding milk experiment and exploding pepper experiment, try a few of these:

The post 2 Simple Science Experiments: Exploding Milk and Exploding Pepper first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Coffee Filter Science Experiment

OneMommy — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:57:25 +0000

Just like cornstarch and water, this is another simple science experiment I remember doing back in elementary school.

Chromatography Experiment

All you need are some coffee filters, colored markers, water, and a little patience and you can explore chromatography! (Don’t worry, it’s just a big word which basically means you are going to separate the colors.)

I showed the kids how to make colored dots with the markers along the bottom edge of the coffee filter.

Then we put just the edge of the filter into a shallow container of water, making sure the marker dots were above the water. (I had to use some clothes pins to hold the filters onto the edge of the container so they wouldn’t slide to deep into the water.)

Almost immediately you will see the colors start to spread as the filter soaks up water.

Make sure you keep those marker dots above the water line!

If you are patient enough the different colors will spread all the way to the edge of the filter. This is really pretty if you use several different colored dots!

Once the color was all the way to the edge, we took the filters out to dry. If you don’t take them out of the water in time, the color will eventually disappear except for a thin line of color up at the top — like our green one in the picture above.

I think my youngest preschooler could have drawn dots and watched the colors all day. We had a stove top full of colorful coffee filters when we were finished.

Once they dry, use your colorful coffee filter experiment to create some beautiful coffee filter crafts!

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