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Alright! So you’ve just bought you and your kids a brand new microscope, and you’ve already blown through the prepared slides they came with. Now what can you do? How in the heck do you take care of this thing? Are you supposed to clean it? What should you look at next? How can you enjoy this tool of scientific wonder to the fullest, and really get a great view of the tiny world of microscopic life all around you? Let’s begin by taking a look at how to care for your microscope… MICROSCOPE CARE First, let me give you a pro tip. Always keepRead More →

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On the eleventh day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me…A column of Christmas density! Some of our favorite science experiments have to do with the exploration of density. Density is a measurement of how many molecules are in a substance and how closely they are packed together. Substances built with tightly packed molecules are more dense than things built with molecules that are spread farther apart. A fun way of thinking about this is by looking at the planet Saturn. Even though Saturn is WAY bigger than Earth, the molecules that make up its gaseous nature are less dense than the molecules thatRead More →

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On the tenth day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me… Scientific Paper Snowflakes! Snowflakes can come in many shapes and sizes. They’re formed in clouds, when the temperatures fall below freezing. The shape and size depend on many factors, including temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind currents, even dirt and dust particles! These conditions can even change the snowflake’s structure, even as it falls toward the ground! The resulting snowflakes can take the shape of hexagons, needles, ice columns, cylinders… all sorts of things!Read More →

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On the Ninth Day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me…Borax crystal ornaments for our tree! One of my favorite holiday traditions involves making our own ornaments for our Christmas tree. We’ve made salt dough ornaments, gingerbread people, and have painted and decorated our own beautiful glass bulbs! One of our favorite ornament making projects combines the creativity of making our own sculptures with the chemistry and physics of creating stunning crystal structures!Read More →

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On the eighth day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me… Candy Cane Elephant Toothpaste! Chemistry and Christmas go hand in hand, and today’s experiment is no exception! This is one of our favorite chemistry experiments and it’s perfect for this time of year! So come and learn about exothermic reactions, atoms and molecules, and foamy experiments! Just make sure you bring your safety goggles and gloves…Read More →

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On the seventh day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me…Melted Candy Sculptures! Candy canes are a pretty big part of the holidays around here, as we love to decorate our tree with them, pass them out to neighbors who have really cool Christmas displays, and of course, eat them! We wanted to see if we could do anything cool with them, and came across a really interesting idea. Apparently, you can melt them slightly, and bend them into whatever shape you like! We just had to try this out for ourselves, and it totally works!Read More →

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On the sixth day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me…Reindeer glowing with an LED! “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose! And if you ever saw it, you could even say it glows…” One of our favorite Christmas carols is the song “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”. It’s a great song to spark the imagination of flying reindeer with glowing noses to light the way through fog. So, with the holidays approaching, I thought it would be perfectly fitting to make our own light up reindeer, with a bright red “Rudolph” nose!Read More →

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On the fifth day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me…Santa going down the chimney! There’s something magical about this time of year, with the lights, cocoa, songs, and holiday cheer. But one of the most persistent questions has always been… how does Santa fit down the chimney? We decided to explore this question for the holidays. However, instead of using the familiar holiday mascot, we’re using hard boiled eggs! In today’s science experiment, we tested the effects of heat and ice on air pressure within a bottle! Our idea was that we could get the eggs into both bottles, simply by changing theRead More →

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On the fourth day of Christmas Science, my mommy made with me…Salt dough ornaments for our tree! Some of our favorite chemistry activities have involved the preservation of materials and preventing bacterial growth. The pH level of an environment (whether it’s acidic or basic) can have a huge impact on whether a home made decoration will last, or if it will wither away as a holiday buffet for the microbes all around. With this activity, we take a look at the chemistry of salt dough and make our own holiday ornaments!Read More →

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On the 3rd day of Christmas Science, my mommy shared with me….The Chemistry of Holiday Sweets! Sugar plays a big role in the chemistry of the holidays. Cookies, candies, cocoa, even savory dishes, and vegetables will contain various amounts of sugar. Consisting primarily of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, these little guys can bond quickly with their neighbors, becoming quite the life of the partyRead More →