Simple Science at Home

With these fun and simple science experiments, it’s easy to keep your child engaged and learning outside of the classroom. Take a look at a few of our favorite, at-home science experiments!Magic MilkThis easy experiment is sure to capture your child’s attention!What You Need:

• Full fat milk
• A small, flat dish
• Dish soap
• A small dish
• Q-tips
• Food coloring

How to do it:Pour some milk into a small, flat dish. Pour just enough to cover the bottom entirely. Pour a small amount of dish soap into your other small dish. Help your child squirt the different food coloring into the milk in whatever amount or pattern they desire. Let your child dip the end of a Q-tip in the soap, and then stick the Q-tip into the center of the milk. Watch as the food coloring disperses and creates new patterns! Repeat as many times as you like; suggest that your child try out other approaches with the food coloring to watch different patterns emerge. Use the food coloring randomly, to create a pattern or shape, or pile several colors on top of each other.How Does it Happen?While milk is mostly water, the fats and protein within it are sensitive to changes it. The dish soap bonds with the fat within the milk, and the bond is so strong that the water and food coloring get pushed out to make room for it!Bouncing EggThis experiment takes 48-72 hours, so this is a perfect choice if your children are a bit older or if you will be busy for a few days as you wait.What You Need:

• Raw eggs
• Distilled white vinegar
• Empty, clear jars
• Food dye (optional)

How to do it:Fill your clear jar about halfway with white vinegar. Add food coloring if you wish. Drop your egg into the vinegar and leave it for 48 hours. Since the egg will expand over this time, make sure you choose a wide mouth container. After 48 hours, you’ll find that the shell is gone and your once breakable egg now bounces.How Does it Happen?An eggshell is made of calcium carbonate and vinegar is acidic. When you see the bubbles on the egg, it’s the acid and calcium carbonate reacting, which produces carbon dioxide. The egg gets larger because its membrane will absorb some of the vinegar!Elephant ToothpasteIf your child loves to get messy, they’re going to love this exploding experiment. The foam produced is only made of water, soap, and oxygen, so you can clean it up with a sponge and pour any leftover liquid down the drain.What You Need:

• An empty 2-liter bottle
• Dish soap
• 12% hydrogen peroxide
• Food coloring
• A packet of active dry yeast
• Small cup

How to do it:Pour ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide into your empty bottle. Add a few squirts of dish soap, and then add 10-15 drops of food coloring. In your small cup, combine yeast and warm water. Pour the yeast and water mixture into the bottle and watch it explode!How Does it Happen?The yeast removes the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide and produces oxygen and water very quickly; each foam bubble is filled with oxygen. Because this all happens so fast, the reaction comes out almost immediately as a long stretch of foam.With over 57 years of academic excellence, St. Teresa Catholic School, a private school in Titusville, provides a quality education that challenges and empowers students to develop to their full potential. Students foster qualities that are essential for lifelong learning and are equipped for future success. To learn more about why St. Teresa is the perfect fit for you and your student, contact us today.