Science Birthday Party

My son celebrated his 7th birthday last month, but because of our trip to Disney, we just had his birthday party this weekend.  He really loves Science, so he requested a Science party this year.  This was also the first year he had a party with just friends from school, so he was extra excited.

I was lucky enough to find this free printable science invitation over at Living Locurto - thanks Amy!

After mailing the invitations I started work right away on the cake, decorations, and party details.  For the cake, I ended up doing a two tier cake, covered in fondant and with lots of science details.  The colors were vibrant and the details turned out well.  Best of all, my son loved it!

For the decorations, we used a lot of my son's science things.  We filled some flasks with radioactive rods (aka glow sticks) and candy to match our cake colors (green, orange and blue).  We also filled his plastic test tubes with candy Nerds - they looked like some mysterious potions bubbling up.

We added his shark in a jar, shark teeth, and some of his favorite rocks from his rock collection to our display as well.

And, we made this banner reading, "Kaden's Lab," with paper plates linked together with pipe cleaners.

Each kid scientist who attended would receive their own clipboard with investigation sheets, a pair of goggles and a scientist badge.  I purchased the mini clipboards from Target for $1 each in the Dollar Bins and the plastic badge covers (10 pack) at the Dollar Store for $1.

As the kid scientists arrived, they used the hand scan to obtain access to the laboratory.  I saw this idea over at The Celebration Shoppe's blog.

We started our science party with a free exploration using magnets.  I filled a large container with some sand from our sand box and filled it with different metal items.  The kid scientists used magnets to find the hidden items and drew pictures of them on their investigation sheets.

Our second investigation was called Drops on a Penny.  The kid scientists made predictions about how many drops of water would fit on a penny, nickel, dime and quarter, then used pipettes to test their predictions and record their results on their investigation sheets.

Sink and Float was our third investigation.  Each kid scientist had a turn to pass an object around the table, then test it in the water to see if it would sink or float.  They recorded their predictions and results on their investigation sheets.

Our fourth investigation was Color Lab.  The kid scientists practiced mixing colors on their investigation sheets using colored water and pipettes.

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The fifth investigation was creating constellations, using dark colored paper and star stickers.  We talked about what a constellation was and the kid scientists used their star stickers to create their own picture in the sky and used a piece of chalk to connect-the-stars to show their design.  I didn't catch a picture of this one.

The Milk Lab was our last investigation.  In a shallow dish, I poured some whole milk, then put drops of food coloring in a circle in the center of the dish.  I dipped a toothpick in some dish soap (we used Dawn) and placed it in the milk in the center of that circle of food coloring.  The reaction is really cool!  I purposely did not take a picture of the reaction, so you could be just as surprised when you try it yourself.  The kid scientists drew pictures on their investigation sheet to show what happened.

We had some basic snacks, drinks and food for the party.  We covered these mini water bottles with H2O labels that my husband made up.

We also had rainbow spectrum fruit strips (aka fruit roll ups), marshmallow molecules, cheddar explosion goldfish, and pretzel pinwheel atoms.  And of course there was every scientist's favorite fuel food - pizza!

All in all, I think the party turned out great!  The kid scientists seemed to have a lot of fun; even my son's teacher said that some of the kids wrote about the party in their journals Monday morning.  As a former teacher, I had fun too, getting back into teacher mode for a bit.

Many of our other Science items were purchased from American Science and Surplus.  If you haven't checked them out, you must!  

I don't believe I can share a link for my documents, but if you are interested in having a copy of any of the science investigation sheets or the kid scientist badges, just shoot me an email at themuddyprincess@gmail.com and I will email you the files.



Sharing this party on the following blogs:

Fireflies and Jellybeans          A Vision to Remember
Paisley Passions          Craft Envy
Yesterday on Tuesday          Funky Junk Interiors
What Allie's Making Now          Along for the Ride
Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom          Tatertots and Jello
Momnivore's Dilemma          While He Was Napping
733 A Creative Blog          Be Different Act Normal
Home Sweet Farm          Naturally Me Creations
Momma's Kinda Crafty          It's a Crafty Life
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Fun to Craft
Home is Where My Story Begins
A Little Knick Knack
Finding Fabulous
Lit and Laundry
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
504 Main
The Shabby Nest
It's a Hodgepodge Life
Kojo Designs
A Few of My Favorite Things
Punkin Seed Productions
Antique Texan
Truly Lovely

Fingerprints

Being the mom of a science loving kid, I've been on the lookout for great science ideas to keep his interest going.  And, one of my favorite blogs is The Science Mommy, totally dedicated to science for kids.

I was browsing and saw a post about fingerprints, with a link for a great data sheet.  I knew both of my kids would enjoy this, so we gave it a try.

We started off by putting our fingerprints on the data sheet, then using magnifying glasses to study the different lines that made up each of our unique fingerprints.

 

 

We were surprised to find out that we all had different types of fingerprints, even though we are related.

I had tented arch type fingerprints, my son had whorl type fingerprints and my daughter had arch type fingerprints.

 

This was a fun activity that helped the kids practice their observation skills.  And my son extended this activity on his own, by asking if we could get fingerprints of other family members to see who had the same type.  So, fellow family members, don't be alarmed if we ask for your fingerprint the next time we see you.

Salt Designs

I saw this idea in the November 2010 issue of Family Fun magazine and knew this would be an activity my kids would love to try.  Not only is it a cool art craft, but a fun way to explore science as well.  For this activity you will need a piece of cardstock, glue, salt, colored water (use food coloring), and eyedroppers.

I started by having the kids draw their design on the paper with a pencil.

 

Then, we used the glue to outline their design.

Next, the kids sprinkled salt on their paper to cover the glue.  Be sure to tap off the excess salt.

Then, the kids used the eyedroppers to drop the colored water onto their design (one drop at a time).  It was neat to see the salt absorb the liquid and send the color down the line.  We also got to see colors mix when lines intersected.

Here are our finished designs.

Fall Exploration Box

Fall keeps sneaking in and out on us here in Maryland. Two days ago my kids were in shorts and t-shirts and this morning it was pants, long sleeves and jackets! But, the signs of Fall are all around us. So a few weeks ago, we gathered some Fall items to add to our exploration box - a box of items that the kids can explore and observe.

This month our exploration box is all about Fall.  This box was pretty easy to put together because we found almost everything right in our own backyard or at our local garden center.  The Fall exploration box includes leaves, acorns, pinecones, pine needles, chestnuts, walnuts, twigs, corn, corn tassels, small pumpkins, small gourds, and fall grass (sorry not everything is pictured, my little scientists were busy exploring some of them).

The kids also have science journals and magnifying glasses to assist them with their exploring.  It's really fun to see what they do on their own when checking out the exploration box.  In their journals, my daughter did some leaf rubbings and my son drew the items he observed.