Lava Blasting Volcano Kit

Scientific Explorer Virtual Science Fair

Scientific Explorer has started an Online Virtual Science Fair. Upload videos of your kids and family learning about science and each month they will pick a winner. Watch the video to hear more about the science fair.

So gather your little scientists and go explore the world around you. I also find that science is a lot more fun when I’m doing rather than watching. Check out all the Virtual Science Fair projects on the YouTube channel.

Elmer’s Science Fair Display Board

Every science fair project needs a display board. My 8 year old son decided he was going to draw a volcano on his display board. Here it is:

My son used the small Elmer’s Tri-Fold Display Board and Elmer’s Project Popperz to create his science fair display board. Elmer’s has an extensive line of products for making great science fair projects.

Notice the little people way at the bottom on either side. They are protected he said. I’m not sure how, but he said they are ok. This project we did turned about to be perfect timing for my daughter’s first grade class because they were studying Hawaii and she had a better idea of how a volcano erupts and she shared it with her information with her class.

Follow Scientific Explorer Online at Twitter and YouTube.

Follow Elmer’s on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: I received the Lava-Blasting Volcano kit in exchange for this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Let’s Talk About Science Fair Projects!

Do your kids love hands on science? How do you try to make science more fun for your kids?

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Science Fair Volcano In Your Kitchen With Scientific Explorer and Elmer’s (Giveaway) originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Sid the Science Kid

On Monday, June 20th, the new Sid episode “Sid’s Backyard Campout” debuts and will feature Sid and his dad spending a fun-filled day answering questions about the outdoors while camping out in their backyard. My family will be doing the same.

Sid the Science Kid is an animated television series on PBS Kids aimed at teaching kids that science can be fun. I mentioned to my daughter that we were going to have a backyard campout just like Sid the Science Kid and she told me they watch some of the episodes during science in school. She thought Sid was cool!

Sid’s Backyard Campout

We will be making some fun campout foods like pigs in a blanket and s’mores while exploring our backyard. My family is so excited about starting our summer with a Sid the Science Kids backyard campout. We are going out over the weekend to buy a tent. We’ve been talking about it for year, so this was the reason we needed to do it.

Check the PBS site for Sid the Science Kid time and station near you. Then plan a backyard campout just like Sid the Science Kid and his dad. If you are curious about the show, you can catch a few clips of Sid the Science Kid on YouTube. Here is a clip about Exercise.

Disclosure: I received a Sid the Science Kid backyard campout package in exchange for this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Let’s Talk About Sid the Science Kid!

Do your children watch Sid the Science Kid?

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Steve Spangler Science Experiments Review

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Kick Off Your Summer with Sid the Science Kid Backyard Campout originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.

Science is something that can so often bore me. Why? Because it is often taught or presented in such a boring manner. Who wants to hear someone lecture about how a hydrogen fuel cell car works? Not me! I’d rather SEE how a hydrogen full cell car works. This is where Steve Spangler Science comes in. If you aren’t sure who Steve Spangler is, check out Wikipedia for the details.

The online store has some of the coolest science experiments I have ever seen. I have 4 curious kids so I knew that this was going to be a fun review. They sent me 3 products to review:

• Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car
• Water Cubes
• Mentos Geyser Tube

I’m not going to get into the specifics of what we learned in the experiments because I think the fun of doing an experiment is to make your create your own hypothesis and either prove or disprove it.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

We started with the Hydrogren Fuel Cell Car. We were unable to watch the DVD that came with the kit because it was only compatible with Windows and I have a Mac. My 10 yr old daughter and I read through all the directions and began to put the car together. We did have a hard time with some of the directions not being really clear, but when I asked my 13 yr old son to help us out, he had an easier time with the directions.

I’m not sure if it makes a difference, but the directions tell you to use distilled water, but everywhere else on the box or in the list of items needed, it states just water. We had to put the project on hold while we ran for some distilled water because I wasn’t sure if it would make a difference.

Once we got the car put together and saw those bubbles come up and made the final connection, there was sheer excitement in the air. We did it! We made a hydrogen fuel cell car. It was really cool to see how it all worked. We went online and googled hydrogen fuel cell cars to learn more.

This is definitely a project for an older child. My 13 yr old son was the perfect age. I would say anything younger than 12, probably will need some help. Here is a video of our experience:

Water Cubes

Next, we moved on to the water cubes. These are small polymer clear cubes that grow to almost 200 times their size when put in water.  For this one, I enlisted the help of my 6 yr old son and 10 yr old daughter. They each got a plastic cup and dropped 3 tiny polymer cubes into the water and then we watched and waited and waited…for 24 hours. Ok, we didn’t stand and wait for 24 hours, but we kept checking the cubes quite often.

The kids thought this was really fun to watch because they could see gradual changes in the cube. They now want to take the whole bag of tiny cubes and put them in a tub full of water to see what happens. I have not decided yet wether we will do it.  Watch the video to see what we discovered.

Mentos Geyser Tube

We saved the one with the biggest punch for last. We had seen this one on YouTube before so my kids were really excited to do this at home. I gathered the whole family plus a few neighbor kids for the big explosion. We had purchased 2 bottles of diet Sprite (diet because the directions said it packs more for the punch and Sprite because it is less messy). I can explain this one, but it’s a whole lot better to show you.

If you are going to learn about science, the ONLY way to do that is to try some experiments. It sure beats a lecture. You can see the excitement in all my kids over these experiments. Usually when I recieve a box of product to review, my kids say, “oh more stuff for Mom.” But this time, they wanted to know when we got to do the experiments and were all yelling, “Cool! I love what you do, Mom.”

Steve Spangler Facebook Fan Page

Contest

Steve Spangler Science is offering to send one of my readers the same three experiments that I reviewed above. You must live in the U.S. to enter the contest. This would make an excellent educational and fun Christmas gift for your kids. Contest ends at 11:49pm EST on December 4, 2009. I will draw the name randomly on December 5th and winner will be notified via email.

Contest Entry

To enter
Visit the Steve Spangler Science online catalog and find ONE product that you think is pretty cool AND not mentioned here in my review. Put a link to it in the comments below.

For extra entries, please leave one separate comment below for each of the extra entries.

1. Visit the Steve Spangler blog and follow the RSS feed.
2. Follow @ScienceToys on Twitter.
3. Follow @Spanglerscience on Twitter.
4. Follow @Stevespangler on Twitter
5. Connect to my blog using the Google Friend Connect on the right side of my blog.
6. Follow my blog using either RSS or by email.

disclosure: Steve Spangler Science sent (free) me the 3 experiements for this review.

Steve Spangler Science Experiments Review originally posted at Scraps of My Geek Life.