Science Projects Galore

 

So far this school year we have done quite a bit of science.  Here are some recent highlights.

These experiments came from:

• Apologia General Science
• Christian Kids Explore Physics
• Science Experiments in a bag. (All 3)
• Winter Wonders or other Download and Go’s
• The Magic School Bus: The Secrets of Space
• Or just ones we found at home or around the internet.
• We do use these Scientific Method Sheets with quite a few of our experiments.

These experiments are not in the order we did them.

We did quite a few experiments on the displacement of water to learn about using a control in studies. Here are a few.

These are our boats.  We raced boats using different “motors” .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we used different things to see what happened to pepper resting of the surface of water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one we just found on the internet and decided to try it ourselves.  It was -13° F outside that day.

 

We microwaved a cup of water and threw it outside into the freezing air.  We were able to watch it evaporate.

This one we got from Winter Wonders.  You do the regular density experiment, freeze it and watch it thaw.  The ice ends up floating to the top of the oil back down again as it thaws. 

Don’t forget to check out our Simple Machines Unit.

 

Tommy learned how to calculate speed. 

 

 

We learned about how a corn maze is created.

We forced a spider to make a web right before our eyes.  (No spiders were injured during this experiment.)

We classified Halloween candy.

Katey has been learning bunches about the Solar System.  This showed us how the sun reflects of the moon for us to see it at night.

Katey has been using the Download and Go’s to learn about each of the seasons.

We have been using our Discovery Scope, quite a bit.

We did another density experiment where we got things to sink and float.

We saw how cold water slows things down.

We blew up a balloon using boiled cabbage water.

We did a Mento’s Bomb.

 

We broke open Geodes.

 

We went through an electronics phase.  Taking all kinds of things apart.

 

 

 

 

Science is a favorite for all of us.  I am sure it is because of all the hands on. 

I love that my children are interested in exploring things.

Do you do science at your house?  Where do you get your ideas from?

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. There are also freebies. There are also just links to products without affiliate links. I'm trying to show what we did and where you can find it, not to sell you a product...although if you decide to buy one of them, please feel free to use the links and support a fellow homeschooler.

 

Brrrrrr. It’s cold in here. Our Winter Studies.

 

With us living in such a cold climate many days in the winter we don't make it above 0° F.   A few days this winter our HIGH has been –7° F. (that’s a negative people).  I am talking about snot freezing cold. 

Living in a climate like this means that I have to get creative on our winter lessons all around. 

This year I took the lazy way out.  I am using Winter Wonders by Amanda Bennett.  It is a Download and Go unit.  

 

We have used the Download and Go Unit Studies before and they are said that they can be done in a week.  I have never been able to make that happen.  We have much more fun using them over an entire month, or even more. 

We have been working through the Winter one for a few weeks already.  Some fun things we have done are:

We did this neat experiment about how hot water will turn to water vapor in the cold.  We microwaved a cup of water for 2 minutes and took it outside and threw it in the air.

You can see it evaporate right before your eyes. 

I don’t know how cold it has to be for this to work.  It was –13° F   that day.

We did a really neat density experiment.  We started out the same old, colored water and oil. 

What we did different this time was freeze it.  Then watch it thaw.  As it thawed the ice (water) moved up to the top. 

That showed us that ice is less dense then even the oil.

  As it thawed the water went back down to the bottom.

And we do get outside in the winter sometimes. 

We went sledding.

In our yard.

And in the mountains.

We went ice fishing.

We have done some inside things too.

We had front row tickets to Katey’s concert! 

Let me just say, it was AHHH- Mazing!

We drew snowmen.  (Tyler was learning his circles).

And we made snowmen.  Indoors.

We tried all sorts of flavors of hot chocolate.

Of course we read a lot of winter books too.

Find out what other’s do for school in the winter by clicking on the Blog Cruise picture above. 

What kinds of things do you do in the winter?  Is it cold where you live?

Simple Machines Unit

We did a fun 2 week long simple machines unit that I put together using books from our library and simple machine projects I found from around the web. The first day we did an overview of all the different simple machines. Then each day we chose a different machine to learn about. Then we had a review day, followed by a compound machine day. And we finished it up by creating our own compound machines.

Here are some highlights.

Here we are making a lever to lift heavy objects.

We made an Archimedes’ screw.

We learned why a wedge is so helpful by trying to hammer a bolt vs. a nail.

We had a pulley tug of war.  Two people vs. one.  It was neat to see Katey overpower both the older kids. 

We had a build your own compound machine day.

I saved up supplies for two weeks to be able to have a good variety of items.

Emily made a cereal shooter. 

She used our catapult and made a pulley system to move the bowl as well as a wheel and axle.

Tommy made a quite complex bird feeder.

Katey made a really simple bird feeder.

This was such a fun unit for us.

Most, if not all, resources that we used can be found on my Prairie Primer Pinterest Board.