The children added river rocks to add a river effect and also to see what happened when volcanic lava flowed down...
We talked about the ingredients to use in the experiment and a little bit about how chemicals react to create fizz that leads to eruptions...
Adding baking soda in the bottle...
Pouring red colored vinegar in it...
Boom! The lava shot out for at least 15 seconds...it was the perfect realistic moment. We repeated the experiment a few times for the children to see and know exactly what was going on. They also loved seeing how the lava ran through and between the river rocks creating a lava stream!
Later at circle time, we continued our discussion about volcanoes. We asked friends to tell us one thing about volcanoes that they already knew and one question that they wanted to know. We came up with the following great questions from the children...
So we decided to watch an educational video about how and why volcanoes erupt, which answered all of their questions. We also read a few books that showed the children what the inside of the earth looks like. They were amazed to know that the inside of the earth has four layers, and the inner core is full of molten lava which is what erupts out due to the movement of the outer core. We also talked about how our earth is made of many materials like rocks and clay and when they turn hot due to the inner heat of the earth, they melt and turn orange or red!
After all this intense discussion, our friends were so interested in the bubbling hot lava. We saw another video where the scientists went close to the big volcanic well to explore lava. After that many friends were so inspired that they all wanted to become scientists when they grow up!
Later during the week we introduced them to the concept of lava lamps. We spoke about how a lava lamp works. We talked about the heat and the melting process and density. Friends watched closely and saw how the wax melted on the bottom where there was more heat, became lighter, and floated to the top, and when it cooled on the top and became heavy, it sank to the bottom of the lamp again and the cycle repeated. Each group was fascinated and spent a long time watching the lamp!
Now they all wanted to make these lava lamps. We researched it online, collected our materials and experimented with making them ourselves.
Talking about what we will be doing next and how will we be creating the lava lamps!
Filling the bottle with 3 parts oil and 1 part water...
Adding food color to make the lamps pretty and also to help us see how the oil and water mix ando separate due to different densities of the materials...
The separation...the same color red looks different in oil and water and how the bubbles are separating the two liquids...
Placing it on the hot bulb to see its effect over the light...
Adding the Alka seltzer (a pill) to get the fizz and movement inside the lava lamp...again densities play their roles and materials react accordingly...
The fizz can be seen here...it was like a tornado under the water and things were all mixing up, jumbling up and again settling down...it was fun to watch on a heat bulb that helped us better see what was happening inside...
Later we also experimented with EXPANSION...
We microwaved the ivory soap bars to see what the results were. Some friends guessed it would explode while some said it will melt and turn watery due to the heat, and others waited to watch.
Close observation :)
We saw that it expanded and blew up into a big soufflé. We could push our fingers into it and feel how it felt inside. The texture on the outside was different from the texture on the inside!
It turned out to be powdery and children enjoyed crumpling it up and playing with it like pretend snow!
The powder was still soapy and when we washed our hands, it foamed up just like soap. We concluded that it still carries all the soap ingredients just in a different texture. The best part was seeing it expand inside the microwave like a growing sponge!!!
Other activities we did during the week...
Feet painting, giving our hands a break...
Friends helped carry chairs outside...
They each found a seat next to the big circle papers...
We squeezed/ brushed paint on their feet...
We spoke about the different parts of our feet like the heel, toe, nail, and the bottom. Friends enjoyed making circular patterns with different parts of the feet. Some just made footprints while some covered every edge of their paper in different and unique styles...
We also made fruit salad...
We picked cherry tomatoes and grapes from our garden outside...yes, tomatoes are a fruit! Do ask your child. They know the reason why :)
L is pretending to have a clown nose...
L is picking fresh black grapes that grew in bunches on the vines...
Cutting other juicy fruit into smaller pieces to practice our fine motor skills...
Tossing different varieties of fruit together in a bowl to enjoy the fruit salad..
Wiith volcanoes and lava discussion still floating around, our children jumped into talking about teepees, which they thought looked like a volcanic mountain. We talked to them about the teepee and the history of Native Americans. They wanted to build teepee village just like the one they saw in a picture! So we went with the emergent project and the children first decorated the teepee sheet with drip painting to start the new interest!
You will find a lot of related and ongoing project documentation on our outside Purple Room window! Feedbacks and suggestions will be appreciated!
Keep seeing you around!
Hugs,
Teacher Rashida
