Wacky Science Wednesday

For a group of Cloverbuds with this much personality you would think a day called Wacky Science Wednesday might be right up their alley, and as it turns out we blew it up when we stuck this name on our third day of 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp.
Our youth started out their day as usual, playing games, coloring, and catching up with their new friends.  Each morning they act like they haven't seen each other in ages as they catch up on what they did since they saw each other the afternoon before.  With youth who are so energetic and expressive its often funny to listen to them tell their stories, correct each other, and try their best to have adult like conversations.  It wasn't long before our youth hit the carpet and were regaling us with all that they had learned and liked the day before.  It is truly amazing all that they retain.
  Before they knew it we were committing science, but it may have seemed more like fun to them.  Our first activity is a two parter.  Today we learned about chromatography by having the campers draw a circle on a coffee filter with a marker.  Then they folded the coffee filter in a cone and dipped the point in water.  they got to watch the pigment from the color marker spread out as it wicked up to the edge of the coffee filter with the water.  We pulled them out and let them dry and will use them on Thursday for another project.
  We also got to make gas.  It sounded really fun.  Basically we hoped that a bag with alka seltzer and water would blow up and pop.  We did find the right combination to make one break but it was more like letting the air out of a balloon then a pop.  We also learned if we shook the bag it would speed up the reaction making it even more fun to watch.
  After a fantastic snack we wrote on paper with invisible ink (lemon juice) and we hope to be able to see our messages come to life behind a light later this week.  We also learned about the density of fluids keeping them from mixing.  We did several experiments that involved oil and water.  In one oil and water are in a soda bottle and we shook it up hard to see if it would mix or separate.  We will observe it for the rest of the week to see what happens.  We also got to drop colored drops of water on two types of oil, baby oil and vegetable oil.
Before it was all said and done we had to have at least one explosion before lunch.  Ms. Shea Ann put baking soda in a vase, added a little food coloring and then added vinegar.  The resulting explosion was AWESOME!  it was so cool that we did it over and over again changing the amount of baking soda, food coloring, and vinegar to see what gave us the best result.
After a fantabulous lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries we took a little break and watched the rest of Beauty and the Beast while our adults got things ready for our afternoon session.
We were well rested so that we could observe our multiple projects.  Then we made something really cool, elephant toothpaste.  This was also a chemical reaction project that involved hydrogen peroxide, food coloring, soap, yeast, and water.  When mixed together it created this hughe slow foam that would shoot up into the air.  It was really cool.
  We were just getting into our groove when it was time for Mrs. T.  Today we reviewed our food groups and talked about fruits and veggies.  We got to make our own snack, fruit and veggie kabobs.  They were delicious and she tells us where she gets everything so we can pick up the items ourselves and make them at home.  Can't wait to share all this with our parents.
  Speaking of parents they arrived at the end of our day, and we were so sad to leave.  Tomorrow is Crafty Thursday and we know we will have another adventure in store for us.  Stay tuned.