Learning at Home OSC KidZone Week 24

STEAM Activity:

Making Edible Shattering Glass 

Glass is made up of tiny grains of the purest sand where heat is added so that it becomes holt and molten or in other words like a liquid. Once the sand becomes liquified it can then be turned into glass.
Since you most likely will not have access to sand and high heat, let's get creative with the materials you do have access too! Just like real glass, sugar glass is made from tiny opaque particles.

Materials Needed:

• ½ cup superfine sugar
• 40ml of corn syrup
• 60ml of water
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• Butter or cooking oil
• Baking paper
• Cooking thermometer
• Baking tray

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper and grease with butter or oil
2.  Measure out the sugar, syrup, water and cream of tartar and pour it into a large saucepan – make sure you point out how the sugar looks like fine white grains – kind of like sand!
3. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil until your thermometer reads 150oC – if your children are younger school agers, ensure that you are pouring the mixtures in for your child. For older children perhaps shadow them and support where needed.
   • Make sure to heat the mixture in slowly. If heated too fast it will caramelise and become yellow
   • It may take around 40 minutes for the batch to reach the target temperature so bring your patience!
4.  Take the molten sugar glass off the stove and pour it into the lined baking tray. Spread it across the tray as much as possible – the thinner the spread the thinner the glass but be sure not to touch it because it is still very hot!
5.  Carefully lift the sugar glass off the tray and peel back the baking paper.
6. Invite your child to observe how the sugar has turned into a glass. Perhaps compare it to a glass drinking cup you have at home so they can see the difference between the two.
7. If you would like you can drop the glass onto the baking paper, and watch it shatter just like a real glass – but be careful because just like a real glass it can be sharp!
8. Taste the glass – its very sweet!
9. Store the extra sugar glass in a sealed container and place it in the fridge. Explain to your child that sugar glass attracts water from all around and will quickly become soft and brittle if it is exposed to humidity therefore keeping it in a sealed container will protect it!

Science Activity:

Bouncing Eggs – How far can they Drop?

Materials Needed:

3+ Eggs
3+ Jars
Vinegar
Measuring Tape, Paper and Pencil
Plastic table cloths.

1. Put one egg in one jar. Do this with all your eggs
2. Cover with vinegar and leave it for a minimum of 24 hours (up to 3 days)
3. Once the shell has dissolved and the egg looks translucent, it is ready to be removed.
4. Rinse off with cool water.
5. Now it’s time to Test!
a. Make a Chart on your paper that records your Bounce Test adding a column for “Drop Height,” a column for “Hypothesis”, and a column for “Drop Outcome”
b. Place table clothes on ground where the test will be conducted
c. Start at 6 inches from the ground all the way up to as high as you can (safely!!)
d. Start at the lowest height. Guess and record what you think will happen. Drop the egg. Record if it bounced or if it broke
e. Continue dropping the egg at higher heights and record your findings?
6. CHALLENGE – Can you bounce it off one object to make it land in another?

How It Works: 

The egg becomes bouncy as a result of a chemical reaction between the eggshell and the vinegar. The eggshell of a chicken egg is made of calcium carbonate, and vinegar is a weak acid. If you’ve ever mixed baking soda and vinegar together, you know the violent reaction that results. The calcium carbonate that makes up the eggshell will react with the vinegar the same way baking soda reacts with vinegar (just a lot less violently). You know the vinegar and calcium carbonate of the eggshell are reacting because of the small bubbles that form around the egg when it is placed in the vinegar. These small bubbles are carbon dioxide gas, which are the result of the reaction between calcium carbonate and vinegar.
Once the shell of the egg is gone, all that is left covering the egg is a thin membrane. The vinegar begins working on the egg’s membrane. The membrane of a chicken egg is selectively permeable. The vinegar is able to cross the selectively permeable membrane of the egg through osmosis. The vinegar toughens up the membrane of the egg making it bouncy!
The selectively permeable membrane of the egg means that some substances can pass through the membrane while others cannot.
Osmosis is the diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane.

Reference:  https://www.generationgenius.com/activities/earths-orbit-and-rotation-activity-for-kids/

Physical Activity

Egg and Spoon Race 

A race that requires concentration, balance, and persistence! Take this race outdoors or create space in your living area for a fun, perhaps messy, race!
All that is needed for this activity are, an egg, a spoon, and concentration! But don’t forget to have fun!

Creative

Family Cookbook

Family Projects can be fun, but they also provide opportunities to bond, to create unity within a team, and provide many learning opportunities. Creating a Family cookbook can provide children with valuable family history and storytelling that they can pass on for generations to come. It also supports literacy and numeracy learning, scientific understanding, and creative development.
Materials Needed:
Paper/Cardstock, Markers/Camera/Magazine, Printer, Binder, Paper Sleeves
Getting Started:
1. Have a family meeting and discuss your favourite recipes
2. Write down ingredients and instructions to each meal on an individual piece of paper
3. Add pictures by drawing, taking photos, or cutting out of magazines. Decorate each page.
4. Don’t forget to think of a fun Title and Decorate a Title Page
5. Dedicate one day a week to do have a family cooking project to continue to add to the book
a. Take a Picture of the family cooking together, add it to the recipe in your new cookbook

Make copies and distribute them to friends and family on holidays!