Our homeschool science day

 Last month our homeschool group had a science experiment day. Each family or child brought an experiment to show and share with the rest of the group. We had quite a lot of fun learning together. I thought I would share some pictures and some of the projects that were done.

  The first project presented was quite a hit. "Buoyancy" was the topic. The kids were dived into teams of two and each team was given 2 pieces of paper and 4 pieces of tape and they were instructed to make a boat with it. After they made their boat they they got to float it in the tub of water and see how many metal washers they could put in it before it sank.  Each team and the amount of washers that their boat held was recorded.  After the first try each team was given the same materials as before with the addition of a sheet of aluminum foil and then they got to try again.

 The teams busily got to work and had fun creating different designs.

 Here is one loaded boat about ready to sink. I think the top number of washers (they were big, about 1 inch across) was about 23 with an aluminum foil boat.

Next was watched a demonstration of how a motor works with a battery. After that we learned how soda reacts and baking soda reacts and why.

 The above demonstration was on the earth and how it's revolving affects our days and seasons.

 The one above showed air pressure (created by temperature change) suck a boiled egg in a too small of bottle.

 Here we saw the making of some "gunk" that could be both hard and slimy. They also showed "Mooving milk". They put a few drops of food coloring in milk and then added a little dish soap. The dish soap caused the fat particles to break up which caused the milk to move around.

 We were also shown how to make a compass using a needle, magnet and a bowl of water.

 In the picture above the balloon was blown up by vinegar and baking soda being mixed together.

 Our family demonstrated electroplating pennies using zinc. My brother in law Derek kindly showed us this experiment. You can read how to do it here. Jonathan did much of the hands on work while Mara researched and told the hows and whys. I was the general helper. (Megan and Aaron were sick that day and unfortunately had to miss out.)

We also showed an experiment showing air pressure. You can see how to do it here. The video at the link it quite fun to watch too.

 All the kids were also told about and given some homemade "silly putty" by another child there. They had a bunch of fun playing with that.

I don't think science experiments will ever be my favorite part of homeschooling but I will say that we had a very fun day doing all of those! Do you like science experiments? Do you have any favorites that either you did as a child or have done with your children? Please share in the comments!