Little Scientists

Nicholas gave Benjamin a science experiment kit for his birthday (read: Mommy chose a science experiment kit for Nicholas to give to Benjamin for his birthday). Since Ben opened it, he has been begging to try it out. So, when Tuesday turned out to be a rainy, icky day, my boys turned into mini-scientists. The kit, and the kids, did not disappoint.

Before we started, Nicholas was being a bit of a goof (surprised?). As he donned his smock, Benjamin warned his little brother to calm down, telling him, “Nicholas, science is serious.” Being the real scientist in our family, Pierre loved that comment, when I told him about it later that evening.

Our science kit was all about fun with colors. The kit included little tablets that you mix with water and watch bubble into red, yellow and blue.

Once we had our primary colors, the boys had fun holding the test tubes up to the window. They both thought it was pretty neat to make new colors without even opening the test tube caps. They learned all about what happens when light passes through two colors at the same time.

But, the very best part was using the syringe to create every color of the rainbow, and then some. We had a blast mixing different quantities of red, yellow and blue to create our favorites.

Finally, we added water-soaking crystals to each well in our color-tray. After an hour or so, we had plump, gooey, colorful crystals (which I forgot to take a picture of). Nicholas thought they looked like gummies, and wanted to eat them. Not a chance. He got a reminder that not all science experiments are edible!

The kit that I bought made this experiment super, super easy, but I think that you could easily duplicate it at home with water, food coloring, and borax with pipe-cleaners to create the crystals. Maybe the boys and I will give it a try sometime. For now, they seem to be following in Pierre’s scientific footsteps. Science is serious stuff, but it’s also serious fun!

xo Naomi

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