Experiments with kids

[Chroelle]

Since I work with kids on a daily basis I am wondering how long their limbs can get and how much electricity a childbody can cope with...

Nah, thats not what I mean.

A little history first:
I have for years been working in the same department, where I had to share a woodshop with several other passingby employees, where noone felt any responsibility for it but me, and as a result it totally exploded in clutter, mess and left stuff that most possibly got wrecked by the kids, leaving the impression that te woodshop was a place you went when you wanted to destroy stuff... That left me with years of not having any desire to go in there anymore. Lots of my coworkers decided that as it was already messy it might as well be used as a storage for everything else they just used and might (or most possibly might NOT) ever use again.

This year (after the summerbreak) I got transfered to another department that hadn't had a man work there for close to 5 years which my boss wanted to do something about, and I got moved there as I wanted a new challenge as well. Their woodshop has been run (5 years ago) by a guy who was so perfectionist and hotheaded that the kids didn't feel like going in there. That how ever means that he had the tidyest most uncluttered woodshop of everyone as he left/got sacked the workplace.

Now it is ALL MINE (MUHAHAHA ) and I have started doing some really fun things in there. I cleaned up a lot more creating more workspace and made everything even easier to figure out for the kids, so they wont need to stand in line all the time waiting for an adult to tell them if they are through sanding the piece of wood they are working on for example (I made a sample of how it should feel, so they can go feel it themselves).

Now I made a workspace where I want something interesting to happen at least once a month. Sort of a miniature lab or exhibition. That means that I am going to be making soda-fountains etc. I am also going to build a very small railroad there for the kids to help with. W had a Märklin trainset with rails that I bought with a coworker back in '98, but it never got used after our initial succes. Weirdly the locomotive disappeared, and as such I need to go buy another one for a fortune (unless Raillo can tell me that I can use any kind of locomotive and I dont need to go spend 55€ on a standard Märklin locomotive. Oh and it would be cool to have a picture of your setup Raillo to show them!)

My real question is: Do you know any cool experiments that I can do (household stuff).

So far I got:
The soda-fountain - The Mentos One.
The baking soda and vinegar vulcano
Floating experiments - what floats, what wont.
If I can make it work - Quickfreeze beer

Anyone have any other cool kids experiments? Can actually be anything that would be fun for kids to watch. I am trying to create a buzz in my shop. (Last I had something create a buzz it was something as simple as an austrich egg with the story of Columbus smashing the top of an egg on it. Kids was all ears of how the story went.) So anything goes.

[Chroelle]

Anyone? Some of you guys must have tried something that blew your mind with household stuff - and no bomb recipes!

[eMTe]

I have no kids (yet), but we have a book in bookstore called "365 experiments for each day of the year", so if you wish I might post you one experiment a day.

[Zyx]

Well, if you want to do experiments with the kids there's always this interpretation....

[Chroelle]

[Chroelle]

Did a few and wanted to report back. Found out that it is a good thing to prepare kids of the risk of falure. We wanted to do a suck an egg into a bottle type experiment with hot water in the bottle, but it didn't work as planned, so they had to sit there and watch as nothing happened for a while and then we used fire instead and it worked. They totally accepted that as we prepared them for it. Seems kind of weird to do, but it paid off.

We also did a lava lamp with water, plantoil and color - and a pill that dissolves in water - like alcacelsers or whatstheirname...

We did the soda-mentos experiments and found out that you will get a better result with diet cola, but NO MATTER WHAT ITS COOL!

We did an attempt at building stalagmites and stalacites with sugar and warm water, but failed due to bad placing of the yarn used - the experiments takes days to do.

We did some more, and all of them seem like they could be fun to show off, so we decided to do a show for the parents come our next summer-fair next month. I wrote a "museum" that is devoted to kids and experiments to help us out with some stuff, and hope to hear back from them.

Oh - we made icecream in 5 minutes - that is if you have icecubes in your freezer and salt and sugar handy, and some vanilla. Tasted amazing - mostly due to the fact that it was something new, and the kids helped make it, by shaking the ingredients together. How to - you say. Mix 1 kilo of chopped icecubes with 200 grams of salt in one plastic bag, then in a smaller bag you put vanilla and 60 grams of sugar (I believe it was). Then you put the small bag into the big bag, tie it up and grab you gloves and start shaking. 5 minutes from now you have icecream. And yummy too.

[eMTe]

Recently I read an article about this book. Afaik it has never been translated into other languages, but I thought that you may be interested in lecture, since you work with kids.

[Chroelle]

This sounds like a great book for my workplace. We have a whole week set off each year where my boss, who is a hunter, brings animals he shot - like deer, quall, rabbits etc, and the kids get to help dissect, feather and finally cook them. We got wild boar once, which was DELICIOUS! We roast everything over a bonfire, and everything is done outside. This is because my boss (his name is actually Boss, so it is kind of weird writing this is English) wants to show the kids nature in its clearest form, and in its most important use -being eaten by mankind.
You gotta love that the kids tend to go: "eeeeewww" on the first day, and is ending up dissecting Bambi on day 2.

See this to see what I mean: BEWARE THAT THE LINK LEADS TO PICTURES OF ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN CUT OPEN. SMALL KIDS SHOULD SEE THIS WITH ADULT!
https://picasaweb.google.com/1060657806 ... redirect=1

[jayenkai]

Yowsers! We didn't even dissect a frog at school!!

[Pater Alf]

Same here. I'm pretty sure there would be lots of parents that would complain if you do such kind of things in a German school. I like the idea though even if I'm not sure it is the right workshop for every kid.

[eMTe]

This link reminded me of a clash which I had with hounddawg back on OG when I found his photos from hunting trip as inappropriate for an old games forum which may be accidentally visited also by youngsters and people who can consider such pics offensive. I even issued a warning on him or something, I don't remember. Now, when internet claimed lives of many people and six year old kids can watch Japanese bestiality porn without problems this sounds like fun.

[Railwaymodeler]

I remember that clash! For the record, I still talk to hounddawg, and moreso his wife, who was known as tramps_lady. They've both told me to let them know when and where the wedding between Maria and I will be, because they would like to be there for that.
(So far as it is, we STILL have not set either a date or place!)

When I was in school, there was no way on Earth I would dissect a frog or anything else. In 7th grade, 1997, we had computers at the junior high school I went to. In fact, the school district in my old hometown of Davenport, received a donation of Apple IIe systems in the mid-late 1980s. As of 1997 nearly all schools still had them, including the junior high school I went to. They had a program in the computer lab that allowed a student to dissect a frog on the computer, so they let me do that instead. When it came time to dissect a worm, the teacher had us pair up, and there were an odd number of kids in the class, so I ended up paired with the teacher, who dissected it with me. She did all the work, I just had to watch and learn.

I just don't have the heart or stomach to do that sort of thing to an animal of any kind. I suppose that is why stray cats and dogs often gravitate towards me out in town quite often, and why my current cat, as well as my previous cat, both pretty much picked ME out to be their human!

Looking at the thread title, it becomes very clear what being a dad will do: A year ago, I would have suggested one use kids in a "human cannonball + brick wall" experiment. Now I can barely think of such a thing, and read the title as educational things to do with a kid that they learn from, which is its intended meaning.

[eMTe]

A year ago, I would have suggested one use kids in a "human cannonball + brick wall" experiment.

Ha ha, some probably deserve it!

[Chroelle]

I actually wrote stuff like that in the first post, and instantly felt a little bad for doing so. Its amazing what fatherhood does.
The whole week is EXTREMELY educational, and there is no slashing and random cutting. They are taught where to cut, and how to make a proper piece of meat for cooking, so dissection suddenly becomes cooking. Only difference is that they don't take the meat out of a vacuumpacked wrapping nor is it pre-feathered or skinned.
We have absolutely NO complaints from parents - it is seen as one of the most important and best things we do with the kids on my work.

Oh, and eMTe - I will add a small notice about the link leading to pictures of dead animals.

[eMTe]

Good, because as much as I felt obliged I truly wouldnt want to ban you.

[Railwaymodeler]

Back when I was a kid, I used to design and build things out of whatever was hanging around the house. If my parents ever had an electrical appliance - be it a shaving razor, blender, or anything with a motor - fail and have to be replaced, they gave me the parts to tinker with.

My dad would sit down with me once every few weeks and remind me of electrical safety, and also we would discuss the basic principles of electronics and mechanical engineering. I do come from a long line of stereotypical German craftsmen. I am, my dad is - to an extent - my grandpa certainly was, and my great grandpa could build and fix anything he wanted!

I just hope Skoda carries that tradition as the first girl like that.

So for now I've been squirreling away motors, electrical gizmos, and all sorts of things she could use to design and invent later on. I just hope she becomes inclined to follow family tradition.

[Chroelle]

The great thing about kids is that they have a tendency to find enthusiasm in things if you show them enthusiasm for it. That was how my dad gave me a passion for watching opera, and for digging myself into stuff. Now at a late stage in life he is giving me a passion for gardening, simply by showing me how it makes him feel. I NEVER was much of a gardener, but I do like the outdoors, and now I have have a garden and a new passion.