Dinosaur Fossil Activity!

My students were obsessed with this dinosaur activity! All you need is a few dinosaurs and some play dough. We rolled out our play dough and then pressed the dinosaur into the play dough. Sometimes we did the whole dinosaur, we did certain body parts, and footprints. It was so much fun! It was a great way to introduce fossils to young students since they were able to see how the dinosaur made markings in the play dough.

One of our fossils that we made

If you are looking for more dinosaur activities, check out our dinosaur tracks activity!

Dinoweek!

During summer camp, we had dinoweek! We started dinoweek by learning about different types of dinosaurs. Our first project we did (combing science and art) was dinosaur footprints where we could compare the different footprints of the dinosaurs that we have. 

This was a great way to start the week and really got everyone excited about dinosaurs! Stay tuned for the rest of our dinoweek activities! 

Combining Science and Art!

Continuing with our science fun this summer we decided to combine one of our favorite science activities with art! We decided to do our baking soda and vinegar explosions on top of a piece of construction paper to see what would happen. First we placed a piece of paper in a container and covered it with a thin layer of baking soda (you do not need a lot).

 Next we mixed our vinegar with food coloring.

Then we used spoons to drip the vinegar on the baking soda. 

When we were done we pulled the paper out of the container to dry. The paper stayed in one piece. At first it was wet looking and then it dried out. You could see the colors where each reaction occurred. As it dried the colors were not a bright as when it was wet. We did have to shake of some baking soda when it dried but we have some fun art work now displayed! 

Check out my post about our colorful explosions during our rainbows/colors unit.

Frozen Goo!

We made frozen goo! This is a great summer science activity, especially for the days when it's too hot to go outside (or take it outside to play with!). To make the goo, all you need is a container, water, food coloring and cornstarch.





To make the goo, I started with cornstarch in a container and slowly add water until all of the cornstarch has mixed with water. It will still be a liquid but all of the cornstarch should be mixed with water.

Next I poured the goo into small cups and mixed in food coloring. Some we did 1 color, others we added multiple colors. It is a little difficult to mix the food coloring into the goo, which is good for adding many colors since they won't really mix together.

Then we put the cups in the freezer. We left them over night, so I'm not sure exactly how long it took them to freeze. When we were ready to play we removed the frozen goo and put it in containers to play with (I definitely recommend putting it in a container because it gets messy as it starts to melt).

This is what it looks like as it starts to melt. 

Everyone (including me) had so much fun playing with the goo. It was fun to watch it melt, and to move the melted goo around. Plus once it as melted you can still play with it (and probably would be able to refreeze it but we didn't). Once ours had melted the colors really started to mix together, which was great to use to review our colors and what colors we can use to make new colors. 

I'm linking this science activity up with Monday Made It at 4th Grade Frolics! 

Rainbow Colors Science Activity

Besides for our colorful explosions activity, this science activity was the next favorite.  We called it our "rainbow colors" since it was so colorful.






Materials: clear container, water, shaving cream, and liquid food color(s)

To start, fill up a clear container (we used the shoebox size Rubbermaid containers and small Tupperware containers) almost to the top with water. Then on top of the water spray a layer of shaving cream.

Then drip a few drops of food coloring on top of the shaving cream.

The food coloring will seep through the shaving cream at different rates. When the food coloring reaches the water it sinks and then starts to spread out.

It is fun to watch as more colors start mixing into the water.

This one was like a tornado as it mixed in the water. We had put the food coloring on the side of the container.

After awhile the colors mixed all together, but it was fun (and pretty) to watch.

Check out our rainbow craft that we made.

Colorful Explosions!

As part of our colors and rainbows unit, we did colorful explosions! I did this last summer, and still had the pictures hanging up in our science center and the kids have been asking when were we going to do it this summer. We used baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, glitter and bowls. I set the bowls in the top of a large rubber maid container to help catch the explosion. 

Next I got our cupcake container, which we usually use for sorting, so that each student could do their own explosion. We put the baking soda in a couple of the containers and then each student was able to pick which color they wanted to mix in with their vinegar. 

 

The cupcake container was great because it helped to contain the mess plus it was the perfect size for small explosions! If you are going to do this with a group of students it was so much easier than when we used bowls last summer, plus less mess to clean up.