I was the kid who looked forward to the science fair every year. I had a hard time narrowing down what topic I wanted to talk about. I LOVED it. I didn’t let my parents help and I always went above and beyond what was required. One year (4th grade) I did a project on Radios. I built a radio, I went to a radio museum exhibit, read every book in the library (dude, the Internet didn’t exist…) but that apparently was not enough. I wrote a rap. Yep. A RAP song people. About radios. And I performed it for everyone who came by my booth. I wish I were kidding. And I got INTO it. Swaying to the beat. I was a skinny white girl rapping about radios.I would give anything to have a video of that!
My kids have not done science fair projects in school. Are they extinct? Is it just here? Any way, my kids have been dying to do this experiment ever since I found it on Pinterest so we went for it. I LOVE doing this kind of stuff with my kids :) My boys are obsessed with all types of rocks so we made geodes and learned more about them.
For the science project, we used:
Sculpty Clay
Alum
Food coloring
Paint Brush
Glass bowl
Water
The instructions said to use egg shells but I figured that would be way too fragile for my boys. They break ACTUAL rocks….. So we made the “shell” of the soon to be geode out of polymer clay.
Once we were done we baked them for 20 minutes at 275 degrees in the oven. We let them cool before moving onto the next step.
We used a cheap paint brush to apply a thin coat of glue to the inside of the shell. Then we put Alum in them and swished it around until the glue was covered. (Alum can be found with the spices in the grocery store) Shake out any extra back into the bottle. The point of this is so the Alum solution used later will be attracted to the alum crystals to form larger crystals. We left one with out glue and Alum as the control.
Now you make the Alum bath or growing solution. Add 2 cups boiling waster to a glass bowl. Then add food coloring (30 -40 drops). Then add 3/4 cup of Alum (2 bottles) and stir until the Alum has completely dissolved. If there are still Alum crystals you can microwave it.
Let the water cool about 30 minutes and then put the soon -to- be- geodes in the growing solution with the open part of the shell facing up. Put the bowl somewhere where it won’t be disturbed. Let it sit overnight at least. The longer you keep them in there, the more they will grow.
Okay, now we needed a presentation. We headed to the store and found these boards
The boys helped me glue the letters I cut out with the X-TREME glue stick.
I had them decided what they thought would happen to the one that didn’t have the Alum glued to it. They decided that it wouldn’t grow crystals at all.
Once the experiment was complete we were able to finish the board.
Here it is all put together!
And here are the geodes……….
The one without the alum glued on it still form some crystal but not as much as the others. It was fun to talk to the boys about why. I think over all they had a good time for it. I was a bit rushed to finish it so I am glad this wasn’t really for school :)
*This post was compensated as part of a social shopper insight study for Collective Bias.
My kids needed a better mom. I so did not want to help with school projects. Been there, done that…ya know?
So cute! I think it all turned out great!
Great job! My daughter teaches 3rd grade–the students are participating in the science fair this year. If you haven’t checked out sciencebuddies.org, give a click. BEST site on the net for science projects and ideas :) (‘Tis the season for Science Fair Projects, too!)
That’s really awesome that you guys could make those geodes :)
I think it’s so hilarious that you made a rap about radios, but at least creating some “music” is relevant to the radio thing :)
~Lisha
How pretty those turned out! Sounds like a fun project, we might have to try it.
What a fun experiment! And that one from martha looks awesome as well! Very cool.
How fun is that! Love all your ideas…so creative. I have an unrelated question….Since GFC is going away, what will you be using for followers? You seem to have it “on the ball” so I thought I would ask you…thanks, Lori
Rapping about radios…that’s awesome!!!
At my kids school, they required every child in the 3rd grade to do a science fair project. Then after all the work that the kids put into it (not to mention the parents) they didn’t even have a “fair”. They had the kids do their presentation in class. Then they told me that they would have everything displayed for 2 hours on a certain day. I even called the day of to confirm, and when I got there no one was there. No project set up, Nothing! That was disappointing. Oh well!
Anyways, this projects looks really fun! I think my kids would love it!
I teach the 4th grade in Idaho, and we still do them! 4-6th have science fairs. I loved mine too, and remember the anticipation of turning the corner to see my project and what ribbon I received.
LOVE it! I can’t wait to do stuff like this with my kids when they get a little older — I think it’s so great for them, and I think you are so amazing for taking the time to do that with them, without “having” to do it for a school project! What a great mom you are!
Fun story; interesting project. I want to do it myself! Wish my son were still little–I’d do this in a heartbeat with him. He loved science fair projects, too, and entered from 7th through 12th. It was a requirement for 7th and 8th, and optional beyond that. Most years 9th-12th he was the only one in his grade (and a large grade at that), or even in his high school, who entered. That’s the difference between teachers supporting and encouraging the students, and teachers ignoring it. Where we live, you have to be registered through the school, or be a homeschooler. One year the sponsor didn’t even bother registering him, and didn’t tell him till 4 days before the the fair. Hey, you home school moms, see what you’re missing? He was so motivated, he did the whole project on his own every year, no mentoring, and won something every year at the state level. I think it’s a terrific activity for for the motivated student who loves science. There are two types of science fairs where we live on the East Coast. One requires a project board, written report, and interviews by judges. The other requires an oral presentation to a panel of judges. My son did the former, mainly because that’s what his school promoted in 7/8, but also because the oral presentation intimidated him. If we’d known about it, he could have started in 6th. They give out an award at the state level to any student who manages to get to states from 6th through 12th. I suggest, if you want to know more about it in your state, try doing an internet search, or talk to a high school science teacher in your district to see if the district participates. http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/ is one science fair program (the international one that the state fairs send their best to). Back track to the state fair, then the county fair to find out how to enter if the school district can’t help. Most importantly, keep doing the projects at home, and encourage them to use the scientific method to analyze the projects. This can be a great starting point for studying all sorts of crystals. Why do snowflakes have six points? Check out http://snowflakebentley.com/ I never liked science in school. I’ve come to appreciate it much more after doing neat experiments with my son, who loves science. Good luck.
those are so cool!