The little scientist in the JKK program have been getting into some really interesting experiments lately. The last one we did, we made Christmas lava lamps. We used vegetable oil, coloured water, and an Alka-Seltzer tablet for the very end. We first started off by pouring the oil into each jug. “I’m strong enough to pour it in” Caleb said. So, he poured in the first jug and Rennick then said “I can do the other one, see look how high I can hold it” as he lifted the oil jug above his head. We then mixed the colouring in with the water. “We can add lots of red into the water” Harrison said as he poured the red into the water. When all of the colours were mixed, we had to figure out how we were going to get the water in the jugs. “We can make a funnel” Skylar said as she handed educator Nicole a paper plate. “Do you think it will work” educator Nicole asked. “Yes” said half the group as the other half said “no!” So, we rolled up the paper plate and placed it in the bottles. We then discovered that our paper plate funnel did end up working and all of our friends were very impressed. Before we added in the Alka-Seltzer tablets, Caleb noticed that the oil and water were not mixing. “The oil is sitting on top of the water,” he pointed out. “Because the water is heavier than the oil,” Rennick replied back to him. It was then time to add in our Alka-Seltzer tablets. Sophia and another friend got to put the first pieces in each bottle. Before they dropped it in everyone counted down “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” and down they went. “Look the bubbles already started!” Skylar said as she pointed to the bottles. Our friends continued to watch the bottles and more bubbles started to come through. “There is green bubbles in the oil” Harrison stated. “Look the red one has it too” Sophia pointed out. Our friends then wanted to add more tablets in and so we did. “There are even more bubbles now!” Camden said as he pointed to the bottles. Caleb then asked, “Can we turn the bottle upside to get more bubbles?” So, we tried it and Skylar said “we have the same amount of bubbles.” “Will we still have bubbles if we leave it till tomorrow?” Sophia asked. “I’m not too sure, why don’t we find out” educator Jess replied. After leaving the bottles over night, we noticed that there was no colour left in the bottles. “Where did the colour go?” Camden asked. “Well I’m not too sure. Where do you think the colour went?” educator Nicole asked the group. “We can look it up” Rennick shouted.
During this experiment, the children had a lot of questions. Skylar asked “Why does the oil sit on top of the water” and educator Jess answered “It’s because oil is thicker and denser.” Sophia then asked, “Why does it bubble when we had the tablets in?” “Because as it bubbles, it helps clean whatever is in the water,” educator Nicole replied. While doing this science experiment, the children fostered their communication skills with the conversations and questions asked during and after the experiment. They also fostered their cognitive skills as well as their social skills by listening to what their friends had to say and waiting for their friends to finish what they were doing with the bottle.
This experiment left us with many more questions; What would have happened if we didn’t use the Alka-Seltzer tablets? Would we have gotten the bubbles if we used vinegar and baking soda? Why did the colour disappear overnight? Would the water change colour if we didn’t add any food colouring into it? Is there another way we could make a lava lamp? Would we get bigger or smaller bubbles if we used smaller bottles? Was there a way to make the bubbles last longer? We look forward to many more experiments to see if our questions can be answered!
