Save Our Planet from Vampires

My friend Sue Heavenrich just started a wonderful new blog called Archimedes Notebook. This blog "for curious children and their parents" features hands-on science activities for kids and occasional book reviews. Be sure to check it out. 

The following activity accompanies my Kids’ Ocean Acidification page.

Believe it or not, there are probably vampires lurking in your house right now. But these vampires don’t suck blood, they suck electricity. To find electricity-sucking vampires, turn off the lights and look for glowing digital displays. These displays may be simple glowing dots, or they may tell the time or give you information about the “vampire” device; for example, a telephone answering machine might tell you how many messages you have.

Now, turn the lights back on and look for power adapters, those little box-shaped objects that you plug in to charge items like cell phones and laptops. These adapters suck electricity even when they are not in use, and do not always have an associated light to indicate that they are drawing power.

Make a list of all the vampire devices you have in your house. Some of these, such as answering machines, need to be plugged in continuously to function properly. But others, such as coffee makers and many power adapters, do not. To save electricity and money, unplug vampire devices that are not in use. If you have a lot of vampire devices in one area, plug them into a power strip so you can switch off the power all at once.

Banishing electricity-sucking vampires is a great way to save energy. Here are some others:

1. Think before you buy. Yes, that new toy looks cool, but are you really going to play with it? Before you make a purchase, decide whether the item is something you really want or need. And if you own something you don’t want or need anymore, don’t throw it away, recycle it!

2. Ride public transportation, share a ride, walk or ride your bike. You’ll have more fun and get more exercise.

3. Replace energy-hogging traditional light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), and turn off the lights when you leave a room. Remember, light bulbs suck electricity too!

To learn more about vampire power (also known as standby power or phantom load), visit the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory website.  For more ways to save energy, visit the US Department of Energy website.

Happy Holidays!

In celebration of the holiday season, this week's activity is a snowman coloring page. Best wishes in the coming year!
click on image to enlarge or download PDF

Disappearing Shell Egg-speriment

An egg floats after its shell dissolves

This activity complements my website's Ocean Acidification Kids' Page. Ocean acidification is happening because about a third of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels ends up in the ocean, where it reacts with ocean water, causing the water to grow more acidic.

The creatures most likely to be affected by ocean acidification are corals, shellfish, and some types of plankton that have shells or skeletons made of calcium carbonate. This is because acid is corrosive to calcium carbonate.

Bird eggshells are also made from calcium carbonate. In the following experiment you will see what happens when you put an egg in vinegar.

Ages 7 and up; click here for PDF

You will need: 
egg
cup or jar
bowl
white vinegar
knife

Preparation
Place the egg in a cup, and cover with vinegar overnight.

Observation 
Look at the egg. Do you notice anything unusual about it? For one thing, it now floats. For another, it is probably covered with tiny bubbles. Carefully pick it up and place it in a bowl. The egg’s surface feels soft because the calcium carbonate shell has dissolved, and all that is left is an opaque white membrane. The egg looks and feels hard boiled, but if you puncture the membrane, you'll see that it is raw.

What’s Happening?
Bird eggshells are made from calcium carbonate. Acid is corrosive to calcium carbonate, so vinegar dissolves the shell. All that is left is the membrane that lines the inside of the shell. Since the egg isn’t as dense without its shell, it now floats. Air bubbles form when the dissolved carbonate from the shell reacts to form carbon dioxide gas.

More to Try 
Like eggshells, seashells are made from calcium carbonate. Try putting a seashell in vinegar and see what happens. Don’t do this with a seashell you like, however, because chances are it won’t look the same when you are done!

Blowing Bubbles Makes Water More Acidic

This activity complements my website's Ocean Acidification Kids' Page. Ocean acidification is happening because about a third of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels ends up in the ocean, where it reacts with ocean water, causing it to grow more acidic.

In the following experiment you will make your own pH indicator from red cabbage. Using this pH indicator, you can see for yourself how carbon dioxide acidifies water. For more on acids, bases and pH, go to my Ocean Acidification Kids' Page. 

Ages 7 and up; click here for PDF

You will need:
red cabbage
knife
large pot
stove
clear bowl
measuring cup
clear plastic cups
spoons
straw
chemicals to test (water, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, ammonia, soda pop, etc.; clear liquids work best)

from left to right: vinegar, lemon juice, Sprite, water, baking soda, ammonia

Preparation
Place half the cabbage in a large pot and cover with water. Boil until the water turns a purplish green. After the juice has cooled, pour some into a clear bowl and dilute as necessary so you can see to the other side of the container. Congratulations! You have just made a pH indicator, a substance that changes color with pH.

Instructions
Set out a clear plastic cup for each chemical you plan to test, and pour a quarter cup of your pH indicator into each. Pour or spoon a little of each substance into the appropriate cup, and stir. Make sure to test some acids (like soda pop, vinegar, and lemon juice); some bases (like baking soda and ammonia); and water.


If you add water the pH stays neutral and the indicator has a blue color. Add a mild acid like fruit juice and the indicator turns purple. Add a stronger acid like vinegar and it turns pink. Add a base like baking soda or detergent and it turns green.

Watch carbon dioxide acidify water

Pour a quarter cup of pH indicator into a cup. Using a straw, blow bubbles into one of the cups for about a minute. Compare the color of the liquid in the two cups.

What’s Happening?
When you exhale, you breathe out carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide reacts with the water to form carbonic acid, which acidifies the water and turns the pH indicator more blue.

Did you know?
Chemicals called anthocyanins are responsible for red or purple pigmentation in many other plants, including red cabbage, berries, grapes, and red fall foliage. Anthocyanins change color with pH, and anthocyanins extracted from almost any red pigmented plant can be used to make a pH indicator.

pH indicator color before (left) and after (right) blowing carbon dioxide bubbles into the liquid

Homonym Word Play Coloring Page

I am pleased to announce that my Homonym Word Play game appears in the December, 2010 issue of Literacy LAVA. This wonderful newsletter, published by children's author Susan Stephenson on her Book Chook blog, features fun games and activities that encourage young readers.

The coloring page to the right features two of the silly sentences found in my Homonym Word Play game. Be sure to check out this month's Literacy Lava for the other eight! Click on image to enlarge, or click here for PDF.

Make a Thankful Box

Several years ago on Thanksgiving my daughter made a thankful box. Before dinner, each person wrote down what they were thankful for and put their thankful note in the box. Then, as we ate our dessert we opened the box and read all the thanks. It was a really wonderful experience!

For all ages

You will need:

• a shoe box

• large sheets of paper (construction or white)

• scissors, knife

• scotch tape

• crayons or markers

• paper, cut into small squares

• a pencil

Making Your Box
Cover the exterior of the box with paper; tape into place. Cut a slit into the top of the box big enough to insert a small piece of paper. Use crayons or markers to decorate the outside- maybe you can draw pictures of some things you are thankful for!

Giving Thanks
On Thanksgiving or some other appropriate occasion, have everyone who is present write down one thing they are thankful for and put their thankful note in the box. Then open the box and read all the thanks.

Kids Bookfest 2010: Make Your Own Stamp

On Saturday the Family Reading Partnership hosted its annual Kids Book Fest, a wonderful event that features music, crafts and activities for young readers. My own children enjoyed the festival when they were little but have since outgrown it, which means that for several years, I didn't have an excuse to attend. So this year I felt very fortunate to be able to participate as a volunteer. I gave away over forty books and helped kids stamp designs onto paper. Instructions for making stamps like the ones I used are given below. Thanks to all the hard working organizers who made this event possible!



Make Your Own Stamp

Ages 6 and up; click here for PDF

You will need:

• craft foam (get the kind with a sticky back, if you can)

• glue if your foam doesn’t have a sticky back

• pencil

• scissors

• Tempura paint or ink

• foam paint brushes

• small plastic containers

• paper

• newspaper to contain spills

*for the image shown, I used Speedball water-based block printing inks purchased from Dick Blick. These inks are non-toxic and available in a wide variety of colors.

Making Your Stamp
Draw the shape you want to stamp onto a piece of foam. Stray lines don’t matter, but you might want to make a practice design on paper first, and keep it simple: intricate designs are tricky to cut. Once you’ve finished drawing your design, cut it out. Remove the adhesive back of the craft foam, and stick it down to a second piece of foam (use glue if your foam doesn’t have an adhesive backing). Leaving the adhesive backing in place, cut the second piece of foam around the design you’ve just made.

note:  You might want to make a different stamp for each color you use. For example, if you want the center of a flower to be a different color than the petals, make one stamp for the petals and another for the center. (in the lower photograph, the small dot in the middle is the center of the flower on the upper left).

Using Your Stamp
Pour the Tempura paint or ink into plastic containers. If you use ink, dilute it with a little water so that it brushes easily onto the stamp. Using a foam brush, paint the ink onto the raised part of the stamp (try not to get any ink onto the bottom part- an adult may need to do this for younger children). Now, turn the stamp upside down and press it firmly onto a piece of paper. Experiment as necessary to get the paint thickness right.