Play with your Food

Split kids into groups of four or so.  Have them start with Nails for Breakfast, then move on to the M&M Magic activity and Gobstoppers Color Mix activity.  These need time to work, so they can move on to the Float or Sink Candy Bars and Colored Rice/Bean Mosaics while they wait for the experiments to be ready.

Activity: Eating Nails for Breakfast
See also: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/videos#?video=eating-nails-for-breakfast

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/eating-nails-for-breakfast

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/6308/eating-nails-for-breakfast

1. Place 1 cup Total cereal in resealable plastic bag.  Fill the bag 1/2 full with warm water.
2. Carefully seal the bag, leaving an air pocket inside.
3. Mix the cereal and water by squeezing and smooshing the bag until the contents become a brown, soupy mixture.  Allow the mixture to sit for at least 20 minutes.

Activity: M&M Magic

http://www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com/candy-science-kids-mm-experiment/

1. Drop one to two M&M's into your plastic cup.

Activity: Gobstoppers Color Mix

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/gobstopper-science

1. Fill a small plastic plate with enough water to cover the bottom.
2. Drop a Gobstopper of a different color along each side so that they are across from each other and evenly spaced.  
3. Wait and observe.  (Go on to the Float or Sink Candy Bars experiment, but keep checking back on this one).  What happens?

Activity: Float or Sink Candy Bars

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/candy-chemistry-experiments

1. Look at your candy bars.  Feel them.  Do you think any of them will float?
2. Unwrap one of your candy bars.
3. Drop it in the water.
4. Was your hypothesis correct?
5. Continue with the remaining candy bars.
6. Why do you think some floated and some sank?

Craft: Mosaics (using dried beans and dyed rice)

http://artchoo.com/bean-mosaics/

1. Make a picture using dried beans and dyed rice. (I printed off two different line art templates for the kids to use)

M&M Magic Continued:

1. What happened?
2. Why do you think this happened?
1. The "M" letter on the M&M's are printed with edible white ink.  The ink doesn't dissolve in water.  When the candy shell dissolves, the letters peel off and float to the top.

Gobstoppers Color Mix Continued:

1. What happened?
1. Gobstoppers colors do not mix.  They all run into each other and stop.
2. Gobstoppers have at least four layers of colors, so your plate "rainbow" should change colors four times during this experiment.

Nails for Breakfast Continued:

1. Make sure the bag is tightly sealed and position it on a flat side in the palm of your hand.  Place a super-strong magnet on top of the bag.  Put your other hand on top of the magnet and flip the whole thing over so the magnet is underneath the bag.  Slowly slosh the contents of the bag in a circular motion for 15-20 seconds.  The idea is to attract any free moving bits of metallic iron in the cereal to the magnet.
2. Use both hands again and flip the bag and magnet over so the magnet is on top.  Gently squeeze the bag to lift the magnet a little above the cereal soup.  Don't move the magnet just yet.  Look closely at the edges of the magnet where it's touching the bag.  You should be able to see tiny black specks on the inside of the bag around the edges of the magnet.  That's the iron!
3. Keep one end of the magnet touching the bag and move it in little circles.  As you do, the iron will gather into a bigger clump and be much easier to see.

How does it work?  Many breakfast cereals are fortified with food-grade iron particles (metallic iron) as a mineral supplement.  Total cereal is the only major brand of cereal that claims to contain 100% of your recommended daily allowance of iron.  The chemical for iron is FE.  Metallic iron is digested in the stomach and eventually absorbed in the small intestine.  If all the iron from your body was extracted, you'd have enough iron to make two small nails.

Evaluation:

This was a great program, although we didn't get into the science of it as much as I would have liked.  They loved the Nails for Breakfast experiment and every team got to see the iron in their baggy.  The Gobstoppers Color Mix and Float or Sink Candy Bars also worked well in the smaller groups.  The M&M Magic worked, but it was hard to see the M's floating.  The mosaics were fun and different, although the dyed rice had too much food coloring so rubbed off on their hands.  Next time I'll try a different recipe.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Snake

Snack: Mandarin oranges and chocolate coins

Group Activity: Chinese Zodiac

http://spoonful.com/printables/chinese-new-year-zodiac-wheel

Using the zodiac sheet, kids figure out which animal they are.  Do the characteristics match their personality?


Craft: Chinese Lanterns

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6c/31/96/6c3196e1b74acafa637bc39494805f5c.jpg

1. Stamp red construction paper with gold ink images.
2. Add red ink dots and gold ink dots.
3. Fold paper in half length-wise.  Cut along pre-marked lines.
4. Unfold paper, roll into cylinder and staple together.
5. Punch holes and add red yarn for hangers.

Craft: Coiled Snake

http://funart4kids.blogspot.com/2011/03/interactive-spring-bubble-snakes.html

1. Decorate coils with markers or crayons.
2. Glue on google eyes.
3. Glue on craft stick for a tongue.

Game: Chinese Zodiac Animal Noise Game

1. Kids pick zodiac animal name from a hat.
2. Everyone must go around the room making their zodiac animal noise, trying to find their zodiac partner (person making the same noise).

Game: Chopsticks Relay

1. Divide kids into 4-6 teams.
2. Give the first person on each team a pair of chopsticks and a bowl of small items (cotton ball, rock, marshmallow, paper cup, etc.)
3. Children must pick up one object from the bowl using their chopsticks and carry it across the room, placing it in a second bowl.  If the object drops, it must be picked back up with the chopsticks.
4. Player returns to original bowl and hands chopsticks to the next player.

Evaluation:

The kids had a little trouble making the lanterns.  Some cut the top part off, not realizing they needed to cut up to that line.   A little more one on one help would keep that from happening next time (or telling them not to cut anything until we tell them).  We also let them use red glitter, which was a HUGE mistake.  They ended up getting glitter everywhere and many of their lanterns didn’t dry in time to get them cut and formed before the end of the program.  The Coiled Snakes turned out great.  Each kid’s was unique and fun.  The animal noise game was a nice filler at the end of the program, with the kids asking for a new animal once they located their partner.  The relay game was hard, but the kids had fun trying to hold on to everything.

Be Mine, Valentine 2013

Games:

• Minute to Win It Candy Game

http://stacyjulian.com/2011/02/friday-five-for-february-11-2011/

  

http://onecharmingparty.com/2011/01/25/valentines-class-party-day-1/

a.  Using chopsticks fill a bowl with 10 small conversation hearts
b.  Unwrap a Hershey kiss one-handed
c.  Empty pixie stix in circle
d.  Bite ends off Twizzler and blow through it to clear circle of pixie stix dust                          i.      We edited the one from this site to leave off the math. http://stacyjulian.com/2011/02/friday-five-for-february-11-2011/  
Instead we used the chopstick game from this site: http://onecharmingparty.com/2011/01/25/valentines-class-party-day-1/.

• Cupids Arrow

http://darcidowdle.typepad.com/my-blog/2011/02/its-all-about-love-day-five.html/

a.       Stand behind the tape line

b.      Put q-tip in one end of straw

c.       Blow q-tip into bowl

d.      Can you get all 5 in the bowl?

• Tower of Love

• 

  http://onecharmingparty.com/2011/01/25/valentines-class-party-day-1/

a.       Build a tower using large conversation hearts

b.      Can your tower stand for 1 minute?  2 minutes?

Craft: Valentines galore--have a variety of supplies out for kids to make valentines 

http://www.crafts-for-all-seasons.com/thumbprint-heart-bookmark.html

http://www.puttisworld.com/2012/01/i-heart-u-cards.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31149239@N07/5394744592/

http://krokotak.com/2012/11/heartfelt-greetings/

http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.com/2012/02/puppy-love-valentines.html

Evaluation:

                The kids loved making the valentines and asked the next week if we were going to make them again.  The games were a hit.  I definitely see this being a program to do again and again.

Bring on the Snow!

Snack Activity: 

http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/brrr-winter.html

Powdered donuts, candy corn and mini chocolate chips.  Kids decorate the powdered donuts like snowmen (candy corn nose in hole, chocolate chips as eyes/mouth) before book reading and then eat it while book being read.

Group Activity: Snowball Throw (put blue tape down middle of room)

·         Have kids line up in two lines. Explain rules (no aiming at faces/heads, if you throw a snowball before we say go, you sit out the entire game).  Hand each kid a snowball.  Teams throw balls back and forth. Team with fewest balls on their side at end of time (2-3 minutes) is winner.

o   Snowballs made of plastic grocery bags

Group Activity: Snowman relay

·         Each participant gets a piece of a snowman (eyes, mittens, hat, etc.) to put on.  First team to build a complete snowman wins.

Group Craft: Marshmallow Popper: cup, balloon, mini marshmallows.

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/entertainment/crafts-hobbies/make-a-mini-marshmallow-popper-00000000039219/index.html

·         While they are making these, one of us or volunteers will set up the two games below.

Individual “Free” Time (choose one of the activities below; rotate around)

Activity: Marshmallow Popper Game 1. Try to get all the mini marshmallows into the center of a hula hoop using your marshmallow popper.

Activity: Marshmallow Popper Game 2. Try to pop the ping pong ball off the soda bottle without knocking the bottle over.

Activity: Marshmallow Popper Game 3.  Try to get all your mini marshmallows into a bin using your marshmallow popper.

Craft: Snow Painting. 

http://spoonful.com/crafts/its-a-wrap

  Dip evergreen “branch” in white paint to make snowflakes on blue paper.  Also have paint and brushes for adding other wintery features (snowman, snow on trees).

Activity: Ice experiment (can you lift a piece of ice with only a string?—shows how salt melts the ice and then when the ice refreezes, string sticks)

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/10086/science-experiment-with-salt/

Activity: Instant Snow Fun (have 2oz water into one large cup and one scoop snow in small cup.  Have kids pour small cup into large cup)

http://artfulparent.com/2012/11/making-fake-snow-indoor-fun-for-kids.html

Activity: Human Snow Blower Table Game.  

http://hobnobbranson.com/hobnobbin/human-snowblower-table-game/

Tape three large cups even with the end of one table.  Using a paper towel tube, two participants try to blow their ping pong ball (snowball) into one of the cups.  If the ball rolls off the table, their turn is over.

Evaluation:

            The Insta-Snow was a HUGE hit.  They were amazed by it and how large and cold the fake snow became.  The Ice Experiment didn’t work real well.  I think it may have been the string used (or the cups or the salt).  The Evergreen painting didn’t work well either.  The paint was too thick and even when we thinned it out with some water, we still didn’t get the cool prints like in the picture above.  The marshmallow poppers and snowman donuts were also well received.  We had to help with the poppers as the balloons kept slipping off the cup (due in part to the powder inside the balloon).

Fairy Tale Frenzy

Music (while they come in): Dana’s Best Rock and Roll Fairy Tales by Dana Cohenour (JCD ZM COHE DBR R 05)

Book: True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Snack (while listening to story)

Activity: Would You Kiss a Frog? Graph with lip prints.

http://lifeinfirstgrade1.blogspot.com/2011/04/kicking-off-fairy-tales-unit.html

Activity: Blow Your House Down.

http://sewingschool.blogspot.com/2011/01/he-huffed-and-he-puffed.html

·         Have kids divide into teams of 3-4 and sit down at a table in Storytime Room B

o   Toothpicks & marshmallows

o   Sugar cubes

o   Pipe cleaners

o   Cardstock squares (cut slits so they hold together)

o   Craft sticks

o   Lego bricks

o   Graham crackers

o   Qtips and straws

·         Each team creates a house out of the given materials.

·         Each team presents their house.  Kids predict whether or not it will stay together.  We write down predictions.

·         “Wolf” (hair dryer) tries to blow down house.

o   Were predictions correct?  If the house fell apart, can you think of any changes that could be made to it to have it stay together?  (If time, try out some of the ideas)

Activity: Giant Measuring

·         Have kids measure each other and graph the results.

Craft: Wanted Posters

http://mrsterhune.blogspot.com/2011/10/fairy-talestorybook-characters-unit.html

·         Kids create a wanted poster for some fairy tale villain

o   Big Bad Wolf (3 Pigs, Red Riding Hood)

o   Evil stepmother/queen (Cinderella, Snow White)

o   Evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty

o   Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk

o   Rumpelstiltskin

o   Troll (3 Billy Goats Gruff)

o   Witch (Hansel and Gretel)

Evaluation:

Wonderful program. All activities were a huge hit with the kids. We found that the cardboard squares were not suitable for building a house, though. Not sturdy enough to stand up at all when hooked together.

Harry Potter

Snack: Edible wands (vanilla frosting and pretzel rods)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/magic-wands/

Divination Class:

http://tikkido.com/node/521

·         Beforehand, place a drop of food coloring on the bottom of a clear plastic glass.  Let dry.

·         Fill a cup with some ice.  Place cup in child’s outstretched hands.

·         Have the child concentrate on her future, then, add the Sprite. (For an added touch, we poured the Sprite into their cups using teapots).  

o   Red=Your life is full of adventure

o   Orange=you are daring

o   Blue=you are going to be a famous quidditch player

o   Yellow=you are imaginative and will be a famous author

o   Green=you will have a peaceful, long life

o   Purple=you will be skilled in making potions

o   Pink=you will become excellent in the art of magic

o   Black=you will live a life of danger

Split kids into three.  1) Charms, 2) Flying, 3) Potions and have them rotate every 10 minutes.

Charms Class:

http://www.continuallycreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/HPactivities6.gif

·       
      Levitation charm (Wingardium Leviosa)—use wands to keep balloons up in the air

Broom Flight Class: (Craft: Pencil Brooms)

http://lisajennbigelow.com/2010/11/harry-potterpalooza/

  

1. Wrap a piece of double-stick tape (about 2 inches long) around the metal portion of the eraser. 
2. Arrange raffia around the eraser (4-5 pieces) and press raffia into the tape with your fingers.
3. Wrap a second piece of double-stick tape directly above the first piece on the pencil.
4. Arrange 4-5 more pieces of raffia around tape.
5. Take one star garland and wrap it around the top of the raffia. 
6. Tuck the end underneath the garland.
7. Trim some of the top edges of raffia slightly to give the broom an uneven appearance.

Preparation: Cut 10 strips of raffia about 4 inches long with scissors. Cut star garland into 12 inch pieces.

Potions Class:

http://kikicreates.blogspot.com/2012/02/harry-potter-birthday-party.html

   

·         Wizard’s Magic Rainbow: Measure 1 Tbsp of each type of liquid.  Pour each liquid slowly into the container one at a time.  Make sure the liquids do not touch the sides.  Pour in the following order:

o   Honey (snake blood)

o   Karo syrup (dragon spit—red)

o   Dish soap (worm juice)

o   Water (frog bile—green)

o   Vegetable oil (hog snot)

We had the kids form a line. The first kid added the first ingredient and when he moved on to the second ingredient, the second kid in line started adding the first (and so on).  This allowed for up to 5 kids to be adding at one time and helped the line move more quickly.

When kids are done with all three, they can practice Defense against the Dark Arts, color, do puzzles, quiz, get photo taken.

Defense Against the Dark Arts

·         Reducto – This spell blasts an object out of the way.

o   Set up cardboard creatures such as acromantula and provide each child with a special wand. Create the wands in advance – cut wrapping paper or paper towel tubes into wand lengths. Attach pieces of black craft foam to the ends, but at the tip end of the wand, only attach it partially so that it can flap open. Put an object such as a small bean bag or ball from a dollar store inside each wand. Show the children how to start with their wand up and slightly behind them and fling them towards the acromantula, which will cause the ball inside the wand to shoot out.

We had pictures of three different creatures: a basilisk, red cap and doxy.  I found the images through Google images, printed them out on 11x17 paper in color, laminated them and attached each one to a large piece of cardboard.  I added another piece of cardboard to the back to act like a hinge, keeping the creature upright.

Color By Number Hogwarts Crest

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/hogwarts-crest-colour-by-number

Photo Op:

Which Hogwarts Character are you most like questionnaire

Evaluation:

Attendance: 19/21

This was a great program.  The snack and divination drinks were well received, although the black and pink food colors (Wilton gel coloring used for cakes) did not work as well as the others (regular liquid food coloring).  Those may have worked better if we had added the color the day of so they didn’t dry out.  The kids liked seeing what their future held.  Separating into groups also helped with the flow of the program.  For Potions, we found it was easier to squirt the potions ingredients directly into the baby food jars than it was to measure it out (less waste and faster).  We ended up adding an extra bottle of the first two ingredients as they took the longest to add and it allowed the line to move more quickly.  After all was added, the kids wrote their names with Sharpie on the top of their jar so they knew which one was theirs.

For Charms, Sandy added a wonderful element by making it into a game.  We used house banners for decoration.  The kids each chose a house.  When the game started they needed to keep their balloon in the air with the Wingardium Leviosa charm.  If their balloon touched the ground, they lost a point for their House.  At the end, the kids all joined together by their house banner and points lost were tallied.  The house with the fewest points lost won.  The kids loved this and were honest (for the most part) about how many times their balloons touched the ground.  It also helped them with their addition skills as they had to add together all their points.

Broomstick Flying class went quickly and the kids seemed to like their pencils.  They also tried their hand at some of the worksheets we had out, but many brought them home.  The wizard photos worked well as did Defense Against the Dark Arts, which we only did in the first session.  The kids lined up in three teams and took their turn trying to knock down the evil beasties.

Overall this was a fantastic and fun program and one we should definitely do every other year.  There are plenty of ideas available to make it different each time.

Grossology

Snack: Boogers on a Stick
     Small pretzels dipped in green frosting

Game: The Gas We Pass Relay
     Two chairs are set up at one end of the room.  On each chair is a Whoopie cushion.  Kids form two lines.  One kid from each line races down to the chairs. The goal is to see which child can make the loudest sound from the Whoopie cushion.  Those kids not wishing to participate line up along the wall and are the judges.

Science Experiment: Digestion
     Give each participant a baggie with one saltine inside.  The participants then crush their cracker, to mimic chewing in the mouth.  After their cracker is crumbs, a small amount (enough to wet crackers with some left over) of clear soda (Sprite, 7-Up, etc.) is added to the bag.  The participants then knead their bag some more until they are left with "slurry," or the liquid substance their food becomes before it enters the small intestine.

Science Experiment: Slime
     In a small paper cup, kids mix together with a craft stick 1 tablespoon of white glue and 1/2 tablespoon liquid starch.  (You can add food coloring to the mix as well.)

Game: Dirty Diapers
     Take five clean disposable diapers and place one kind of baby food in each one.  Take another five clean disposable diapers and melt one candy bar in each one (30-40 secs each in a microwave).  The kids then have to figure out what is in each diaper.

Game: Touch Boxes
     Using their sense of touch, kids try to guess what is in each container (without looking).

1. Worms (overcooked spaghetti noodles)
2. Fingers (Vienna sausages)
3. Blood and Guts (whole peeled tomatoes)
4. Maggots (overcooked rice with oil)

Worksheets: All from Everything Kids' Gross Cookbook by Colleen Sell

• Nasty Nibbles
• Race to the Latrine maze
• Bug-Eating Veggie Ogress
• Find and Sing Word Search

Background Music: Gross Songs Kids Love to Sing

Evaluation:

Attendance: 23/10

This was a popular program, especially with the boys.  However, there were not enough activities to last the full hour.  The addition of a craft would have made the difference.  The most popular activity by far was the Gas We Pass Game.  I recommend purchasing additional Whoopie cushions as ours barely lasted through one program.  Thank goodness for Duct Tape!  The slime was also popular and easy to make.  The kids, especially the evening crew, were really grossed out with the diapers and touch boxes even after they knew what the items were.  Definitely a program to consider repeating in the future, but maybe as a 45 minute summer program.