Five Fun Experiments (Cooking with Kids)

By Hklbrries

Try it at home:
•Make a bouncing egg by placing an uncooked egg in a glass or plastic container and covering it with white vinegar. Wait 24 hours and remove the egg. Hold the egg over the sink from three inches above. Let go and watch the egg bounce.

•Turn an empty plastic water bottle into a volcano by filling it half full with white vinegar. Add three to five drops of red food coloring. Sculpt modeling clay or tinfoil around the bottle in the shape of a volcano. In the sink or outside, add a heaping teaspoon of baking soda to the volcano and watch it bubble and fizz.

•Is slime a liquid or solid? Find out by pouring 1/3 cup of water into a mixing bowl. Add 3/4 cup of cornstarch to the bowl, sprinkling in a little at a time. Mix and let the concoction stand for three to four minutes. Stick your hand in the bowl and grab the slime, squeezing it into a hard ball. Let go and watch the slime liquefy.

•Make a vanilla balloon to learn about osmosis. Use a funnel to add a few drops of vanilla extract to a balloon. Blow it up and tie off the end. Place the balloon inside a shoebox and close the lid. Open the box a few hours later. Does the box smell like vanilla? The vanilla particles penetrate the balloon by osmosis.

•Watch celery drink by making a celery straw. Fill a glass with water and a few drops of food coloring. Add a celery stalk that still has a few leaves attached. Leave the glass next to a window overnight and check on it the next day. Did the celery drink the colored water?

From “Cool Chemistry Concoctions” by Veronika Gunter and Joe Rhatigan (Lark Publishing, 2005) and “Everyday Science Experiments in the Kitchen” by John Daniel Hartzog (Rosen Publishing Group, 2000).

Kirsten Harrington is a Spokane freelance writer and can be reached at kharrington67@ earthlink.net.

Ingredients

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Preparation

Step 1

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