Science can be a lot like magic, and magicians sometimes use science to perform their tricks! In this kit, all of your experiments will use science to make some magical experiments. In your kit you should have:
Water balls
Super absorbent powder
Raisins and fizzy powder
String
Paper flower
Magic cotton
You will need:
Water
2 cups
A clear cup or container
A bowl
Scissors (you may need a grown-up to help)
Sticky tape
Self-Opening Flower
Cut out your paper flower around the petals (leave the circle in the middle).
Decorate your flower, if you would like to, with coloured pencils (felt tip pens can make it a little heavy).
Fold all the petals into the middle of the flower.
Fill the bottom of a bowl or container (wider than your flower) with water.
Place your flower very gently onto the surface of the water with the folded petals facing upwards. Make sure you just drop it on the surface of the water – don’t let it sink or push it under the water.
Watch the petals slowly open!
Here is Chemical Cress to explain the science behind this magical experiment –
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipm_nVeUouI[/embedyt]
Create your own magical meadow by printing our free template or cut your own flower shapes out of paper – Flower templates home kit
Dancing Raisins
You may want to do this experiment on a wipeable table, on a tray, or outside!
Fill your clear cup or container with water – at least half full.
Take your packet of raisins and fizzy powder.
Pour them into the water, it might overflow, that’s okay.
When the fizzing calms down, watch how your raisins dance in the water!
Your fizzy powder created bubbles of carbon dixoide. These bubbles grab onto the raisins and lift them to the surface, a bit like how arm bands help us float in the swimming pool! When the bubbles reach the surface, they pop, and the raisins sink back down again until another bubble attaches onto them.
Super Absorbent Powder
This powder may look ordinary, but add some water and watch the magical science happen!
Pour your powder into a cup – an egg cup is a good size, but any cup will do.
Add 1 tablespoon of water.
Watch it grow!
The powder is so absorbent it absorbs (soaks up) all of the water and grows to more than 10 times it’s size!
Magic Sticky Water
Did you know water is adhesive, which means it sticks to other surfaces AND cohesive, which means it sticks to itself!
You may want to do this experiment on a wipeable table, on a tray, or outside!
Stick one end of your string to the inside of a cup, near the top, using some sticky tape and then dip the string into a cup of water or gently hold it under a running tap so that the string gets wet.
Put the other cup on the table.
Fill the cup (with the string attached), with water and lift it up in the air so that it’s not quite above the empty cup.
Hold the other end of the string above the empty cup on the table. The string should be slightly diagonal like in the picture.
Slowly pour the water so that it starts to pour down the string.
The water should travel down the string into the empty cup!
Struggling with this experiment? Here is Chemical Cress to tell us more about adhesion and cohesion and to show you exactly how to do this experiment.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKbq5f_9JWk[/embedyt]
Water Balls Part 1
Water balls are a super absorbent polymer, when they absorb water, they grow!
Tip all your water balls into a clear cup or container.
Cover them in water, you can’t add “too much” water and you can top it up if needed.
Leave them for a few hours, or overnight.
See if they’ve grown!
Water Balls Part 2
You should notice that when the balls are covered in water, you can hardly see them.
Try putting some balls in the bottom of a glass (with no water) and putting something small in the middle of the balls, like a lego Minifigure. The figure should look all fuzzy.
Now pour water into the glass – your object should appear!
This is because of refraction, here’s Chemical Cress to tell us more and to help you if you are struggling with this experiment.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v39D2CVhPSo[/embedyt]
Magic Cotton
This stuff may look like cotton wool but it is actually another super absorbent polymer! Use this to trick a grown-up…
Take the cotton and push it into the bottom of a cup (make sure it isn’t a clear cup).
Measure out 20mls of water.
Pour it into the cup.
Now turn the cup over, no water should come out!
Why not try holding it over a grown-ups’ head as a trick? They will think you are going to pour water on them but really nothing will come out!
In your kit you should have:
