Kitchen Science

I don't know about you, but cornstarch has always intrigued me. The way when you add water it gets so well, difficult to stir. So, why does it do this? Aha...so, cornstarch never really dissolves and that is why it forms tiny solid pieces suspended in the water. That is called a colloid. The harder you press them, the firmer they feel, but when you leave them alone..they drip. When mixing cornstarch in water, you will find this to be SO true. However, if you add enough water, you win. ;> <br /> <br />So what fun will the kids be having? <br /> <br />Captain Cook - Eggs science (making meringues), Making Butter <br />Manic Mixtures - Cornstarch fun...lots of messy "goo" <br />Double Bubble Trouble - Making huge bubbles <br />Tower of Strength - Sugar Cement <br />Moldy Stuff - Yup..Mold! <br />Sour Power - Lemons as natural batteries <br />Fizzical Reactions - Volcanic eruptions..watch out kitchen! <br />Acid Tests - Get the kids to enjoy cleaning the silver...too funny. <br />Sinking Feeling - An explanation of lava lamps <br />Chopping Mad - Coloring celery, etc. <br />On the Move - Making a water wheel <br />Hot and Cold - Making Ice cream, hey finally something you can really eat! <br />Farming Crystals - Crystals from salts <br />Wet, Wet, Wet - Steam, liquid, ice <br />Under Pressure - Siphoning, etc. <br />Creating Currents - Electric charges, balloons <br />Hard and Soft - Boiling eggs, melting chocolate, toasting bread <br />Light Fantastic - Make a fake rainbow <br />Making Sense - Five senses, picture of what we taste: bitter, sweet, sour, salty <br />Seeing Sound - Sound waves and making your own drum <br />Hearing Things - Make some fun earphones <br /> <br />Each experiment has a bold heading, followed by plenty of pictures. The ingredients <br />are not listed in order, but are listed in the instructions. I would have liked to see them listed, but there are quite a few experiments on each page, so you can pick one. Most don't have that many ingredients and more than likely, you will have the ingredients <br />for these recipes or can easily obtain them at the grocery store. <br /> <br />You might want to keep this book in the kitchen so kids can play while you are cooking, soon they will want to be in the kitchen more when they find out how much fun it really is to "play" in the kitchen. If you think about it, children are naturally attracted to the kitchen, that is the only way to explain why all that Tupperware is everywhere again! For babies, playing with regular kitchen items can be really fun. <br /> <br />I myself was often found in a drawer or tossing about the entire contents of the lower kitchen cupboards. That was before they invented those child lock devices to keep kids out of the cupboards. I still think as a child there was no place more fun that the kitchen. When my parents kept me out for a few hours when they were painting, they said I screamed my head off the entire time. ;> Hey, I just wanted to help! <