RE: Chemistry
Karen
The "stuff" ended up to be mostly pH indicators and showing how iron
precipitates on a nail (yawn). *I* wouldn't have bought it, but it was
well-intended because it was "educational." Purple cabbage water is a lot
more fun and very attractive as well; we ran around finding everything we
could in the house to mix with it and had every glass bowl I own filled up.
We've done baking soda and vinegar many times, mainly because ds likes it,
plus the inevitable volcano. When the can of bug spray exploded in our
garage a few summers ago and punched a hole through the ceiling, we got to
talk about pressure and reactions (we didn't repeat the experiment, much to
his dismay.) And when I make a caramel pie out of Eagle Brand (BTW, that's
the entire recipe, so it's a bit rich <g>) I found that you can get the same
result from boiling a can for 3 hours as you do from letting it sit on the
shelf for three years. Neat, huh! And 'fessing up: I shouldn't have called
myself a chemistry survivor; I was actually a chemistry nerd. Want to know
what happens when you put a quarter at the bottom of a beaker of silver
nitrate? <veg>
Mattie
<<WHY didn't the stuff work? There is chemistry
everywhere. Hey! You could blow up eggs in the
microwave! I once blew up some in a regular pot on the
stove top. Left them to hardboil and forgot. When I
came home, the pot was welded to the burner and the
eggs were eveywhere. On the textured ceiling, behind
the refrigerator, underneath the uphigh cupboards, one
all of the exterior surfaces of everything. Wish I
had observed this!
There is the baking soda and vinigar comination, that
goes a long way for "food for thought". Actually all
cooking is chemistry. Dyes and mordants are
chemistry.
Medicine is chemistry. Compost and fertilizer is
chemistry, the weather is chemistry.....you really
can't avoid chemistry. It is sort of like art and
craft materials. Everywhere.
Sharon of the Swamp>>
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @... address at http://mail.yahoo.com
precipitates on a nail (yawn). *I* wouldn't have bought it, but it was
well-intended because it was "educational." Purple cabbage water is a lot
more fun and very attractive as well; we ran around finding everything we
could in the house to mix with it and had every glass bowl I own filled up.
We've done baking soda and vinegar many times, mainly because ds likes it,
plus the inevitable volcano. When the can of bug spray exploded in our
garage a few summers ago and punched a hole through the ceiling, we got to
talk about pressure and reactions (we didn't repeat the experiment, much to
his dismay.) And when I make a caramel pie out of Eagle Brand (BTW, that's
the entire recipe, so it's a bit rich <g>) I found that you can get the same
result from boiling a can for 3 hours as you do from letting it sit on the
shelf for three years. Neat, huh! And 'fessing up: I shouldn't have called
myself a chemistry survivor; I was actually a chemistry nerd. Want to know
what happens when you put a quarter at the bottom of a beaker of silver
nitrate? <veg>
Mattie
> Pat, my son got a Smithsonian chemistry set for...................................................>
> Christmas and I thought, cool, because it says
> Smithsonian, right? Wrong. The instructions weren't
> clear, the experiments didn't work, and nothing
> smoked
> or blew up, which really disappointed ds.
<<WHY didn't the stuff work? There is chemistry
everywhere. Hey! You could blow up eggs in the
microwave! I once blew up some in a regular pot on the
stove top. Left them to hardboil and forgot. When I
came home, the pot was welded to the burner and the
eggs were eveywhere. On the textured ceiling, behind
the refrigerator, underneath the uphigh cupboards, one
all of the exterior surfaces of everything. Wish I
had observed this!
There is the baking soda and vinigar comination, that
goes a long way for "food for thought". Actually all
cooking is chemistry. Dyes and mordants are
chemistry.
Medicine is chemistry. Compost and fertilizer is
chemistry, the weather is chemistry.....you really
can't avoid chemistry. It is sort of like art and
craft materials. Everywhere.
Sharon of the Swamp>>
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @... address at http://mail.yahoo.com
renee_cabatic
Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for an 8 year old?
We used BrainPop,
http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else out there similar or better?
Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of chemical reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc. BrainPop does this but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie on a certain topic--that was it. It didn't give any more information.
He also wants a chemistry set.
Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be appreciated.
--Thanks
Renee
http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
We used BrainPop,
http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else out there similar or better?
Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of chemical reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc. BrainPop does this but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie on a certain topic--that was it. It didn't give any more information.
He also wants a chemistry set.
Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be appreciated.
--Thanks
Renee
http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
Robin Bentley
How about Mythbusters on Discovery Channel? Not all of what they do is
chemistry, but the stuff they do do are kind of spectacular. The team
members are funny and cool, and we learn a lot from the show.
Robin B.
chemistry, but the stuff they do do are kind of spectacular. The team
members are funny and cool, and we learn a lot from the show.
Robin B.
On Mar 5, 2009, at 10:50 PM, renee_cabatic wrote:
> Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for
> an 8 year old?
> We used BrainPop,
> http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
> for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year
> subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there
> anything else out there similar or better?
> Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of
> chemical reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc.
> BrainPop does this but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie
> on a certain topic--that was it. It didn't give any more information.
>
> He also wants a chemistry set.
> Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be
> appreciated.
>
> --Thanks
> Renee
> http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
emiLy Q.
Mr. Wizard DVD box set. Not just chemistry, but great visuals and
explanations of tons of science stuff.
-emiLy
explanations of tons of science stuff.
-emiLy
On 3/6/09 12:50 AM, "renee_cabatic" <renee_cabatic@...> wrote:
> Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for an 8
> year old?
> We used BrainPop,
> http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
> for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year
> subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else out
> there similar or better?
> Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of chemical
> reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc. BrainPop does this
> but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie on a certain topic--that was
> it. It didn't give any more information.
>
> He also wants a chemistry set.
> Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be
> appreciated.
>
> --Thanks
> Renee
> http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
-emiLy, mom to Delia (5) & Henry (1.5)
Happy Pottying!
http://www.HappyPottying.com
emiLy Q.
I just googled "basic chemistry experiments" and got this:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/homeexperiments/Chemistry_Experiments_You_Can_
Do_at_Home.htm
Hopefully that link won't break up -- but it was the first link that came up
on Google so should be easy to find.
We've been playing with cornstarch and water and making "goo" -- oobleck, a
Non-Newtonian Fluid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid We
never did this in chemistry, but it's in the line of the idea of things that
change when things happen to them. LOL Think also, heat changing things,
cold, wet/dry etc.
Mythbusters and other TV shows (NUMB3RS) have done the
walking-across-the-oobleck thing. We will be doing that ourselves this
summer I think.
-emiLy
http://chemistry.about.com/od/homeexperiments/Chemistry_Experiments_You_Can_
Do_at_Home.htm
Hopefully that link won't break up -- but it was the first link that came up
on Google so should be easy to find.
We've been playing with cornstarch and water and making "goo" -- oobleck, a
Non-Newtonian Fluid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid We
never did this in chemistry, but it's in the line of the idea of things that
change when things happen to them. LOL Think also, heat changing things,
cold, wet/dry etc.
Mythbusters and other TV shows (NUMB3RS) have done the
walking-across-the-oobleck thing. We will be doing that ourselves this
summer I think.
-emiLy
Schuyler
Youtube. Look through youtube for videos. I like this one, but it may not satisfy the experiment watching desire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a45dXztokZM. Robert Krampf has a lot of free videos: http://krampf.com/members/experiment-videos. And if you like his stuff the membership to watch 'em all is 20 dollars. I've been very tempted by this book: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/07/kevin_kelly_reviews_our_h.html. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen is an interesting book that talks about a lot of the chemistry of cooking.
Robyn Coburn has posted links before to a place with good scientific equipment. You could wait for her to post it again or you could probably search the archives and find it. In the UK I can't get a chemisty set with much more than what I have in the kitchen.
Schuyler
________________________________
From: renee_cabatic <renee_cabatic@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, 6 March, 2009 6:50:02 AM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Chemistry
Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for an 8 year old?
We used BrainPop,
http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else out there similar or better?
Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of chemical reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc. BrainPop does this but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie on a certain topic--that was it. It didn't give any more information.
He also wants a chemistry set.
Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be appreciated.
--Thanks
Renee
http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Robyn Coburn has posted links before to a place with good scientific equipment. You could wait for her to post it again or you could probably search the archives and find it. In the UK I can't get a chemisty set with much more than what I have in the kitchen.
Schuyler
________________________________
From: renee_cabatic <renee_cabatic@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, 6 March, 2009 6:50:02 AM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Chemistry
Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for an 8 year old?
We used BrainPop,
http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else out there similar or better?
Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of chemical reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc. BrainPop does this but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie on a certain topic--that was it. It didn't give any more information.
He also wants a chemistry set.
Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be appreciated.
--Thanks
Renee
http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Verna
--- In [email protected], "renee_cabatic" <renee_cabatic@...> wrote:
we did brainpop and the kids loved it for a few days. i objected that the subscription you had to commit to a year. i thought it was great though. we also tried the discovery channel site video thing but nobody was very impressed.
i buy the kids some of those little experiment kits from target sometimes. they range from 10 on sale to 20. the one target had about chemistry is basic but they liked it.
we also have a few basic experiment books that they like to go through ad pickout experiments occasionally. just kitchen science kinds of things.
\\
>Bill Nye the sciene guy is great.
> Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for an 8 year old?
> We used BrainPop,
> http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
> for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else out there similar or better?
we did brainpop and the kids loved it for a few days. i objected that the subscription you had to commit to a year. i thought it was great though. we also tried the discovery channel site video thing but nobody was very impressed.
i buy the kids some of those little experiment kits from target sometimes. they range from 10 on sale to 20. the one target had about chemistry is basic but they liked it.
we also have a few basic experiment books that they like to go through ad pickout experiments occasionally. just kitchen science kinds of things.
\\
k
Haven't read the responses so pardon any repeats.
Try youtube. There's lots of how-to's there.
Also maybe How Stuff Works (a book) by David MacCauley could have good
starting points? Not sure as I haven't looked at it myself but I've seen it
highly recommended on unschooling lists and I've wondered. Anybody know?.
Krampf Experiments online newsletters are weekly, though not chemicals you
would find in a lab... the kitchen variety experimentation playing with
cause and effect.
Karl is 5 and he enjoys BrianPopJr though it is a very limited set piece
that doesn't get very deep. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions without
making it clear that it's doing so. It's just a jumping off point. Since I
have made sure to suggest that there might be more to it than what they say,
he seems fine with it. I don't always agree with the facts presented and
since I mention that, Karl is beginning to take it as one opinion among
others. He went around the room and tried magnets on various items as
suggested and had me to write down the results because he wanted to try out
the scientific method. A simple concept... which he's done with for now.
So if an 8 year old wants to learn more about chemical reactions I would say
BrainPop is fine for a few ideas (they change their videos from time to
time). Nothing wrong with it. Just add more to it. There's lots out there
for free as well.
~Katherine
Try youtube. There's lots of how-to's there.
Also maybe How Stuff Works (a book) by David MacCauley could have good
starting points? Not sure as I haven't looked at it myself but I've seen it
highly recommended on unschooling lists and I've wondered. Anybody know?.
Krampf Experiments online newsletters are weekly, though not chemicals you
would find in a lab... the kitchen variety experimentation playing with
cause and effect.
Karl is 5 and he enjoys BrianPopJr though it is a very limited set piece
that doesn't get very deep. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions without
making it clear that it's doing so. It's just a jumping off point. Since I
have made sure to suggest that there might be more to it than what they say,
he seems fine with it. I don't always agree with the facts presented and
since I mention that, Karl is beginning to take it as one opinion among
others. He went around the room and tried magnets on various items as
suggested and had me to write down the results because he wanted to try out
the scientific method. A simple concept... which he's done with for now.
So if an 8 year old wants to learn more about chemical reactions I would say
BrainPop is fine for a few ideas (they change their videos from time to
time). Nothing wrong with it. Just add more to it. There's lots out there
for free as well.
~Katherine
On 3/6/09, renee_cabatic <renee_cabatic@...> wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any recomendations for learning about chemistry for an 8
> year old?
> We used BrainPop,
> http://www.brainpop.com/ (It's an animated educational site for kids)
> for a 5 day free trial and we are debating if we should get the year
> subscription. Has anyone else used this resource? Is there anything else
> out there similar or better?
> Xander (ds-8) is interested in chemistry and wants to see movies of
> chemical reactions and depictions of molecules and electrons etc. BrainPop
> does this but it doesn't go further--once he saw the movie on a certain
> topic--that was it. It didn't give any more information.
>
> He also wants a chemistry set.
> Recommendations on what to look for in a good chemistry set would be
> appreciated.
>
> --Thanks
> Renee
> http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Brad Holcomb
Mostly for nostalgic reasons, I bought this set last fall:
http://www.amazon.com/Thames-Kosmos-645014-CHEM-C3000/dp/B00007B8M6
I had a cool chemistry set as a kid that I used to make lots of
foul-smelling and fun stuff. I researched for a few hours before choosing
this one. I haven't opened it yet. Still in the box and waiting for me or
my son to get interested in it. Future strewing.
Even though my son is 4, I went ahead and bought it because so many formerly
easy-to-get chemicals are now restricted by state or federal laws because
they're used in the manufacture of different street drugs. Lye, for
example. A friend of ours in Missouri was bemoaning the fact last year that
she's had to change her soap recipe due to the unavailability of lye. So I
thought I'd buy a cool chemistry set before they're completely off the
market. It has all the basics, and then I'll get creative and fill in the
gaps. -=b.
http://www.amazon.com/Thames-Kosmos-645014-CHEM-C3000/dp/B00007B8M6
I had a cool chemistry set as a kid that I used to make lots of
foul-smelling and fun stuff. I researched for a few hours before choosing
this one. I haven't opened it yet. Still in the box and waiting for me or
my son to get interested in it. Future strewing.
Even though my son is 4, I went ahead and bought it because so many formerly
easy-to-get chemicals are now restricted by state or federal laws because
they're used in the manufacture of different street drugs. Lye, for
example. A friend of ours in Missouri was bemoaning the fact last year that
she's had to change her soap recipe due to the unavailability of lye. So I
thought I'd buy a cool chemistry set before they're completely off the
market. It has all the basics, and then I'll get creative and fill in the
gaps. -=b.
Robyn L. Coburn
<<<> Robyn Coburn has posted links before to a place with good scientific
equipment. You could wait for her to post it again or you could probably
search the archives and find it. In the UK I can't get a chemisty set with
much more than what I have in the kitchen.>>>>>
I suspect that the site Schuyler means is American Science and Surplus,
www.sciplus.com . They have all kinds of strange and cool stuff for science,
engineering and arts & crafts. Their stuff rotates constantly. Check there
before you buy basics like test tubes or microscopes because sometimes
(often) their prices are remarkable. They sometimes have books too. Browse -
it's too much fun and their paper catalogue is funny.
Robyn L. Coburn
www.Iggyjingles.etsy.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com
www.allthingsdoll.blogspot.com
equipment. You could wait for her to post it again or you could probably
search the archives and find it. In the UK I can't get a chemisty set with
much more than what I have in the kitchen.>>>>>
I suspect that the site Schuyler means is American Science and Surplus,
www.sciplus.com . They have all kinds of strange and cool stuff for science,
engineering and arts & crafts. Their stuff rotates constantly. Check there
before you buy basics like test tubes or microscopes because sometimes
(often) their prices are remarkable. They sometimes have books too. Browse -
it's too much fun and their paper catalogue is funny.
Robyn L. Coburn
www.Iggyjingles.etsy.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com
www.allthingsdoll.blogspot.com
Verna
> Also maybe How Stuff Works (a book) by David MacCauley could have goodi think their is a video series with the same name. my kids have picked them up before from the library and seem to enjoy them.
> starting points? Not sure as I haven't looked at it myself but I've seen it
> highly recommended on unschooling lists and I've wondered. Anybody know?.
>
k
>>>> I suspect that the site Schuyler means is American Science and Surplus,www.sciplus.com . They have all kinds of strange and cool stuff for science,
engineering and arts & crafts. Their stuff rotates constantly. Check there
before you buy basics like test tubes or microscopes because sometimes
(often) their prices are remarkable. They sometimes have books too. Browse -
it's too much fun and their paper catalogue is funny. <<<<
I just signed up for the paper catalog because I never remember to look
through the online catalog.
By the way, http://www.labwarehouse.com/ is their sister company that has
lab type stuff for *cheap*!! Amazing stuff.
~Katherine
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
k
There's also another How Stuff Works... at howstuffworks.com
~Katherine
~Katherine
On 3/6/09, Verna <lalow@...> wrote:
>
>
> > Also maybe How Stuff Works (a book) by David MacCauley could have good
> > starting points? Not sure as I haven't looked at it myself but I've seen
> it
> > highly recommended on unschooling lists and I've wondered. Anybody
> know?.
> >
>
> i think their is a video series with the same name. my kids have picked
> them up before from the library and seem to enjoy them.
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
renee_cabatic
Thank you all so much!
We spent the whole day watching Robert Krampf and recreating his experiments--very fun.
http://krampf.com/members/
And we have many more avenues to explore--thanks again!
--Renee
http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
We spent the whole day watching Robert Krampf and recreating his experiments--very fun.
http://krampf.com/members/
And we have many more avenues to explore--thanks again!
--Renee
http://chicapuba.blogspot.com/
Sandra Dodd
I just got a book lately called Urawaza--Secret Everyday Tips and
Tricks from Japan
Much of it is home cleaning tips, home health, etc. It's a little
like "Helpful Hints" books, but they tell why each suggestion works.
Some of it involves sleds and blowing up pool toys with a big plastic
bag and other such unexpected topics. Holly was reading aloud to me
from it last week, and was especially interested in the "why this
works:" notes.
Sandra
Tricks from Japan
Much of it is home cleaning tips, home health, etc. It's a little
like "Helpful Hints" books, but they tell why each suggestion works.
Some of it involves sleds and blowing up pool toys with a big plastic
bag and other such unexpected topics. Holly was reading aloud to me
from it last week, and was especially interested in the "why this
works:" notes.
Sandra