Alan & Brenda Leonard

7/7/03 15:58:

> Chemistry or supposed "advanced" science for 5yos? I have DK books about
> Chemistry and a few anatomy books for kids. He's very interested in those
> topics and I'd like to burrow deeper but I'm not sure how. We have no science
> museum or anything like that nearby (we did visit one while on vacation
> recently - he was in heaven) does anyone have ideas or book recommendations?

Dover books has several cheap books on kitchen science experiments, life in
a bucket of dirt, etc. They're good ideas for you, though not in a hugely
kid-friendly format. The library here had those, plus a couple of
bright-colored books along the same lines that appealed to my son more. One
of them had us make ooblik, which was huge fun. We kept it until it
spoiled, which took a LONG time. I'll put the recipe below if you're
interested.

brenda


Ooblik: a substance with properties of both a liquid and a solid.

Dump one box of cornstarch into a shallow pan (cake pan or such). Add
water, a little bit at a time, stirring, until it sticks together in a very
hard to stir mess. Ditch the spoon, and keep mixing in a little bit more
water until it is just runny enough to drip from your fingers, yet is firm
when pressed on in the pan.

Try to hold it! Slap it in the pan. It's fun!
Tim and I mixed foodcoloring into the water first, so our ooblik was an
funky shade of greenish purple.