School is out, but science is in

The holiday season is in full swing, and the New Year’s list of opportunities for your family is surely top of mind.

In continuation of last month’s column, I’ve compiled a list of a few more activities you can do to keep your child’s learning top of mind – and all in the comfort of your own home – while they’re out of school. Fossil Making The education behind fossil making is simple: Fossils are how we connect with creatures from thousands of years ago.

First, you’ll need to find some plastic bugs.

Choose your child’s favorites from Learning Express of Shreveport, located at 5733 Youree Dr., and also purchase some Play-Doh for this project (get creative – mix up the colors).

Now, grab a bowl and add beans of any sort; you’ll be hiding the insects in this bowl for your young paleontologist to find. (You could do this excavation out of a tub filled with dirt or sand if you so choose.)

Once they’ve been found, press the insects down into individual, small Play-Doh sheets. Let these harden overnight. In the meantime, make some name cards for the insects you’ve found. To go one step further, add a hole in each “fossil” to make a string of fossils to hang on display.

For the child who is a serious paleontologist, you could purchase the Dig it Up Excavation Kit (featuring Tyrannosaurus Rex) off Amazon for $12.95, or dig out a virtual fossil at paleobiology.si.edu/.

Creating fossils gives you an opportunity to explore creative language and fine motor skills with your child(ren). Colorful Rock Candy Now that let’s add some sweetness to our projects.

Sucrose (basic table sugar) crystallizes to form rock crystals that you can eat. To do this, you’ll need yarn, a pencil, a clean glass jar, boiling pan, teaspoon, 1 cup of water and 2-3 cups of sugar.

Keep this in mind: The sugar crystal growing process may take several days to a week.

First, tie the yarn to the pencil, and place it on top of the glass jar. Although it should almost touch the bottom, the string should not touch the bottom or the sides of the jar. Adjust it by wrapping it around the pencil more, if needed. Now remove the yarn from the jar.

Boil 1 cup of water. In one-teaspoon increments, stir the sugar into the boiling water.

Keep adding the sugar until it no longer dissolves and is accumulating at the bottom. (If it’s accumulating, you’ve saturated the mixture.)

If you don’t have the right amount of sugar, the project will flop; if there’s too little sugar, crystals will not form quickly, but if there’s too much sugar, crystals will form on the undissolved sugar rather than the yarn.

Add the food coloring at this point if you’d like to give your candy some pop of color.

Then, pour the solution into the glass jar.

Do not pour any undissolved sugar into the jar. Place the pencil over the glass jar, and the yarn should suspend within the solution.

Two different processes will contribute to the growth of the crystals on the string. First, you have created a supersaturated solution by heating a saturated sugar solution (a solution in which no more sugar can dissolve at a particular temperature) and then allowing it to cool.

This supersaturated solution is unstable, meaning it contains more sugar (solute) than can stay in a liquid form, so the sugar will come out of the solution, forming a crystal.

Place the jar aside, where it will be undisturbed. Place a napkin over the top to ensure nothing else gets inside, such as dust particles.

Check on your growing crystals in 24 hours.

Once they’ve reached a size you’re pleased with, pull out the string of yarn and allow the crystals to dry. Choose to keep them, or eat them.

So, after the sugar high has passed, the holiday lights have come down and the wrapping paper is in the recycle bin, grab a few materials from around the house, and make some fun projects.

Also remember to include more hands-on moments like these in your family’s list of 2014 resolutions.

Find projects like these and more at Pintrest.com.

Karen E. Wissing is the public relations and marketing manager for Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center. Part of Sci-Port’s mission is to spark curiosity about the world around us, including within informal settings. Email your questions, comments or suggestions to kwissing@ sciport.org. Follow us on Facebook at facebook. com/sciport.

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