Experimenting with Naked Eggs - Osmosis

Okay, we made naked eggs.... now what???

We did a few different things with our (4) naked eggs. Observed osmosis, reverse osmosis, and durability of the egg membrane.  How, you ask... Let me talk you through these experiments one at a time.

To observe osmosis:

We measured our first egg (call it our BLUE egg), height and girth using a measuring tape

Next, we weighed it, using our primary balance and our cm gram cubes.

Then we place it in water that we had tented blue with 5 drops of food coloring (again in our ghetto up-cycled containers) 

We waited 24 hours and re weighed and measured. Of course writing down all of our measurements as we went. 

What did we observe?  Well, the egg not only grew in size and weight (due to the process of osmosis) but also absorbed the blue coloring of the water turning our egg blue. 

 We used this lesson to do MANY subjects for our day.  We learned about the process of osmosis for Science. We looked up, and defined, the Vocabulary words: Osmosis, membrane, absorb, Primary Balance, girth, height, process, observe, and experiment.  We measured and weighed the egg for Math (recording our facts) We began an outline for our up-coming science essays (Science AND Language Arts). We even drew pictures of the process for Art class.  

If you think this was cool, JUST WAIT!  In my next blog post, I will talk you through the "How To"s of reverse osmosis!  SUPER BIZARRE and COOL!

NAKED eggs!

NAKED???  You read that right!  Our week-long science lesson was the making of/experimenting on Naked Eggs.  What IS a naked egg, you ask.  Well... a naked egg is an egg (in it's raw form) where the shell has been removed leaving only the membrane holding in the contents of the egg (whites and yolk).  Very cool?  I think YES!  You have GOT to try this at least once.  Here's your how-to...

What you will need...

• An egg
• Vinegar enough to soak an egg in twice.
• A container
• 48 hours time

Let's get started. Stay with me through the whole 5 steps that follow  ;-)  ...

Put egg in container and add enough vinegar to cover egg

Wait 24 hours

Wipe the white "slime" (yes, that IS the technical name) off of the egg

 Soak in fresh vinegar for another 24 hours. 

TA DA!  You have a NAKED EGG!

 

We took our naked eggs and turned them into a whole week worth of experimenting (see next posts on Naked Egg FuN 1, 2 & 3)

Shrink it (see next post), bounce it, roll it, squish it. But keep in mind it WILL be messy and it WILL break!

"Eye Spy" Bottles for Phonics and Preschool FuN!!!

Now, let's put some of that Colored Rice to good use. The first thing I did with mine was make a couple of "Eye Spy" bottles. These can make for great activities for busying you littler munchkins. They're even great for on-the-go schooling. Make them in any theme you'd like. I went with a "phonics" theme for my 1st two so that we could work on beginning sounds with my Pre-K and Kinder-aged kiddos. 

What You'll Need:

• Colored Rice (see blog-post on making your own)

• A Large mouthed bottle (I used a Gatorade bottle)

• An idea (see list below of some ideas my big kids and I came up with)

• Small objects to fit you theme or even random ones (must fit through mouth of bottle)

• A camera 

• Lid

• Super Glue (if you have small ones who might choke on small objects if the bottle were to be opened)

The letter "L"

Here's where to start... Gather up as many small objects as you'd like to use in you "Eye Spy" bottle. My bigger kids LOVED helping with this part.

Lay them out and take a picture of them. 

Fill your bottle 2/3 of the way full with your colored rice.

Add your small objects

Secure lid

ShAkE it up

The Letter "B"

Print the picture of your small objects. If you don't want to print it you could just pull it up on your computer and have them do it there. (I photo edit mine to include the 'names' of the objects)

Hand it to your little one and let them try and "Spy" all of the objects pictured. Encourage them to shake, roll, tip and turn the bottle to uncover all the hidden treasures. 

 Having trouble coming up with Ideas to fill you "Eye Spy" bottles?  This list is just a FEW of the MANY themes you could do...

• Beginning sounds (like my example)
• Holiday (CHRISTmas, Easter, Fourth of July...)
• Color (all green objects...)
• Pirates
• Shapes
• Ocean
• Animals
• Seasons
• Bugs
• Building (nail, nut, bolt, screw, etc)
• Candy
• Money
• Shells
• Rocks (different types or colors/shape/sizes)
• Game pieces
• Numbers
• Randomness
• Kitchen items
• Jewelry
• Food (Barbie, doll house, or littlest petshop style)

Have LOTS of FuN with these!!!

One of my **NEW** favorite preschool manipulatives... COLORED RICE!!!

Let me talk you through the "how to"s of coloring rice. It's simple, it's fun, and it really doesn't have to be (very) messy.  Here's what you'll need...

• Rice (1 cup at a time... # of cups will depend on how much rice you want colored)
• 1 cup measuring cup
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Table Spoon
• Food Coloring (liquid or gel)
• News Paper
• Ghetto Up-Cycled containers with lids
• Bottles/containers for storing colored rice in

First: Gather all your supplies.  Next: Cover your workspace with a layer of newspaper (just in case). Then: you'll want to make sure your little helpers are settled and ready to have some (calm-ish) FuN! 

Okay, here we go...

Measure out 1 cup of dry rice into your container (I reused 24 oz sour cream containers with lids).  Even small hands can do this step if you have your rice in a large bowl. 

Add 2 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol (big people might have to help with this step... and the next one).
 
Add 5-8 drops of food coloring (I used liquid, but gel produces a more vibrant color). 

Secure the lid, and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!!!! Shake for a full minute, or even two if they're really enjoying it (and your head can handle it).

Then spread the contents of your container onto a couple layers of newspaper to dry.

It really only takes about 30minutes to an hour to dry.  Then it's ready to be played with or stored for the fun things ahead.  (refer to upcoming posts about eye-spy bottles, sensory boxes, and other FuN)

Teaching opportunities: You can use this as an opportunity to teach your kids about primary and secondary colors by mixing your primary colored food coloring to make your secondary colors. Talk to them about why you use alcohol instead of vinegar (it drys faster).Work on fractions by teaching them that 2 half cups and 4 quarter cups are equal to a cup of rice. Work on conversions between teaspoons and tablespoons.  Practice measuring things out themselves by letting them do the measuring. Following multi-step directions (tell them how to do the whole process and let them go at it with little guidance from you)

There you have it, Science, Math, and Art class all wrapped up in a 15 minute lesson.  & now you have a staple to more FuN!

Never to soon to try something new...

Here we go... my first venture into the blogging world.  Wish me luck!