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Simple Science

Sensory Smell Bottles

By Sharla Kostelyk

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I’ve been wanting to make smell bottles for a long time. I first learned of them as a Montessori activity. They are also an amazing sensory activity for teaching about olfactory and providing sensory input. Sensory Science Smell Bottles #sensoryscience #smellbottles #sensoryplayMy kids really enjoyed this activity. Of course, boys being boys, I got to hear what other smells we could have bottled!!! How is it that boys can always find a way to find the gross factor?!

If you’re doing a unit on the Senses, this is a good way to introduce the sense of smell.

This is an inexpensive activity as you will likely have most of the supplies at home already. I found the travel spice bottles we used at the dollar store. You could also use leftover empty spice bottles if you have any.

How to Make Sensory Smell Bottles:

Supplies needed:

  • travel spice bottles
  • cotton balls
  • coffee beans or coffee grounds
  • cinnamon
  • peppermint extract or peppermint essential oil
  • lavender essential oil or lavender
  • coconut
  • lemon essential oil or lemon juice

Put the coffee grounds or beans in one bottle, some cinnamon in another, some coconut in another.

Put some peppermint extract or essential oil on a cotton ball, lavender essential oil on another, and lemon juice or lemon essential oil on another cotton ball. Place each cotton ball into a container.

Have the child guess what each smell is. With younger kids, allow them to use their visual sense as well. They can look for clues such as colour and pair that with the smell to help them figure out what it is.

Help your child play “Sensory Detective”. If you print out the corresponding Smell Bottle Cards (available in the Sensory Science Book Volume 1), lay them out for your child to match the scents to.

With older kids, have the child try the activity blindfolded so that they are only using their sense of smell.

Try filling the bottles with more challenging scents to identify such as a flower, dirt, honey, pepper, salt, or orange.

Talk about what the smells are and how our sense of smell also affects what things taste like. You can find an explanation about smell and taste to share with kids here.

Note that just like all senses, some kids will be more sensitive. They may find some (or all) of the smells too strong or even offensive.

Allow them to go at their own pace. Let them hold the bottle further away or even smell through the lid. Some kids’ sense of smell is so strong that they will be able to smell it through the closed lid.

Find this sensory science activity and many more in The Sensory Science Book, full of engaging hands-on learning ideas.

Check out these other sensory science activities: 

Jello Colour Mixing Experiment jello colour mixing experiment

Outdoor Sensory Scavenger Hunt 

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and get a printable list of 175 Great Sensory Ideas.

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Filed Under: Sensory, Simple Science Tagged With: sensory bottles, sensory play

Melting Ice Experiment

By Sharla Kostelyk

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This is a simple science experiment to do with items you likely already have in your kitchen. Our daughter wanted to do her Science Fair project on melting ice. She was curious about what would make ice melt faster. 

This melting ice science experiment is perfect for science fairs.I thought it would be an easy at home science experiment that wouldn’t take too much planning or prep on my part, but be cool for the kids. It was pretty fascinating actually!

Melting Ice Science Experiment:

Supplies needed:

  • small Dixie cups or mini Solo cups
  • water
  • scissors
  • 6 compartment muffin tin
  • salt
  • sugar

Directions:

  1. Before beginning the experiment, have students talk about what they expect the results to be. Ask them what variable will melt the ice fastest. If you want, you can have them write down their hypothesis. 
  2. Fill 6 small Dixie cups or mini Solo cups with water. Place the cups on a baking tray and place the tray in the freezer.
  3. Freeze overnight.
  4. Cut the frozen water out of the paper cups (adult help may be required for this step). If using Solo cups, you won’t need scissors as you should be able to just pop the ice out.
  5. Place one ice cup in each of the compartments in the muffin tin. Pour hot water on one, cold water on another, steam on another, salt on another, and sugar on another.* Leave one alone so that it can act as the control.

*Adult supervision is important, particularly with the steam and hot water.

Students can document the progress through taking pictures or journalling observations at one minute, five minutes, half an hour, and one hour after adding the variables.

Here is a picture before we added anything to the ice:

IMG_1265

IMG_1267This is immediately after adding the variables to the ice:

ice experiment 1Here is the ice after just five minutes:

ice experiment 2This is after half an hour:

ice experiment 3Here is what our ice looked like after one hour:

ice experiment 4As you can see, the control did melt slower than any of the others. Hot water melted the ice the fastest.

Dixie CupsDixie CupsWilton 6 Cup Regular Muffin PanWilton 6 Cup Regular Muffin PanMorton Morton SaltMorton Morton Salt

Our daughter dictated to me what she had observed during the experiment and we included that as well as a picture she drew of the process and the photographs on her display board for the Science Fair. She loved presenting and explaining her findings to the judges.

melting ice

Here are some other simple science experiments using common household items that you may enjoy doing at home or in the classroom:

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed.How Fold Mountains are Madejello colour mixing experiment10 Jello Science Experiments

Layers of the Earth Hands-on Science Activity

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Filed Under: Homeschooling, Simple Science

Super Science Activities

By Sharla Kostelyk

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These are fun science activities that can be done with kids and many of them use items you probably already have around the house!Super Science Activities to do with kids with inexpensive items

Kitchen Science Activities

Jello Science Experiments from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

Fireworks in Oil and Water from Go Science Girls

Edible Science Experiments for Kids {Printables} The Natural Homeschool

Naked Egg Cell Study from STEAM Powered Family

Testing for Air from Happy Brown House

Onion DNA Experiment from Teach Beside Me (pictured)

Sink or Float Experiment with Lemons from One Perfect Day

Make Your Own Plastic Toys with Milk from STEAM Powered Family

Lima Bean Dissection from Mama Papa Bubba

How to Make Frost from Schooling a Monkey (pictured)

Dancing Rice from Buggy and Buddy

Colourful Celery from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Apple Science from Coffee Cups and Crayons

super-science-activities-squ

Solar System Science Activities

Solar System I-Spy Bag from Research Parent (pictured)

Our Space Explorer Adventure from The Natural Homeschool

Phases of the Moon from The Pinay Homeschooler

Space Sensory Bottle from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

Solar System Unit from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Space Adventures, Games & Activities for Kids {Printable Sets} from The Natural Homeschool

Candy Science Activities

Colourful Candy Science Experiments from STEAM Powered Family (pictured)

Skittles Density Experiment from Winegums & Watermelons

Dissolving Gobstoppers from Mama Papa Bubba

Gummy Bear Osmosis Science from Raising Lifelong Learners

Science with Candy from Mama Miss

super-science-activities-sm

Outdoor Science Activities

Backyard Science Lab from Racheous

Nature Ideas for Kids: Herb Garden Play from The Natural Homeschool

Frozen Bubbles from P is for Preschooler

Making a Solar Still from Teach Beside Me

Make a Windsock from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Nature Ideas for Kids from The Natural Homeschool

Earth Science Activities

How Fold Mountains are Made from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

Earthquake Science Experiment from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Erosion vs. Weathering from The Natural Homeschool (pictured)

How do Salt Flats Form from Planet Smarty Pants

Layers of the Earth from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

Graham Cracker Plate Tectonics from Playdough to Plato (pictured)

Making Groundwater from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Wave in a Bottle from Sugar, Spice and Glitter

Gravity Defying Beads from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Tide Pool Science Experiment from Buggy and Buddy (pictured)

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Filed Under: Homeschooling, Simple Science

Solar System Unit

Mnemonic for learning the order of the planets

By Sharla Kostelyk

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There are so many inventive hands-on ideas out there to use when creating a solar system unit. It was almost as much planning this homeschool unit study as it was to teach it!

Solar System Unit Study ideas including hands-on learning and printablesI used a variety of teaching materials for this unit including the CKE Earth and Space curriculum and the online course Experiencing Astronomy.Experience AstronomyWe also borrowed several books from the library and also used a few that we own. Here are some that we used for this unit:

The New Astronomy Guide: Stargazing in a Digital Age

The Night Sky Pocket Guide

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System

Space and the Solar System: God’s Amazing Creation

National Geographic Planets

Moonwalk: The First Walk on the Moon

Phases of the Moon

I try to incorporate sensory elements into all of our unit studies. For our solar system unit, I created a glow-in-the-dark solar system sensory bin and a weighted Space sensory bottle.

Space Sensory Bottle

Using a free printable that I found on 123Homeschool4Me, we brought a case of Oreo cookies to our homeschool coop and made the phases of the moon out of Oreos. The kids enjoyed this activity so much that they also did it at home a few days later. They said it was so that they could study the moon phases but I suspect it may have had more to do with the Oreos than the learning!

phases of the moon with Oreo cookiesThe kids completed phases of the moon flip books. We found the printables for those on Teachers Pay Teachers (free). I especially liked that they came in two types, one for older kids and one for younger kids. This worked really well for me with the various ages of my kids.

I used an mnemonic that I learned when I was a girl to help them memorize the order of the planets from the Sun. I know that there is controversy about whether or not Pluto is really a planet, but I had done some research and it seems that it is still considered a planet (sometimes called a dwarf planet) by those at NASA, so I told this to the kids but I included it in my mnemonic (you can click on that link or the photo below if you would like to print it off for yourself).

My Very Eyes May Just See U Now Pluto

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

Mnemonic for learning the order of the planetsMy kids were the most interested by what they learned in Experiencing Astronomy. It’s an online course that Einstein has been taking this year and learning so much but during the course of our solar system unit, I had all of the kids listen to the Experiencing Astronomy videos. They were intrigued and it led to many interesting discussions and learning.

At the beginning of our unit study on the Solar System, I took the kids to the Space and Science Center in the city closest to us and when we finished the unit, my mom took them there again. There is a large area there devoted to the solar system with many hands-on learning opportunities. It was a great way to reinforce their learning.

Solar System Unit Study sq.We decided to segment our solar system unit study and do a specific study on Earth. In the course of that study, these are some of the science experiments that we did:

Layers of the Earth

How Fold Mountains are Made

Making Groundwater

Earthquake Experiment

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Filed Under: Homeschooling, Simple Science

Learning About the Earth Science Experiments

By Sharla Kostelyk

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I have to say that I have found it much more interesting to teach science as a homeschooler than I did to learn science as a student. I want my kids to love learning and so in my quest to make science engaging, I look for hands-on activities that will help my kids to retain what they learn. When we were learning about the Earth, we found some awesome science experiments!

Doing these hands-on activities made learning about the Earth interesting and helped the kids to understand the concepts much better than if all of our unit had been reading out of a textbook.  Their favourite ones seemed to be the ones about natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados and hurricanes. Personally, I found the groundwater one to be the most interesting as it was something I didn’t know before.

These science experiments make learning about the Earth interesting and fun.Layers of the Earth from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

How to Make a Volcano with Kids from Happy Brown House (pictured)

Making Groundwater from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Why is the Sky Blue? from Rookie Parenting (pictured)

How Fold Mountains are Made from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed.Graham Cracker Plate Tectonics from Playdough to Plato (pictured)

Landform Activities from Gift of Curiosity

Earthquake Experiment from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Tornado made with Soda Bottles

Make a Hurricane from Inspiration Laboratories (pictured)

Hurricane in a Jar from One Time Through (pictured)

Water Cycle in a Bag from Playdough to Plato (pictured)

Make a Rock from Fantastic Fun and Learning (pictured)

These science experiments make learning about the Earth interesting and fun.If you are looking for more fun science ideas, be sure to check out my Simple Science board on Pinterest where you will find tons of hands-on experiments and learning activities.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Simple Science on Pinterest.

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How Do Folded Mountains Form: Science For Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

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Folded mountains are the most common type of mountain, representing the world’s largest mountain ranges. Some of the more famous ranges include the Rockies, Andes, Himalayas, and the Alps. This simple science experiment helps demonstrate how they are formed.

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed.Fold mountains occur near convergent or compressional plate boundaries. Plate movement creates fold mountains as the plates move towards each other. This movement causes layers of sedimentary rock on the ocean floor to become wrinkled and folded. These mountains are found between two continental plates.

I love that this science experiment didn’t cost any money and was a great visual for explaining how fold mountains are formed.

Materials needed:

towels
two boxes

  1. Lay down a stack of towels, each one folded in half. The folds will be more obvious if you use towels of various colours, but monochromatic will work if that’s all that you have.
  2. Put a box on either side of the towels.
  3. The boxes represent the continental plates while the towels represent the buildup of sediment on the sea bottom.
  4. Push the boxes (continental plates) towards each other and observe the “mountains” being formed.
  5. Ask your kids to make observations about the folds and the shape.

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed.When we did this science experiment, I told the kids that the boxes represented the continental plates and that the towels represented the sedimentary rock layers, but I didn’t tell them what the outcome of the experiment would be. As the towels began to rise and take shape, I asked them what they thought was happening. Most of them were able to guess that it was becoming a mountain.

They took turn moving the boxes towards each other and saw that the outcome was always the same, though sometimes a slightly different shape was formed.

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed.Our kids have seen the Rockies as we drive through them nearly every year, so they were able to easily picture what those mountains look like. If your children (or students) are not as familiar with fold mountains, I would suggest showing them some images of what fold mountains look like.

Vocabulary words that may be helpful for this lesson:

sedimentary, plates, continent

If you are looking for other ways to make science come alive for kids, you will want to check out our Simple Science board on Pinterest or check out some of our other science experiments.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Simple Science on Pinterest.

Layers of the Earth Science Experiment

Earthquake Experiment

Making Groundwater

Make Your Own Windsock

Jello Science Experiments

Gravity Defying Beads

Melting Ice Experiment

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