Camp B, Day Two: Science Day

Today is one of the few during the next two weeks that I had nothing on the agenda except housecleaning. My beautifully lax schedule allowed for a longer field trip, so we invited Noni to join us at our local children's science museum for Camp B, Day Two: Science Day.

We walked along the boardwalk over the Waterway on which the museum is sited. Big B noticed the mangroves, and asked if this 'river' was connected to the 'river' at Grammy and Papu's house. We talked about watersheds and where those 'rivers' go. We talked about the groundcover of recycled tires on the playground outside the museum, examining the rubbery pieces. We talked about the sun, time, and shadows.
Once inside, we played and marveled at the way things work.Upstairs, both Big B and little b sat for a bit and joined a 'larger' camp group in an exhibit of Leonardo DaVinci's inventions. I wish I could have stayed in this room to look more closely, but the exhibit was almost entirely hands-off; a bit confusing for two children who've been encouraged to touch everything else. Nevertheless, I left the room inspired, if by words only.When we got home, Noni treated us to dehydrated 'space ice cream' she'd found in the gift shop. Big B and I enjoyed the experience, but not so much the flavor; little b however, polished off the bowl later while no one was looking! The afternoon brought company and experiments to our backyard. Big E, little e and The Other E joined us for the construction of a volcano with sand, a water bottle, baking soda, food coloring and vinegar. It was such a hit we did it twice.In a failed experiment (which teaches a good scientist almost as much as a successful one), we ended up without our desired suspended bubbles, but with a pool of baking soda and vinegar. The kids loved it, and talked about how it felt at every stage, from ultimate fizz to powdery residue.That inspired the tried and true mixture of cornstarch, water and food coloring. Our last concoction came just before bed, when we mixed up some homemade bubble bath from dye and perfume free dish detergent, water, milk, honey, salt and lavendar oil. It made fabulous, colorful bubbled and smelled and felt delicious.Throughout Science Day we also talked about experiments, hypotheses, theories, and conclusions. We played a bit on one of the best kids' science sites around. It was a fun, exploratory, playful, messy kind of day, at the end of which I had a simmering pot of vegetable soup on the stove, a clean house, and a full memory card. For these things I am grateful.