Salty Paint

As part of our science project 2017 I decided to have a look at a series of activities that investigate what happens when you add salt to watery paint. It makes some lovely textures as the salt dissolves in the water and subsequently leaves residue behind as the water evapourates and it dries.

Image from Usbourne

Pickle and Penguin had a great time painting and sprinkling. Unfortunately I don't think I made the paint watery enough as there was little evidence of dissolving, just gaps in the paint where the salt crystals had stuck. No pretty starry patterns for us so no pictures today I am afraid.

I will definitely try this one again but I will test it first!

This week we tried making sugar crystals on a lolly stick. I am not sure if this one is going to work yet. It is pretty cold here right now and there don't seem to be any sugar crystals on the stick....I will give it a few more days. Even if it doesn't work we used a lot of great science words like 'solution'. Pickle really enjoyed mixing the 'solute' and 'solvent' together so all is not lost! I can always tip the solution into a saucer to make loose crystals if the sticks don't work. Watch this space for an update!

A New Start

Hi, how are you? My name is Sam and I am a stay at home Mum of two. I have a 3 year old boy, Pickle, and a Penguin loving 1 year old girl. I love crafting, in particular crochet, and spending time with my husband, Yellow bean, and children.

In a past life I was a secondary science teacher, something I both loved and hated simultaneously. For the new year I wanted to get back to my science roots.

Between Christmas and New Year we took the sprogs to the science museum in London. They were too young. Almost everything was out of their sight line and little was interactive. It is a fantastic museum but not so good for toddlers. We all had a great time - don't get me wrong, they peered at things for a split second and ran around.

The Garden in the basement was great but a faff to find and over crowded. The staff were great and numbers were limited. We had a to wait to get in and they bought round giant slinky toys for the kids to play with. I really can't fault the staff or facilities and I am sure it is great for older kids just not toddlers, we were not their target market.

The bubble show promised to be perfect for our bubble loving two but it was a bit of a slow start and Pickle got scared right at the start and the bubbles didn't flow fast enough to distract him so we had to leave.

We had a great day but it wasn't the most appropriate trip for my kids and it wasn't the hands on introduction to 'big science' I wanted it to be.

So....I bought this book.....


Image taken from amazon.co.uk

And this year we are going to choose one topic a week and get experimenting! The book arrived today, Pickle chose his first topic - Water Resistance - so tomorrow we are going to get started! It looks pretty accessible for Penguin too - lots of crayons and paints so I think she will be able to join in.

From a first look I think it will be great. Simple, quick activities that I can pick from at the start of the week to make sure I have the right stuff around. I hope that it will spark some interest and give us some fun activities to do when Pickle is not at preschool! (He starts monday afternoon, Ahhhhh my baby, and also Yay! Penguin naps!)

Until next time... x