Gone Solar

Well there has been much excitement in the Aussie household this week because, after several years of talking about it, we have finally "gone solar". We have made many changes to our home over the past couple of years (more efficient lighting and heating, better insulation, double glazing etc) to try and make it more energy efficient, so this was the next logical step. This beautiful German built 5kw system from Swan Energy should cover all our electricity needs (even in our house full of electronics gizmos) and hopefully allow us to credit some back to the power grid as well. The system was only installed yesterday afternoon and by late afternoon we had managed to credit 2kw back to the grid so we have made 96c so far! The true test will come in mid-summer and mid-winter when our electricity use peaks due to heating and cooling.

Now Junior wants to install solar on his cubby house as well so that may be the next science project for Aussie Dad!

We Play with water

The weather is starting to warm up in Perth and with a series of warm afternoons the boys have been enjoying a little bit of water play.
While it isn't quite hot enough to get out the paddling pool (although Junior might think otherwise) we have been having fun with buckets, bottles, funnels and spray bottles.
Yesterday we also made an ice and salt sculpture - an idea I found in MaryAnn Kohl's fantastic book Science Art. We added a few drops of food colouring to a spray bottle of warm salty water and squirted away to sculpt a large block of ice.
Junior was quite engrossed in this for a while and then set his sculpture out on the outdoor table to watch it slowly melt. Rascal was more interested in experimenting with the spray bottle.
What have you been playing with this week. “Come over and play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”

Junior Gardening

Recently Junior's favourite Aunt came to visit and she gave him a few Daffodil bulbs. Easter is the time to plant Daffodil bulbs in WA apparently.
We have been meaning to plant the daffodils for a while and the weather has been so nice that this morning Junior and I decided it was time for a spot of gardening.
We potted the bulbs and then made up a couple of pots of colour (one for Junior and one for Bub). I saw this idea over at Childhood 101 a while back and Junior loved this project.
He even decorate his pot with some toy animals to make a little farm yard. I also thought this was a great little project for Children and Nature Awareness Month.

Colourful carnations

As I mentioned yesterday we are all suffering from cabin fever here so this morning after a quick trip to the shops Junior and I decided it was time for a little science (we haven't done any for so long).
I recently read a little article in the playgroup newsletter which inspired us to try colouring some flowers this morning.
Two white Carnations, some water and food colouring and we were set. A couple of hours later and we had some very pretty results. They will probably be even more impressive tomorrow but I don't know that I will get a chance to blog then so I thought I would take the chance when it arose.
There are more great kids science ideas on the Scitech Website and if you are in Perth, take a look at the program for their Toddlerfest coming up next month. Junior and I went last year and had a fantastic time.

Holiday Science

Our recent holiday was a great opportunity for a little bit of science. The wonderful view of the ocean from the deck inspired us to make a water xylophone.
We also did a spot of beach combing finding also sorts of interesting marine things and some beautiful conglomerate rock.
There were also lots of natural history opportunities including a spot of whale watching, lots of local terestrial animals - kangaroos,

emus (and lots of other birds), ...

various creepy crawlies .... and the most magnificent terminte mounds

National Science Week

I'm feeling a little guilty because this is National Science Week in Australia and despite me having a Science background we haven't been doing anything sciencey. So today to make amends we had a little nature walk around our backyard looking for snails, ants, spiders, slaters, bees and other creepy crawlies.
We also updated our "birds in our backyard" list which we have been keeping for a while but haven't got very far with. At the park today we also noticed a Mudlark, which we often see in our backyard, building a nest - looks like spring is on the way! We will have to take a closer look at our resident Mudlarks to see if we can find another nest under construction.

Non-Newtonian Fluid ... or Cornflour Goo to you and me.

We haven't done very much science for a while so today was a good day for a little play. I found this link for Cornflour Goo at Kids Make Stuff some time ago but I have been putting it off for fear of the mess. However, it is a nice sunny day today so I though we would try it outside.

I only made a small batch (half a cup of water, a little food colour and a bit over a cup of cornflour but we managed to have lots of fun with it any way.
It took a little while to get Junior to give it a prod but once he got his hands in there I couldn't get them out. There was lots of giggling, poking, squeezing, squelching and mucking about and a little discussion about solids and liquids. Not sure if he learnt much but we both had lots of fun. Have a look at the following You-tube clips if you want to see what the goo is like.

Ring Ring why don't you give me a call

This weeks science lesson was making tin-can telephones. They didn't work as well as I remember from when I was a kid, perhaps I'm now too used to the mobile kind, but Junior enjoyed the exercise and was quite enthusiastic about testing them out. Only problem was he also wanted to practice cutting the string with his new left-handed scissors so we had a few faulty connections!

Saturday science

Inspired by Juniors interest in our first science experiment, tonight before the bath we decided to try a sink or float experiment. Junior and I gathered a few items for around the house and discussed whether we though they would float or sink.

Then we tried them out in his bath. He was very enthusiastic about having some alternate bath toys and was able to discuss afterwards which ones sunk or floated. We might try some other "objects" another night.

Experimental procedure
Results
Discussion

Science experiments

A couple of weeks ago I was reading the Let's Explore website where the author metioned their regular "Sunday night science" sessions and, coming from a science background, I thought that would be something nice to try with Junior. Earlier this week I came across Paper and Cloth's volcano experiment and I decided this would be a good first experiment for Junior. Here are a few pics of my budding young scientist.

Materials - bicard soda, vinegar and a little dishwashing liquid

Methods - put the vinegar and dishwahsing liquid in a jar - then add bicarb

Results - lots of foaming, fizzing bubbles ....
.... which Junior seemed to enjoy

This is a little experiment I was aware of but had never thought of doing with the kids. Being a wanabe ecomum I know that the fizzy bicarb and vinigar combo also works great for cleaning bathrooms, toilet and kitchens as well so perhaps next time the "science experiment" can take the form of cleaning the bathroom! Well I can always live in hope. Its just a shame my chemistry knowledge isn't so good because I was having a hard time explaining to junior why this raction takes place.

If anyone has any other good ideas or links to similar sites please let me know. I would like to continue the "science lessons" while Junior is still keen!