Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘Cognitive Games’

In summer, the questions of our children grow in a geometric progression: why the leaves of trees are green, how plants drink water, how volcanoes erupt, etc. To answer these questions will help elementary experiments that do not require special equipment: materials for them are always at hand (and sometimes – under the foot).
Our summer experiments are many. After all, when you comprehend the laws of nature on your own experience – they become closer and more intuitive.

Why leaves are green?

Here is the first question of your young biologist. And indeed – why they are green in summer and yellow in autumn?

Materials:
a piece of foil;
Scotch tape;
diluted alcohol;
cup with thin walls.

What should you do?

Take a leaf of any plant or tree and with the help of scotch tape attach a piece of foil which can be cut in the form of a star or a circle). A week later, you can see the result: an “image” on green leaves. In the place where foil was attached, where the light couldn’t penetrate, leaf has become yellow.

The green leaves have a special substance called chlorophyll. It captures solar energy. When autumn comes, when sun-light becomes less, leaves cannot “receive” feeding, they become yellow, and leaves fall, because they can not feed themselves. “And can we see this chlorophyll?”, – your child asks. You can!

What should you do?

For this experiment you need to put a green leaf with thin walls in the glass and fill it with diluted alcohol. Then, boil some water in a bowl and carefully put this cup in it (something like a water bath). After a while, get the help of tweezers. You’ll see an amazing transformation – the leaf has lost its color, but the alcohol became green, because it dissolves chlorophyll – the green pigment of plants.
By the way, if you conduct this experiment with edible plants (for example, salad or spinach), the result will be a natural coloring (dye) – it can be used to color the cream or sauce. The process can be accelerated, if you crush the leaves, and shake the glass from time to time.

How do the plants drink water?

Perhaps the child has cut some flowers and forgot to put them into water, they’ll fade very quickly as they need water. But to confirm this idea will help a beautiful experience.
Materials:
colored ink (red, blue, green);
several glasses (according to the number of colors);
a few white carnations or celery stalks.

What should you do?

In each cup you need to pour ink of one color, about two centimeters from the bottom. Add water. Flowers or celery stalks should be cut to a length that they are able to stand steadily in the glass. Now, leave them for four hours. What has happened? As always, a miracle: the flowers have become colored. If you look carefully, you can see a thin streak: water color painted them, so they become visible.
If you use celery stalk with flowers, you can make a cut on the stalk with a razor or a sharp knife. There will be visible points of color – they indicate the capillaries – the finest tubes in which water rises from the bottom up.

What is a volcano?

This question was raised my friend’s son after he saw the painting of “The Last Day of Pompeii”. Of course, you can tell that the volcano is formed in the earth’s crust above the magma. When the hot gas pressures on it, magma pushes upward, rocks molten on the road and the explosion erupts at the surface. But all these explanations are not very clear to the child. What if you show it?

Materials:
Plasticine;
one tablespoon of drinking soda (sodium hydro carbonate);
vinegar 3-9% – 40-50 ml;
a few drops of red food coloring (can be replaced with beetroot juice);
one tablespoon liquid for washing dishes.

What should you do?

First divide the available plasticine in halves: roll one half like a round pancake, and another – in a rectangle, which then collapse the cone with a small hole on top and connect it at the bottom of the “pancakes”. To verify the tightness, you should pour the water through the upper hole. The size of the cone should not be very large – 100-150 ml is enough.
Prepare “lava”: mix the liquid for washing dishes, dry soda and dye, pour all of this into the “throat of the volcano”. Now add vinegar. As a result, kickback with allocation of carbon dioxide will begin and what a miracle: boiling foam will come out from the throat.
At the same time, you can tell your child that this model is applied in very peaceful purposes – for example, in the kitchen when his/her mother mixes dough. It makes the dough luxuriant, forming bubbles and tracks. These make old friends – soda and vinegar.
As you can see – nothing is complicated! But how much joy, creativity and discovery…