Fraction Color Spinner

Integrate math, art, and science by creating a colorful spinning toy! Kids trace a circle (at least 6 inch diameter) on poster board (or cardstock) and divide it into six equal parts. Then, they color it in, using any colors they'd like! Once it's colored, an adult punches two holes in the center of the circle. Kids measure out a 3 foot piece of string or yarn and lace it through their circle. Move the circle towards the center of the yarn (keep the one side of the string in a loop - don't pull the string all the way through). Next, tie a knot on the other side so it has a loop. Then, twist the string up by flipping the circle round and round. Pull the string outward and let it unravel. Watch it spin and the colors mix!

Musical Fractions

Kids explore fractions, while writing a colorful melody, without even knowing how to read music! Fill glasses up with different fractions of water and add food coloring. Provide students with paper to write their songs. Have kids make a hypothesis about why the glasses of water project different sounds. Is it the color of the water: No! Kids will be wowed at how water level makes an impact on the sound that projects from each glass. The fraction of water in each glass produces a different pitch.

Taste the Rainbow

Skittles Exploration
1. Online collaboration project - skype and compare results with schools across the U.S. (Registration opens March 1)
2. Skittles Density Column - Cool Science at Home
3. Skittle Chromatography - Awesome Crazy Guyz
4. Skittle Color Separation - Parents: Homeschool Den
5. Fizzle a Skittle - Gigi Reviews
6. Skittles Riddle Book - Fun with a variety of math concepts
7. Skittle Arrays / Fractions - click here
8. Crack a skittle open like a clam shell?! - Parenting

Free Printables!
1. Skittles Graph, Tally, Sort - Golden Gang Kindergarten
2. Skittles Math Center - Erica Bohrer's First Grade
3. Skittles Place Value - Beacon Learning
4. Skittles Fractions - NWACC

Online Tool
Pie chart creator

Nail Polish Science / Art

art via sci-toys

Experiment with light and optics by creating a permanent rainbow using clear nail polish! Visit Simon Quellen Field's site Sci-Toys for instructions!

Bubble Observation

bubble on a table / photo credit Chymist

Explore color and light by viewing an amazing soap bubble up close and personal with this awesome experiment from Beakman and Jax! Beakman and Jax calls the results a "gorgeous miracle!" By holding the flashlight underneath the bubble, the bubble will illuminate with squiggly lines of a variety of colors covering the entire bubble.

materials:
flashlight
clear plastic coffee can lid (or any clear lid will do)
soda straw
liquid dish soap 
water

how to: Mix 2 tbsp of soap into 1/4 cup of water. Go into a dark room (as dark as possible!). Stand the flashlight pointed upwards. Place the lid upside down on top of the flashlight. Pour enough solution to cover the bottom of the lid. You should have soap solution leftover. Wet the straw into the extra solution. Turn the flashlight on. Then, blow one large bubble on the lid with your straw. Be prepared to be AMAZED! Visit Exploratorium for the scientific explanation.

Visit Chymist (featured above) for a full list of bubble activities, including: bubble basketball, unbreakable bubbles, catching bubbles, bouncing bubbles, put a friend inside of a bubble, blow a bubble inside of a bubble, color fringes in a bubble, tabletop bubbles for measuring, and dry ice bubble experiments (including rainbow dry ice bubbles)!

More Bubble Fun - Bubble Geometry

Trading Game

cinnamon - perfect brewing, cacao - raw cacao

Kids trade lunches, pokemon cards, and beyblades. To help kids understand voluntary trade, imports, and exports, play the Trading Game! Divide kids up into groups (4 kids per team). Each group represents a country. Kids work together and research their country. What natural resources does their country have? What products and natural resources does their country need?


Give each kid a paper lunch bag with a surprise inside! The item in their bag should be a natural resource or product that is abundant in their country. Kids trade the item in their bag to obtain a good that their country wants or needs. They begin trading "locally," with each other. Then, they trade items "world wide," with all of their classmates. In the end, each team should have 2 items their country needs and 2 items their country wants.


Click here for trading game instructions and extension activities.

For younger kids, play the rainbow trade game! Give each kid a bag of cut up squares of a single color. Kids go around the room trading one of their colored squares with their peers, until they have each color of the rainbow. This is a good activity for introducing trading.

Make a Rainbow

Andy Brain made a rainbow by using a coffee pot, flashlight, and a dark room! Click here to see how he did it! For more rainbow science click here! You can make a rainbow with a garden hose, compact disc, or a drinking glass. The easiest way to make a rainbow is with a prism, if you have one.

Crystallized Rainbow

Sweet and Simple Things made a pipe cleaner rainbow and crystallized it in borax solution! Click here to see how they did it!

You can crystallize any shape or color in borax solution! You just need pipe cleaners. Borax does the rest, creating polymer crystals! Click here to see original post.

Measure the Rainbow

Kids learn the color components of the rainbow, and practice their measuring skills! Visit Free Kids Crafts for the full tutorial!

Rainbow Sponge Painting

Paint a rainbow in one swipe of a sponge! Visit Kiboomu for the tutorial!

Density Towers

Explore solids and liquids with the classic density tower. After discovering the density of liquids, kids can test how dense certain solids are. Which solids sink? Which ones float? Click here for the explanation. If you want to make a smaller tower, you can experiment with the 7-layer density column here. You can adjust the colors of your 7-layer density column and make a rainbow tower! 

You can also integrate math with this activity and practice fractions!

For younger kids, you can concoct Science Bob's drinkable density juice tower! Yum! Visit his site for the full tutorial!

Plant a Rainbow

Read the book Planting a Rainbow, then plant your own! All you need are seeds of various colored plants and a garden plot.

Here is a list of  flowers that are all summer-blooming annuals that will bloom well in all climate zones via How Stuff Works:

Dianthus, petunia, verbena, and zinnia produce red or pink blooms

Calendula, marigold, and zinnia produce orange or yellow blooms

Nonflowering, leafy green plant, such as mint, for the color green

Dianthus, petunia, verbena, and zinnia produce blue or purple blooms

Rainbow in Your Hand

Check out this awesome flipbook by Japanese art director Masashi Kawamura. Click here to create your own rainbow flip book!

Precipitation, Evaporation, Transpiration, Condensation

Precipitation - Make it Rain!

Raining Rainbows (shaving cream and food coloring) -  A Bit of This and a Bit of That!

Rain in a Jar - Guest Hollow

Transpiration - Collect Plant Sweat!

Learn about transpiration through this hands on experiment from Weird Science Kids. By tying a large baggie around a plant's leaves on a super hot, sunny day, you will demonstrate how transpiration is part of the water cycle. Pour the water from the plant into a measuring cup. Kids use their measuring skills to figure out how much water the plant produced. Click here for full instructions! Save your water for the puddle experiment below!
Also, check out Parents.com to see how to conduct this experiment with a patch of grass and a jar!

Evaporation - Watch a Puddle!

Science With Me conducted a puddle experiment to teach kids about evaporation! Pour water on the pavement in a sunny spot. Then, draw a line around it with sidewalk chalk. Let it sit, then check up on it later. What happened? The water evaporated! 

Condensation - Create a cloud! 

Rainbow Glitter Crayons

Don't throw those broken crayons away, recycle them!

1. Preheat your oven to 275

2. Spray a muffin pan with vegetable cooking spray

3. Fill the muffin pin with broken crayons (mix and match shades and colors- whatever you would like!)

4. Sprinkle glitter on top

5. Bake for about 10 min at 275 (check on them)

6. Take them out when they look melted through

7. Next, use a toothpick and create swirls

8. Let them completely cool down (you can put them in the freezer to speed the process)

9. Finally pop them out (tap the bottom of the pan to help) and you're ready to draw!