J's lesson on light

I've been really behind on posting science experiments. Most of my days are spent at work and then tending to J's needs. By the time he goes to bed, I'm spent and rarely want to spend more time at the computer, let alone trying to make coherent posts.

Anyways, this morning, in the hustle and bustle of getting ready for church, J excitingly proclaims that he has a science lesson for me. Of course, I stopped in my tracks to listen to my four year old. He shined his finger light (LED of sorts) on the wall and showed me what happens when he was close to the wall versus when he was further away from the wall.

After dinner, I asked him to demonstrate again, so I can record it:

What is happening:

*The light is more concentrated the closer it is to the wall. The light is approximately the size of the LED finger light. Though it is small, it is very bright.

*As you move further away from the wall with the light, you have the same amount of light spread out over a bigger area (the more diffuse the light gets). The light may get bigger in size, but it's not as focused and bright. The light has more space to move through and spread out.

Other fun things you can do:

*Have fun with shadows. Hold a light source at a set distance from the wall. Make shadow puppets. How do the shadows look when your close to the light? How do the shadows look when you are close to the wall?

Related Posts:

• If you like my son's experiment he came up with all on his own, check out some other science lessons he has made up: J Lessons. One of my favorites include a finger counting lesson.

In case you are wondering...

The new baby born in April will be a GIRL. I'm so excited to share this world with her. Hopefully, she too will be science and math oriented (she does have mechanical engineers for parents and a big brother who loves to experiment). I'm looking forward to exploring more science with babies (since J was toddler age when I started the blog).

We plan on another J name. Luckily, I have some time to determine how I will distinguish them on the blog. After maternity leave, I still plan on continuing to work fulltime. Wish me luck.

Turkey Sail Cars

We're not huge on celebrating Thanksgiving (despite J and I being Mayflower descendants). I feel like kind of a Thanksgiving scrooge (we're not cooking a feast this year).

To reduce the scroogey feeling, I really wanted to do something Thanksgiving themed for science. I decided to adapt the toilet paper sail cars into a turkeymobile by adding a turkey to the mast!

Turkey details:
I remember from my elementary school days turning hand prints into turkeys. I traced J's hands, and we cut them out in yellow, orange, and red. Originally, I was going to add half of a toilet paper tube on top for a head and use the handprints as feathers behind the head, but J was so excited to make his thumb the head of the turkey. We went with J's idea (I think it's ultimately easier). He even gave it an eye and a beak.

J and his turkey:

Action shot!

J wants to bring to to his Thanksgiving themed share day (think Show and Tell) coming up on Wednesday. Score!

LEGO Race Car Purchasing and Lesson Information

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I get paid for clicks/purchases on the Amazon links (in term supporting my blog and future Science Saturdays).

Last summer, we had a Science Saturday where we experimented with race cars out we made out of LEGOs.

Using our Pepsi Refresh Grant, here was what we purchased to make our LEGO Race Cars for around 20-25 cars:
3 sets of LEGO Education Wheel Sets
1 set of LEGO Bricks & More Deluxe Brick Box
4 sets of LEGO Bricks & More Builders of Tomorrow Set

There were no instructions, we just let the kids build whatever kind of car they wanted (first come first serve on the size of wheels though, which affected the drive too). If they had time, they were encouraged to test  and redesign their cars to see if they could make them go faster and further down the ramp/landing strip.

We used particle boards as race car ramps and placed them at different heights. Quickly, the kids learned the biggest ramp yielded the most desirable results. The link above has a good rundown on how the experiment went with our friends. It was one of our most popular Science Saturday event and will most likely be repeated in 2014.

Impulse and packaging bubbles

J loves popping all of our packaging bubbles (luckily for him, we do a lot of online shopping). He has experimented with the most efficient and satisfying way to pop the bubbles. One day, I decided to record his tactics:

He figured out that popping works best with a quick jump on the bubble, but he had a hard time popping the bubbles with his hands? Why?

With jumping:
1. He gets all of his weight (and then some - biomechanics, yay!) on the bubble.
2. The time he exerts the force is short.

With his hands:
1. Not all of his weight is transferred to the bubble (ie, he's not doing a handstand on it). Some of his weight remains on the ground while his legs hold him up.
2. The time he exerts the force is a lot longer when he uses his hands (the bubble takes time to deforms before it pops).

What simple science experiments have you done this week?