For our parent celebration, we decided to have a Science afternoon with lots of exciting experiments linked to the children's interests.

Here are some of the experiments we did!

"Magic Milk Potion"

The science behind this is that milk contains fats and proteins.  Washing up liquid has been designed to attract fats and proteins, weaken the chemical bonds between them and remove them from the items being cleaned.  When the washing-up liquid is added to the milk, the molecules of fats and protein are attracted to the soapy molecules.  By adding food colouring, we can see the movement created as the molecules attach together.  The food colouring gets pushed around and appears to burst.  Once the molecules have all bonded, the colour explosions stop.

"Shaving Foam Rain Clouds"

Drops of food colouring fell through the shaving foam, creating a beautiful coloured rain.

"Grow a Rainbow" and "Paper Towel Colour Mixing"

Water moves up the paper towel because the paper is absorbant, it sucks up the water. The colour travels with the water, making the paper change from white to whatever colour you have used.  In one experiment, the colours were mixed at the top to create a new colour.  In the other experiment, it climbed the paper towel to create a beautiful coloured rainbow. 

"Dancing Raisins"

In the still water cup, the raisin sinks because the raisin is denser than the water.

In the fizzy water cup, the raisin is again denser than the water.  However, the bubbles get trapped in the grooves of the raisin, helping it to float back to the surface.  When the bubbles pop, the raisin sinks back down.

Finally, everyone's favourite experiment!! 

"Fruity Sweets Colour Mixing"

The shells of coloured sweets are made from sugar.  When sugar is put in warm water, it dissolves. As the colours meet, they mix, creating different colours.