Minerals & Crystals

Create a candle out of an orange. Do you think it will burn? Try lighting the wick in the middle without any oil. Next add oil and see if it lights. Try putting a glass jar over the orange. What happens eventually?

Create 5 paper bags with a picture of the 5 senses on each. Place items in each bag. A child tries to get others to guess what is in the bag by describing how it smells, looks, feels, etc. Next, read passage from book showing how C.S. Lewis describes items using all 5 senses.

Have children write about an item and describe it using the five senses.

Make a chocolate peanut butter snack mix.

Sew pretend food for a play house.

Sew two pieces of felt together to make a wallet

Play the first 5 notes of the Bach’s g minor fugue as everyone sings along “la, mi, do, ti, la” with the music. These first 5 notes are the theme of this fugue. Fugue’s have a theme that reappears several times in different voices, starting sometimes on a high note and sometimes a low note. Have everyone sit in a circle with 9 sticks in the middle. Everyone drums a steady beat as the music plays. Anytime the theme appears, try to be the first to grab a stick. If you grab a stick at the incorrect time, you have to put it back. Did you find the 9 times the fugue theme appears? Try the activity again with other fugues.

Write a 2 measure melody using Google Doodle and it will harmonize your melody in the style of Bach using AI. Click on the activity link below to visit the Google Doodle page and then click on the Bach image at the top of the screen to get started.

Divide into teams. Give each team some cardboard, cord and duct tape. Give them 20 minutes to design a boat. Test the boats in a kiddie pool, bathtub or nearby pond. Which floated? Try putting cans in the boat. How many cans can the boats hold before they sink?

Give each person three balls of modeling clay that are the same size. Have them form the clay into three different shapes—a ball, a log and a boat shape. Which floats? Which shape displaces the most water or takes up the most space in the water? Which is “lighter for its size”?

Predict what will happen if you put an orange in water. What will happen if peel the orange and put it back in the water? Try it out.

Cut tin foil into 2 squares that are the same size. Wrap the tinfoil in a ball around the penny. Does it sink? Lay the penny on a flat piece of tin foil. Does it sink? Use the tinfoil to make a boat. Does it sink? See how many pennies you can add before it sinks.

Set out a bowl of water and various objects. Hold up the first object. Have the students predict if it that object will sink or float. Ask a student to place the object in the water. How good were they at predicting what would float? Why do they think some things sink and others float?

Create a lantern out of popsicle sticks

Make a car that is powered by balloon and moves on its own! This is a fun project that will test your science and engineering skills.

Making origami butterflies is fun and easy to do. They are great for hanging as decorations or playing with.

Clear the Board is a fun race you won’t want to miss. Players start with a 100 block and roll the die to determine how much will be subtracted each round. Careful! Make sure to “trade” your blocks correctly, or you won’t finish the race. After 5 rounds, the person with the lowest score that was closest to “clearing their board” wins.