Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Works-for-Me Wednesday: Science Experiment Birthdays


My oldest turned 9 last week. He didn't request a big party. He wanted to invite a few friends over for a party at home. At first, it sounded nice and easy to me. Then, I wondered, "How am I going to make my 9 year old's birthday fun?" I wanted it to be different than a simple play date with friends. My husband (he's awesome) thought it would be easy to entertain the boys.

With boys, all you have to do is think messy.

The boys made: Homemade Snot, Crazy Putty, Volcanoes, and Coke Explosions.

Homemade Snot


Crazy Putty




Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcanoes


The kids had fun with the experiments. 3 nine year olds, a 6 year old and a 5 year old were completely captivated by the activities. (My two year old daughter was still napping during the snot and crazy putty experiments.)

The coke explosions were everyone's favorite. They "worked for me" because they were easy and cheap and exciting.

Diet Coke Explosions
Diet Coke (you can use regular but diet coke works best)
Mentos

We did the project 3 ways.

Coke Explosion 1) For each person, use one small bottle of diet coke. Poke a hole in the lid and in 1 mento candy. Then, put string through the candy and tie a knot at the bottom of the string. Pour a little bit of coke out. Then, pull the string through the lid such that the candy is pulled up and does not touch the coke. Put the lid back on the coke and when ready, drop the mento into the coke. The coke shoots up and out of the hole in the top of the lid.





Coke Explosion 2)
For this project, use one 2 liter diet coke and about 10 mentos. Tape about 10 mentos together. Quickly push (or slam) them into the 2 liter (without the lid on).


Coke Explosion 3)
For this project, use one 2 liter diet coke and about 10 mentos. Tape the 10 mentos together and tie a string through the tape. Pour a little bit of the coke out. Poke a hole through the lid and put the lid on the coke without letting the mentos touch the coke. Drop the mentos in the coke. The coke shoots out through the hole in the lid.

The kids will dance in the coke rain before you have a chance to stop them.



Be sure to check out other Works-for-Me Wednesday posts at Kristen's We Are That Family blog

13 comments:

Science Dad said...

It was such a great birthday!

Alicia The Snowflake said...

Too funny! Those are great birthday party ideas. Boys love that kind of thing. The messier the better!

Brandi said...

How fun!!! I've never done the Coke/Metos thing before. My boys would absolutely LOVE it! I'm going to have to do that. :)

RLR said...

This looks like SO MUCH FUN! We have tried the 2L coke explosion, but the small ones with the lid on look much more exciting - as does the final 'coke rain!' What a memorable day!

Foursons said...

I've never heard of putting Mentos in Coke. How fun!

Avery's Mommy said...

What a GREAT idea! I would've NEVER thought of that!

Salty Mom said...

Looks fun. Those are great ideas for boy birthdays (:

samantha said...

Very cool. I will try this with the boys for sure!

Mimi said...

Perfect boys party!

Beth E. said...

What a blast! That was a perfect birthday party for boys...you win the mother-of-the-year award for that one!

sarah said...

you're such a cool mom! what a great idea, I am tucking that away for when my boys get older!!

He & Me + 3 said...

Wow those are so cool. Love the pictures. I tried to leave a comment on your Thankful Thursday post but there was not a comment button.
I loved your rainbow picture. Beautiful.
Stop by my blog if you get a chance...I am having a giveaway today.

Liz {Learning To Juggle} said...

Now that looks like fun!!! You have to share the homemade snot and crazy putty recipes!! (oh...and hubby is DYING to do the mentos in coke trick for the boys!!)