Thursday, March 29, 2012

Kitty Litter Volcano

Here's the second entry. So, last night, randomly, my daughter brings a book out of her "library" called Kitchen Science. She decides to build a volcano and do the whole baking soda and vinegar thing. She won't wait for anything (SO independent). She's up on the counter trying to find baking soda and is mad when I tell her this needs adult supervision. Well, right off the bat, she's super mad because we don't have baking soda. I convince her I can bring it home from school tomorrow, but she's still mad she can't do it RIGHT NOW. I delay the fit by suggesting she build the volcano today and we do the explosion tomorrow. At first, she decided to go "take" (steal) sand from the park across the street. She comes back in the house 2 minutes later and is deterred by the "crowds" at the park. Apparently, she knows this is stealing and can't bring herself to do it in front of others. So, we are at a draw. I suggest she use the dirt pile in the back yard. It's all the terrible dirt that we can't use for anything else. Nope, not good enough, she wants sand. All I can think of is the container of kitty litter in the garage that we don't use anymore. Ehh, can't think of anything wrong with it, so, I suggest a kitty litter volcano. She jumps on the idea and forgets that we can't still actually explode the volcano for another day. So, she and her brother go out in the back yard. They're busy for at least an hour. They keep coming into the house for cups of water. At the end, at least an hour later, there's a tall, perfectly conical volcano in a pie tin. She has 5 mosquito bites, including one on the bottom of her foot (how do you get a mosquito bite on the bottom of your foot? I don't know.).  This is actually bad because she seems to be allergic to mosquito bites... the doctor's actually prescribed an epi pen, "just in case." SO, anyway, the volcano is done and it's perfect. It weighs like 80 pounds and lands itself on the kitchen island. The two kiddos head to the shower, where I'm sure the kitty litter sludge made it down the drain to perfectly clog our sewer system. Perfect night over (see attached picture, if I can figure out how to attach it). SO, tonight, we decide to erupt the volcano when daddy can make it home from work to see. We do. We let my daughter run the show as it is her idea. She adds, red dye, then green dye to the vinegar. They get eruption after eruption and love every minute of it. We even film it. My husband and I decide they should know the science behind it. So we go on to have (over bowls of ice cream) a 30-minute discussion about chemical equations (it somehow begins with Democritus and ends with playing with refrigerator magnets. Ever seen the Big Bang Theory where Sheldon is trying to teach Penny about Physics?... Kind of like that!). Best night ever! The kids clearly love science. The moment that brought me to tears was when my 7-year-old says "So the atom with one electron is going to find an atom with 7 electrons... They want to be together!"  if only she could be in my 8th grade class. We end by talking about how fun learning is, and that, when they hear someone say, "I'm bored", that means, "I don't get it," because anything is interesting once we truly understand it. I love my kids. I love learning. I love teaching. Good night!

6 comments:

  1. I love this for multiple reasons...
    1. you didn't stop her from achieving her goal, just set some modifications
    2. you let the learning happen in the backyard, kitchen, and over ice cream :)
    3. and you shared it

    I love seeing that spark of wanting to learn and getting it. Just shows that learning doesn't always (usually) take place behind a desk in a classroom.

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    1. Thanks, James. I agree. I think most learning happens outside the classroom.

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  2. I dig this! Next vacation to Big Island. I'll take you to see Volcanoes. They'll be completely over the moon.

    Jasmine

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    1. NEXT vacation? I think it's time for our first vacation to the big island and now volcanoes have to be on the to-do list for sure!

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  3. I love it. I have read it several times and am still smiling. My only complaint is I am impatiently awaiting the next blog!

    Honey Badger

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