The preschool students experimented with different household kitchen items to determine which ones dissolve in water. They started with four cups half full of water.

In one cup they poured in one packet of sugar and stirred it up in the water. The sugar ‘disappeared’ and dissolved.

In the second cup they sprinkled a teaspoon of cinnamon. It did not dissolved and left the water looking dirty, but it smelled good.

In the third cup they sprinkled a teaspoon of cream of tartar. It made the water cloudy and did not dissolve very well.

In the last cup they sprinkled a teaspoon of salt. The salt did not dissolve and left granules on the bottom of the cup.

The preschool students were able to see what dissolves in water and how our water supply can be affected if not properly taken care of.

During our preschool theme week on spring flowers and learning about how flowers and plants grow, we invited the owner of the local flower shop to visit preschool. The students love when special guests come to visit preschool and talk about what they have been learning during the week.

She talked about what flowers and plants need in order to grow and how they start out as seeds. We planted bean plants and watched them grow tall. We have grass seeds growing in cups, too.

She talked about where she gets her many varieties of flowers. The preschool students were amazed that many of her flowers come to her shop by traveling across the country on an airplane. They loved touching and smelling the flowers and were excited to take a real Carnation flower home.

The preschool students started an experiment to learn about evaporation. They have been learning about the Water Cycle and how water rains down from the clouds to water the ground and trees and flowers then the sun shines and evaporates the water back up into the clouds to start the process all over again.

We filled a cup half full of water and placed a piece of blue tape at the top of the water level. We placed the cup in the window where we have our grass seed cups from an earlier project.

We will check the cup of water in the next few days to see if the water level is much lower than the blue tape line.

While learning about the Water Cycle, the students experimented to make their own cloud in a jar. We filled a jar half full of water. Squirted shaving cream on top of the water. Squirted a small amount of blue food coloring on top of the shaving cream and down towards the side of it. The blue color slowly began to drip down through the shaving cream into the water like it was raining through the cloud.

Last year the preschool students tried an experiment to make a rubber egg. See that post here. 

This year the preschool students tried that same experiment again because, ya know, science is always more fun when you try experiments again and again to compare the results.

Last week we put a raw egg in vinegar. We let it sit for 2 days then changed the vinegar after the 2-day period. We let the egg sit in fresh vinegar for another 7 days.

Today was the day to see if the experiment worked and to see what happened. We poured the vinegar off and carefully dumped the egg out into a hand. We had to handle the egg very carefully and tenderly, but we were able to hold it and feel it. It did feel a bit like rubber. We bounced it lightly on the table. We definitely could not play ball with it or bounce it on the floor or against the wall, but it did have a little bounce on the table. Just remember: do not squeeze the egg or it will burst.