Running out of rainy-day activities for your kids? It’s hard coming up with new and creative ways to keep the kiddos entertained – and basically impossible to make them educational experiences at the same time. Luckily for us busy moms, we live in the age of instant information. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start a Science Club Series on the blog and share our scientific adventures with you at home! Each post will provide the scientific background, supply list and directions. So let’s get started – up first, we’ll be creating a rain storm in a cup.
I have created a simple downloadable print out of The Scientific Method that can be used for any of the Science Saturday Experiments on our blog. This can be especially great for older kids who can fill out their own Scientific Methods.
QUESTION
Why do we get rain? (my simplified explanation)
When water becomes warm enough, it evaporates into the air. Once a mass of air quickly cools, the water vapor turns into clusters of tiny water droplets and frozen water crystals. We call these clusters clouds. After a while, a cloud attracts more water. When the water droplets become too heavy, they fall down as raindrops.
HYPOTHESIS
Ask your child what will happen to the drops of color liquid when they keep dripping on the shaving cream?
EXPERIMENT
Here are the supplies needed to start your own rain storm.
– Clear glass or plastic cup
– Dixie size cups
– Water
– Shaving cream (old school foam)
– Lite corn syrup
– Food coloring
– Dropper or medicine syringe (free at a store pharmacy)
– Spoon/stirrer
Time to get started. Make sure to do this experiment on an easy to clean surface.
1. To represent the air, fill a glass up with water about 3/4 full.
2.To represent the clouds, fill top of glass with shaving cream.
Pro Mom Tip: The more you fill up with shaving cream, the harder it will be for the liquid to get through. We went shaving cream heavy and therefore, lots of liquid and bigger mess 🙂
3. Time to mix up the rain. In a very small cup, fill halfway with lite corn syrup (this is to help the liquid become heavy enough), 2-3 drops of food coloring and a couple of drops of water to dilute it a little. Mix it up. It should be thick and heavy enough to fall through the clouds better.
Pro Mom Tip: If you want to do multiple colors, make sure to mix each one in a separate dixie cup.
4. Take the dropper and fill it up with the colored liquid. Slowly add drops on top of the shaving cream. Keep dropping the colored liquid, and eventually you’ll start seeing it rain.
Pro Mom Tip: If the liquid seems too thick, dilute it more with water and mix.
RESULTS
This is the perfect time to have your child explain what was happening during the experiment. Did the drops just sit on top of the shaving cream? Did the drops go through the shaving cream? Did you need a lot of drops or very little?
CONCLUSION
What did your child find out once the experiment was over? Is it true what they say about rain? If more water starts collecting in the clouds will it eventually get heavy enough that it will fall as rain?
Your kids will find it pretty cool to see the clouds rain. We did 4 primary colors, so we could see some of the colors mixing in the rain to make secondary colors. You’ll also see all the color drops on top of the clouds that weren’t heavy enough to ‘become’ to rain. We enjoyed seeing all the mix of colors after the initial experiment. Hope you and your kids enjoy.
Love,
Jeannie
P.S. Enjoy our next Science Saturday! Thunder and Lightning Experiments. It’s a fun combo for all ages.
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