Family Science | Science Buddies Blog (Page 14)

Bristlebots at the Museum

January 27, 2015 9:00 AM

Participants at a museum sleepover event in Utah may have packed a toothbrush for the night, but likely came home with an extra—a toothbrush robot they built and decorated themselves! Guests at an NHMU sleepover event had a great time making, decorating, and testing Bristlebot robots. Despite the craziness that the main character encounters in the Night at the Museum movie (and its sequels), a sleepover at a local natural history museum can be a… Read more

Making Math with Dough: Weekly Science Activity

January 12, 2015 9:30 AM

In this week's spotlight: a math activity that turns playing with dough into an exploration of geometry. If you make a cube out of dough, you can measure the sides of the 3D object and multiple the length by width by height to find out the volume of the shape. If you gently and uniformly flatten (or squish) the object, you transform your original shape into a new shape with new dimensions. Does the volume change? In this family-friendly math activity, kids can have geometry fun with… Read more

Bean Soup Science: Weekly Science Activity Spotlight

January 2, 2015 10:00 AM

In this week's spotlight: a food science activity for the New Year. Eating black-eyed peas is a New Year's Day tradition in some places, and soaking the peas in water is the first step. Whether you are making black-eyed peas or a soup or stew that uses dried beans, a bit of kitchen science may help speed up the process of rehydrating dried beans (or legumes). What difference does the temperature of the water used to soak the beans make in terms of how long the beans need to soak? Does… Read more

Light Up the Season with Computer Science Exploration

December 22, 2014 9:00 AM

With drag-and-drop computer programming, kids can explore fun activities that add lights and sounds to the season. We got in the holiday spirit with Scratch and Raspberry Pi to light up a simple light-activated star! Whether your winter break features hot chocolate and snowball fights or not, the extended school break often includes a lot of time cooped up indoors. With or without any seasonal festivities, there may be a good bit of downtime to fill.… Read more

Squash Power

December 1, 2014 4:00 PM

How do your favorite veggies compare when it comes to generating power? Find out with a hands-on veggie power electronics project! Veggie Power isn't just for potatoes! How do other veggies (and fruits) compare? The Veggie Power Battery Kit is popularly used to explore the way simple potatoes can be used to generate a small amount of power and light up an LED light or activate a little buzzer. But potatoes are not the only veggies that can be used… Read more

Musical Bottles: Weekly Science Activity

November 19, 2014 6:00 AM

In this week's spotlight: a music-themed science activity that helps families explore the relationship between the sound an instrument like a clarinet makes and the length of the air column. When a sound wave travels down a longer or shorter distance, how does what we hear change? In this activity, students use glass bottles filled with differing amounts of liquid to experiment. With some careful listening and trial and error, you might be able to play a song by blowing on the bottles in a… Read more

The Speed of Falling: Weekly Science Activity

November 6, 2014 9:23 AM

In this week's spotlight: a physics science activity that helps families see gravity, acceleration, and speed in action. Gravity exerts force upon an object, but what does this mean in terms of how fast something falls? Does the speed of falling change based on how far something falls? Using a simple marble run, you can put these questions to the test and see how gravity's constant acceleration affects the distance that an object travels over time. (You can see how this works when riding a… Read more

Sounds Like Halloween: Weekly Science Activity

October 30, 2014 10:30 AM

In this week's spotlight: a music-themed science activity perfect for Halloween week. What sounds do you associate with Halloween movies or Halloween music? What makes the sounds spooky,scary, or eerie? When you watch movies, what kinds of music do you hear, and how does the music fit what is happening in the movie? Are there patterns of instruments, pitch, or tempo that accompany certain scenes in movies? Pull out your favorite Halloween family movies or playlists, put on your listening… Read more

Halloween Science Connections

October 27, 2014 6:00 AM

As Halloween approaches, there are a number of ways you can tie science in with activities and projects that let kids get hands-on with things slimy, ghoulish, gross, light-up, or glow-in-the-dark. For the trick-or-treat crowd, there are plenty of candy-themed experiments to help kids whittle down—or statistically analyze—some of their All Hallows' Eve loot, too! Browse the following list of inspired Halloween science activities and science, technology, engineering,… Read more

Candy Corn Geodesic Dome

October 24, 2014 11:52 AM

A classic science (and geometry) project takes on Halloween tones with candy corn-colored candies, a few ordinary toothpicks, and a bunch of triangles. We are big fans in my house of the geodesic dome. We initially tried a bigger-than-expected version made from straws a few years ago. We had a great time putting it together—but it would not fit through the front door! Making a small-scale geodesic dome from gummy candies is a much easier and… Read more

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