Category Archives: Science

Fossils Rock!

Daniel is doing Apologia’s Exploring Creation with General Science 2nd Edition. Here is his stab at Experiment 7.1 (page 160) “Making a Fossil Cast.”

First he read the instructions – that may seem obvious, but he is twelve. Little brother, David age 7, has decided he wants to join in and participate.  We gathered up all the supplies.  Oh, and just ignore that stuff on the left side of the table. That’s our other project – history – Charlemagne’s Crown in the making. The paint is drying. More on that in an upcoming post.

Reading directions and gathering supplies.
Reading directions and gathering supplies.

Making the mold! We used Sculpey clay, but I don’t recommend this if you are buying supplies. Its on the pricey side. The book says Play-Doh will work. We had Sculpey left over from another project, so that’s what we used. Notice – little brother looking a little less enthusiastic. This attention span is typical for him – don’t be alarmed!

Making the mold!
Making the mold!

Here’s the mold of his sea shell – which we actually got from the Gulf Coast last winter. Two different science adventures coming together!  He covered the mold with petroleum jelly.

Sea Shell Mold
Sea Shell Mold

Measuring, weighing, and mixing the plaster! Here’s the MATH part! They (science & math) go together – just get used to it.  We halved the plaster recipe on the container because we didn’t need a whole POUND worth! But we should have cut it to one forth. We would have still had plenty and the math would have been even more fun!

Not pictured – little brother, who has apparently moved on.

MATH Alert!! Weighing the plaster and measuring the water.
MATH Alert!! Weighing the plaster and measuring the water.

WARNING!! HAZARDS!! At least that’s what we read on the plaster container. Hence, the goggles, mask, and gloves were required. He’s very serious about warnings! It might be overkill, but its his experiment – just go with it.

Mixing - DON'T breath in the plaster or get it in your eyes!
Mixing – DON’T breath in the plaster or get it in your eyes!

Once it is mixed well, pour it into your mold. We have the mold in a plastic or maybe its Styrofoam plate. The books says paper, which we didn’t have. This plate worked. I think it just has to be throw away.

Plaster in mold.
Plaster in mold.

Let it sit and sit and sit. Okay, it really didn’t take that long unless you are 12 and 7. They went out to play and when they came back…

Hard plaster!
Hard plaster!

He broke off the excess, and pulled them apart. Cast made!

Fossil cast!
Fossil cast!

He’s one proud scientist!!

Daniel the scientist!
Daniel the scientist!

Now step 9: Clean up your mess!! Whatever you do, don’t skip this step!!

They spent the next several hours making more molds. Yes, “they” – little brother did come back for the big reveal!  Perhaps tomorrow we’ll pour a cast of the nose mold he’s made. But for today – we’re done!!

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Science Adventures – V1.0

We’ve gone through lots of different things for elementary science and it was fun in K-2nd grade. But now we find most of what we’ve seen geared for primary school is just dull and boring past the 2nd to 3rd grade level. Too slow paced and lacking action for my action packed little boys. As they begged for more science experiments – cause we LOVE those – with some meat, I’ve struggled to find something that will meet their expectations without using chemicals and such that might hurt their less than careful mentalities. The other night I remembered that I have in my library the Apologia 7th grade science program – Exploring Creation through General Science. Our daughter used this when she was in the 7th grade. While the textbook was excellent for her “own your own” reading level and the questions were appropriate for her, we found ourselves delving deeper through research assignments and searching for more challenging experiments. She kept saying “This experiment is cool, but we did it in elementary school. Can’t we do something new?” Of course we didn’t home school the girls through most of elementary school. They went to a private Christian school. Therefore, we had to enhance the experiments as well.

David and Daniel with their Atom Experiment - Density in Nature
That got me thinking that maybe my 8-½ year old might like that course. Now, it’s too much reading and hand writing for him on his own. So we began yesterday with the first section of the first chapter. I read it to him and he answered orally the “On your own” questions and then we all (little 4 year old brother included) did the experiment and discussion of the findings. He made a laboratory notebook and recorded his findings. It was amazing. They both seemed to really enjoy the experiment. The four year old not so much following the reading and discussion, but the 8 year old really responded well. He got up this morning asking if we could do more. Ha! Now I’ve got bait to get that other seatwork completed. ☺
Daniel's Laboratory Notebook
Syrup, Water, Oil - Pebble, Grape, Corks

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