Maryland Day 2021 Goes Virtual with "Fun Science for Kids" Show

>Maryland Day, the University of Maryland’s annual celebration, returns on Saturday, April 24, 2021. You are invited to enjoy a day of learning, fun and discovery—online.

Join the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences for our "Fun Science for Kids" show.

Make a lava lamp, Oobleck slime and learn about your microbiome. Also, scientists will talk about the cicadas that are coming this summer, astronomy, and fossils. Ingredients and instructions for the experiments are listed below.

Lava Lamp
Oobleck Slime
Microbiome
 

Lava Lamp

Materials:

Clear bottle
Water
Vegetable oil 
Food coloring
Alka-Seltzer tablet

Instructions:

1. Add enough water to fill 1⁄4 of a clear bottle

2. Add two or three drops of food coloring to the water

3. Fill the bottle with mineral oil (or other oil) to the top and let it settle until the oil and water layers separate

4. Add a small piece of an Alka-Seltzer tablet (1⁄4 - 1⁄2 of the tablet) to the bottle

Alternate Instructions if Alka-Seltzer is not available:

1. Add enough vinegar to fill 1⁄4 of a clear bottle

2. Add two or three drops of food coloring to the vinegar

3. Fill the bottle with mineral oil (or other oil) to the top and let it settle until the oil and water layers separate

4. Add a small amount (1⁄4 tsp) of baking soda to the bottle

Oobleck Slime

Materials:
A spoon
A medium sized bowl
1 cup of water
1.5 cups of corn starch
Food coloring

Instructions:

1. Put the cornstarch in your bowl.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to your water.
3. Stir the water into the cornstarch.
4. When you aren't stirring, the mixture your oobleck should move like a liquid, but if it seems too runny, add more cornstarch.
5. Play with it!
6. Things to try: Stick your hands in the bowl and slowly swirl your hands around. Scoop the oobleck and hold your hands above the bowl. Let it slip between your fingers, it should still feel like a liquid. Now let's see what happens if you lift the oobleck up again but squeeze it between your hands. It's a lot thicker now right? With the stress of your hands pressing against the liquid, the oobleck now has high viscosity. If you let go, the liquid will slip between your fingers just like before.

Microbiome

Materials:

A jar
Tupperware, or some other container with a lid
At least 5 types of objects of roughly similar sizes: different types of pasta, differently colored beans, M&Ms or other multi-colored candy, popcorn seeds, mixed nuts, glass beads, etc. [Warning: keep small objects out of reach of children under 5].
Pen and paper

Instructions:

1. Mix different amounts of each ingredient into the container and shake well to mix. It's best if the person mixing the ingredients is the only one who knows how many different types of ingredients are in the container
2. Distribute about a handful or bowlful of ingredients to each participant
3. Each person now sorts out the ingredients by shape/size/color and writes down the number of each item in the different groups
4. Everybody compare notes, asking the following questions:
   • How many different types of ingredients did you find?
   • What was the most common ingredient?
   • What was the least common ingredient?
   • What were the proportions represented by the most abundant and least abundant ingredients?
   • Did any person miss an ingredient that others found?
   • Did everybody agree on the most and least abundant ingredients?
   • Pick one or more types of ingredients - does everybody agree on their count/proportion?
   • Can everybody guess how many different types of ingredientst are in the container? In other words, are there ingredients that didn't end up in anybody's pile?
   • Can everybody guess the total number of pieces left in the container?
   • Set up another handful of ingredients. Can everybody guess what fraction of each kind of ingredient is in that new pile? (For extra fun, make this a competition - the person who guesses correctly gets a prize)
   • Can you come up with other questions about the ingredients in the container?