Category: Experiments

At-Home Experiments: Fun kits to try

When my girls were younger, one of my favorite boredom killers/fun activities to do was conduct fun experiments. I wasn’t necessarily teaching the heavy duty science but, they did learn some cool concepts by doing these experiments with me. One of my favorite kits has to be the Be Amazing Lab-in-a-Bag Test Tube Wonders! It was relatively cheap and came with 15 possible experiments. The bag does say it is for ages 8 and up but from experience I can say it works best for kids between 5 – 8 years of age. After 8, these simple experiments aren’t going to be as fascinating.

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Be Amazing Lab-in-a-Bag Test Tube Wonders

This kit comes with polyacrylamide beads that turn into awesome crystals. The girls really enjoyed waking up the next day and seeing their tiny beads turn into huge crystals.

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Drying their crystals!

You can also make fake snow, a lava test tube, and play with the magic sand that stays dry no in water. My favorite thing about this set is that several, not all, of the experiments, can be saved to use again at a later time. The girls would bring out the kit anytime they had playdates. I highly recommend this set! You can buy it on Amazon.

They also have a kit that contains more activities. If my girls were still between 5-8, I would definitely try this out.

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Be Amazing Toys Big Bag Of Science +70 Activities

Another cool kit to try is the Scientific Explorer Mind Blowing Science kit. It is in between the two I mentioned above in that, you get 20 experiments similar to the ones you would find in Lab in a bag , the first kit I mentioned.

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Scientific Explorer Mind Blowing Science

Find more fun activities for you kids here

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by Veronica V.

At-home Experiment: Alter Your Taste Perception

Looking for a cool science experiment to do at home or for an outreach project? Try mberry Fruit Tablets!

mBerries are a product made from ‘miracle berries’. These berries contain miraculin. This protein selectively binds to sweet receptors on the tongue and cause fruits that would normally be sour, actually taste sweet. The effect is reported to last up to an hour, but in our experience, it lasts about a half hour and can be affected by drinking water after having them.

Materials needed:papillae-of-tongue-e1458050293421

mberry Fruit Tablets

Foods that are bitter, sour, or sweet (lemon, lime, cheese, grapefruit, pineapple, kiwi)

Cups of water to drink

Activity:

  1. Cut foods into pieces and have kid(s) try each one and classify the taste. Is it sweet? Bitter?
  2. Be sure to record observations!
  3. Follow instructions on mberry Fruit Tablets packet: Place one pill on the tongue and let it dissolve. NO CHEWING!!
  4. Once dissolved, have kid(s) try foods again and re-classify the taste. Make sure they drink WATER between each food. Their answers should be different!

Lesson:

How do we taste?

Receptors inside the taste buds on our tongues catch chemicals from things we eat.

There are different types of receptors.

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These receptors send signals to our brains to tell us exactly what kind of taste we are experiencing.

How do mberry Fruit Tablets change our taste?

Chemicals from the pill get stuck to the sweet receptors and take a long time to come off. This way, your tongue is only tasting the sweet receptor, no matter what you eat!

Try this fun experiment with your kids! You can buy mberry Fruit Tablets on Amazon!

*We have done this activity several times during out outreach events. It is safe for kids!

by Veronica V.