Earth Day Activity: Oil vs. Water Experiment

Happy Earth Day!

   I started my rainy morning by going to Target to pick up a few groceries for the week and ended up stranded in the Starbucks cafe for about 15 minutes because of the crazy downpour! And while I was there, I picked up some coffee (of course) and threw in another $1 to purchase this cool reusable Starbucks cup. How's that for environmentally conscious? =)

   As I was debating what to teach my little munchkin about Earth Day (without being repetitious from the things she was going to learn in school), I decided to tie our Earth Day learning with a little science experiment. I have been eyeing Oil & Water exploration, so I used that as a tie in to the lesson, especially after reading a post from Secondgradealicious. I knew I could take it down a notch or two to bring it to the level of understanding for my little one.

 But FIRST: The Oil & Water Exploration:

For this little experiment, we used baby oil and some food coloring and water and a small baking dish.

(The feathers come into play later.)

    Actually, any kind of oil will do. I just chose baby oil because it is clear. But if you are working with younger children, any type of cooking oil may be best, in case little fingers go into the mouth.)

     I poured baby oil into the dish, probably less than halfway. I filled each little cup with water and added abour 4 drops of food coloring to the water.

    Before we started, I asked: 

"What do you think will happen when we put the colored water inside this dish full of oil?"

Here were her answers:

1) It will mix and then change colors.

2) It will explode.

Can you see how much she loves these little experiments? 

    She remembers what has happened in previous experiments and is now trying to apply that learning to something new!

And here is what she discovered:

    When she dropped colored water into the dish full of baby oil with a dropper, it created bubbles, both big and small.

 (The natural reaction of water and oil is that they will not mix and they will remain separate.)

She was so into the exploration, especially when she started to try and mix the colors.

    Then I went on to talk about geese and ducks that swim in the water, just like the ones we saw when we went on a nature hike this past weekend. I briefly told her how some boats that are in the water carry oil and sometimes the oil spills into the water and it isn't safe for the animals that live in the water. 

   Then she surprised me and asked if we could make the Earth using only green and blue. (It was like she knew where I was going with this experiment!) I dumped the colorful oil, refilled the dish and she mixed in green and blue water to create Earth.

I gave her some feathers and asked her to put them in the oil.

    Then I asked her to take it one out and feel it. I took her descriptions of the oil (slimy, sticky) and told her that when the oil gets in the water and onto the feathers of some animals that swim in the water, they feel slimy and sticky, making it hard for them to move or swim to find food. Sadly, sometimes they drink the oil and they could die. 

I asked her to brainstorm ways in which she could get the oil off. She immediately grabbed a napkin to wipe off the oil, only to find out that it really didn't help much at all- the feather was still slippery and slimy.

    Then she suggested putting them into a cup of water, which kind of helped but did not remove the oil right away. After taking some time to conclude the experiment and talk about why Oil Spills are dangerous for the Earth and the animals, she asked for more feathers and continued to play in the oil, as if the feathers were a family of ducks!

   She seemed a little interested in the whole oil spill topic and how it hurts the Earth and the animals. I think I am going to purchase this book for her, so we can learn little bit more!

All in all, this was a GREAT Earth Day Learning Activity for her!

Do You Have A Green Thumb?? Plus an Earth Day Freebie!!

   Before I start talking about how I began some Earth Day fun with my little one, here is a little FREEBIE (Earth Day Numbers Book) in celebration of Earth Day!

Click the picture below to get yours now!

   This weekend, I spent some time in my backyard. The house that we are renting has a garden bed that wraps around maybe half of the house, and it needs  A LOT of work!!  But because I have no clue on how to garden or how to even begin a garden, I can’t do a thing about it!

   So all morning, I got to thinking that MAYBE I can attempt to try it out and see if I might have a Green Thumb! Ever since we moved out of Chicago and inner city life and into suburbia here in Western New York, I have taken an interest in lots of new things- such as scrapbooking, crafting, blogging… and now maybe I can take a stab at gardening!  It can’t hurt, right?

   I have nowhere to start, so I decided since Earth Day is tomorrow, I can start really small and simple!  Since we are beginning to see flowers sprout up, I thought my daughter might enjoy planting a flower in a small flower pot. So this weekend, I took a trip to my favorite place – Michaels- and picked up a few things for my munchkin and I.

   Her favorite colors are purple and pink, so she HAD to have those colors. And when we found pink and purple acrylic paint with glitter, she was over the moon! She wanted to get started right away!

   But we had to stop at Lowes to pick up some flowers to plant in our pots, because again, we are starting small and simple! (We are also going to plant some seeds in a bigger flower pot next weekend)

   And here is my eager artist and learner, excited to start painting!

     Here is her finished pot (I actually needed to add like 2 more coats of paint after she was done) and her chosen flower: Geranium.

    Planting (or repotting?) was a lot of fun for her, especially when she had to use her new princess gardening gloves!!

        She meant serious business when she was patting down the dirt/plant inside the pot and daddy made sure he helped to give it some water.

She was so proud of her work! 

Now let’s just hope that some more geraniums blossom! 

   And here is my chosen flower, African Daisy, repotted in a pink planter.

   I also painted my own flower pot, but the African Daisy plant was much too big for it. 

   So I will have to find another plant or use this flower pot to plant some seeds!

 

  So that is how I chose to begin some Earth Day fun with my little munchkin!

   The funny thing is that she thinks that the flower is going to grow really big like a Lorax tree!!

   Maybe one day I can plant a tree….maybe one day!!

   Do you have a green thumb??

   Can you share some tips and helpful advice on gardening for this clueless city girl???

Earth Day is Everyday!

So my munchkins are still learning about Earth Day because Earth Day should be everyday right? =)

Anyhow, as promised, here are the pictures of some of the Earth Day activities we have done...

Our Earth Day Pledges

 We Love Our Earth 

We have a few recycled art activities planned for the next coming weeks, as I encouraged them to bring in any recyclable trash for our Classroom Recycle Bin, that we will try to reuse!

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

    The little munchkin and I have been talking and learning about Earth Day since we saw “The Lorax”.

   And this morning after reading the book AGAIN, I chose a quick puzzle for her to do from our “Lorax” pack and then we made some more yummy Nutter Butter Lorax cookies!

  Back in my classroom this week, the preschool munchkins and I discussed on a very basic level, the problems that Earth faces today and how we can save the earth in small ways.

   I loved all their ideas on what they can do to help protect the earth, so I made a writing activity from it.

It made me happy to see them so concerned about saving and protecting the Earth! 

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the Earth Day bulletin board which contains and Earth art project they did earlier in the week!

The week went by way too fast, as did the weekend!

Spin & Graph Truffula Trees Game

     I want to give a BIG thanks to 2TeachingMommies for creating a free downloadable “The Lorax”  Unit pack… my munchkins love the Spin & Graph games that are in these packs. Click on the link to their blog above or below my picture to get your own copy!

Spin and Graph Truffula Trees

     I first introduced a Spin & Graph game during our Dinosaur unit and it was a hit!

This time though instead of running off copies for each student, (cuz we need to save paper, you know) I just printed out enough sheets for 4 players (or 2 teams) and laminated them. And I found some colorful plastic rock thingees in my lovely art closet to use as cover-ups.

PERFECT small group idea for center time!  Not only is it a fun game, they get lots of practice counting, graphing and learning the concept of more or less! Awesome… 

MAYBE one day I will have some time to make my very own Spin & Graph games…MAYBE ! 

Earth Day Fun: Truffula Trees!

So when I started the discussion about Earth day with my preschool munchkins, I was excited to see where it would go! For the most part, they had no idea what I was talking about! 

Great huh? YES!! Because that just made me more motivated to teach them about Earth Day and the importance of taking care of our planet.

Their little faces were glued to me as soon as I said the words: “Our Earth is in trouble”. The room was filled with silence as their eyes widened as I tried my best to explain how and why the earth is in trouble and what we can do to help. 

When I get attentiveness like I did this morning, it reminds me why I love what I do. Teaching, training, manipulating (whatever you wish to call it) young little minds takes a lot of heart (and yes, patience), but it’s so worth it.

I grabbed their attention by reading the book “The Lorax” . It is a long book and I knew many of them had probably already seen the new movie, so I was ready to paraphrase paragraphs and pages if I had to…but I didn’t! 

I put on my actress hat, and made sure I was very animated (I had an extra cup of coffee that morning) to be able to keep them interested and engaged—and it worked!

They seemed to take a big interest in the Truffula trees. But who doesn’t love them? They are gorgeous!

There were tons of art activity ideas online and on Pinterest on Truffula Trees but with my center time constraints and the fact that some of these munchkins have a very teeny tiny attention span, I had to do something fairly quick and easy. All I needed was paper, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, colorful yarn and glue! What preschool classroom doesn’t have all that shoved inside the art closet??

So I put it all in a table and let them go at it!

And here is the project we ended up with:

LOVELY TRUFFULA TREES!

Some Earth Day Fun at Home

After going to see the movie “The Lorax” last week, I wanted to do some kind of extension acitivity with my little munchkin. I found this idea on Pinterest and knew we had to do it!

We made Lorax Cookies!

The little munchkin and I also did some Earth artwork at home, after dinner one day. 
I originally wanted to do this with my preschool munchkins but we have another lousy rule that states that we can’t use food as art….BOOO! 
And I found a similar activity for my preschoolers to do but I still wanted to do this one, which was originally done with pistachio shells.

We made a 3D globe/ Earth using pasta shells!

Earth Day

As Earth Day approaches, it's our responsibility to teach children about what Earth Day means and to teach them what they need to know to help save this beautiful planet. This Earth Day, I encourage you to teach your children how and why they should do small things every day to help the Earth.

Why is Earth Day Important? 

Once we've used up and destroyed the resources of our Earth, there's no turning back. What we leave behind is what our children will inherit. Don’t we want it to be something wonderful?  Teaching kids the message of Earth Day is important, but the goal of teaching them about Earth day is to just teach them the things that we should be doing ALL year long.

How can I teach my young child about Earth Day?

As a teacher, parent and an adult, it's our job to teach them  about the importance of Earth Day. As much as we may or may not believe it, kids do listen and they definitely learn from us.

Kids learn through example. Let me say that again: Kids learn through example. As a teacher and a parent I have a dual responsibility to teach all the munchkins in my life, in the best way that I can and I know those little eyes are watching my every move and are listening to every word that comes out of my mouth.

It is important that children see firsthand, that protecting and preserving the Earth is important, simply by the words we speak and by our actions.

I have come across many articles related to teaching kids about Earth day and have compiled a small list of things of ways that we can teach kids the significance of Earth Day through our own actions:

• Do not litter (Easy one right? Then why do I still see garbage all over the place and then look a couple feet away and see a trash can?)
•   Take recyclable materials to a recycling center/Use recyclable bins (Now this one, we recently started at home, thanks to our green recycling bin and a little pressure from our new neighbors!)
• Turn off the lights and electronics when they are not in use (I must admit, this one is easier said than done, but we are working on it!)
•  Don’t waste water (This one seems simple, right? Just don’t leave the water running)
• Walk whenever possible (Another one that is easier said than done! BUT as the weather warms up, walking to nearby places will definitely be an option)
• Spend time outdoors appreciating the beauty you don't want to lose! (A simple trip, walk or bike ride to a park will do just fine.)

As you are leading by example, take time to talk to your children about why you should or should not do these things and why they are important. Simply talking about it and making it an important topic will help them to realize its importance too.

Earth Day is April 22 and Earth is only one day a year. We should teach our children to treat EVERYDAY as Earth Day. Saving our planet for our own kids and for future generations, is  a huge responsibility, but someone has to do it right?

Stay tuned for my fun Earth Day activities that I have planned for my little munchkins this coming week!