Milking "Cows"

The second activity we did to go along with How to Make an Apple Pie and see the World was to milk cows (our first was Collecting Salt from Salt Water). No we don't have dairy cows or even know anyone who does, so we had to make some cows.

I started with some latex gloves (with the thumb taped down) and filled them with a very diluted solution of white paint.

I then hung them under a folding table with a bowl underneath. Using a needle I made small holes in the fingertips of the glove; I tried to swirl the needle around a little to make the holes a bit bigger but not so big the water just flows out.

 Then I showed the girls how to milk their cow by squeezing and pulling on each glove finger. They really enjoyed this and went through a few gloves each before we decided to stop and measure the amount of milk we got.

Once they we're finished I had them each poor their milk into a measuring cup and read me how much they had.  This was good practice in reading measurements for them. Too bad it wasn't real milk, so we could make our own butter again (Kid-Made Butter)!

Exploring Static Electricity

With it being winter, the air is so dry and perfect for static electricity. While it is usually really annoying, shocking you after walking across carpet and making your hair fly everywhere, it is also a lot of fun to play with.

We did a couple of little experiments to demonstrate electricity to the girls. Of course in the process of doing these, we did the typical static electricity experiment of rubbing balloons on your head and seeing what happens to your hair in the process!

The first was using a balloon to bend water.  Now a balloon on its own cannot bend water, but it can with the addition of static electricity.  Turn the water on to a fairly low but constant stream, rub a balloon on someone's head, and slowly move it toward the water.

Not close enough!

The water moves toward the balloon! 

Bending water!

The second experiment we did was making a light bulb spark with a balloon.  You have to be in a very dark area (we used a closet) to see the quick spark.  Start by rubbing the balloon on someone's head again.  Touch the balloon to the bottom of the light bulb.  Don't blink when you touch them or you will miss the quick spark in the light bulb.  Out of several attempts this is the only video we got anything on.  Seriously, don't blink or you'll miss it!

 This amazed the girls over and over! 

My girls are obviously too young to know anything about atoms, but  if you have an older kid you can explain to them the static electricity is caused when the electrons become imbalanced and therefore the object has a charge.  It is then attracted to things with an opposite charge or things with no charge, so they move towards each other (like the water).  But it moves away from things with the same charge, so after rubbing a balloon on your head each hair is now charged and stands on end trying to move away from the other hairs.  If the charged item touches a conductor, like the light bulb, a transfer of electrons occurs and you have a spark or a shock if the conductor happens to be a door knob or something else you are touch.
For now I am just happen for the girls to see the power electricity really holds!

Balloon Derby

We made it to the balloon derby this year! We have been going pretty much every other year for the past 7 years. Once by ourselves and then we added a kid every time.  This year we got there as the balloons were coming over to drop their ball on the target. Eli was so excited when he spotted them in the sky; he would just point and repeat, "bal, bal."  As we watched the balloons fly over head and go down in the distance Bria was concerned that they would get a hole poked in them.

Bria and Nadia's favorite balloon.

Dropping the ball on the target.

 Bria had my other camera and was taking pictures of her feet and the balloons.

Here are some of Bria's pictures. Nadia had Grandma's camera at one point, but I don't have any of those pictures.

 Eli was a big fan of the strawberry banana Italian ice.

After the balloons landed they loaded up in trucks and trailers and came back to set up for the night lite.  Once they got set up everyone was allowed to walk around them and talk to the pilots and crew.

Bria was amazed by how loud they were.  She used to be terrified  of them.

Once we were allowed to get closer, the girls realized the balloons were quite hot as well as loud and wanted to keep their distance.

Hopefully we will get a chance to play with our lanterns this next weekend now that our burn ban seems to have been lifted.  It will be like tiny hot air balloons!