Lemon Volcanoes
We had lots of fun in the green class this week!!
We explored and played with various toys that helped the children engage their imagination and creativity. The children also participated in a science experiment where we made lemon volcanoes! To go with our lemon volcanoes, we made lemon flavored crinkle cookies.
The volcano experiment is the same basic science as a paper maché volcanoes. Except we used the lemon as the volcano and used the lemon’s juice in place of the vinegar. The children’s trays were set up with a half of a lemon, a small cup of baking soda and a small cup of extra lemon juice. The children, first observed the lemon. They held, smelt and some even licked it. Next, the children patiently waited without no longer touching (or licking) anything , while Miss Blum went around and added both drops of food coloring in 3 different colors and a small amount of dish soap and extra bubbles. The children were instructed to pour the baking soda onto the lemon then to pick up the popsicle stick and begin poking the inside of the lemon. They were reminded to use their helping hand to hold the lemon so it wouldn’t move and be easier to poke. As the popsicle stick pierced the lemon, it let out the juice. When the lemon juice seeps out, it mixes with baking soda. When you mix baking soda with lemon juice, it combines together to form a gas called carbon dioxide, producing a fizzing eruption you can see. With the baking soda being a base and the lemon juice being an acid, the combination results in a reaction. The children then got to add the extra lemon juice to see more fizzing and bubbles. The children made great verbal observations of the fizzing reactions that occurred. They even discovered that if you turn it upside down and squeeze it, even more bubbles stairs to pour out. They did this once the extra lemon juice rain out and no more juice coming out when they poked it. The children also observed the mixing of the colors from the various colored food coloring. The children were very excited about the fizzing reaction and seemed to enjoy the experiment a lot!
In the sensory table, was a fairy garden set up. There was fake grass laid in the bottom, some crinkled brown paper strips, fake moss, fairy figures, fairy houses and accessories. The children created different stories for the fairies and had the fairies explore the “garden.”
At the tables, there was kinetic sand with small wooden flowers to bury and find on one side and a Peppa pig house on the other side. The children enjoyed digging for the flowers and burying them for a friend. The children discovered a second use of the bucket originally put out to collect the flowers. They used it to build sand castles. One student even discovered that if you use sand with flowers buried in it, you can make a “castle with flowers on it” as they are revealed on the sides of the castles. The children enjoyed the Peppa pig house with various characters. The children knew the characters names and made up little stories for the figures to act out. At the little table, the children played with some puzzles.
On top of the loft there were dinosaur toys and on the bottom of the lofts the children took care of the stuffed animal pets.
As I mentioned, we made lemon crinkle cookies for our cooking day. It was a recipe using a box of lemon flavored cake mix and added a few drops of lemon for a stronger lemon flavor. The children got to mix the ingredients, make balls out of the dough and roll the balls in powdered sugar to place on the baking sheet. Many of the children had not tried a lemon flavored cookie before. I was proud of each child for trying the cookie. The cookies ended up being a big hit!
I will try to add direct a link to the recipe. You may have to just copy and paste the link. The only thing we changed in the recipe was omit the lemon zest.
https://www.myweekdayschool.org/s/LEMON-CAKE-MIX-COOKIES.pdf
Here are some action shots from the Big Room! The climbing cubes are a fan favorite! the children love to clibe on top of the cubes and safely jump onto the mat. The children also enjoy climbing inside the cubes,
