Easy-no-excuse experiments

Ok, so we know that the IDEA of doing fantastic science experiments at home is great, we look up something amazing, get the kids all excited, get all the bits and pieces we need together.... and then, we can't find something we really need or it actually needs way nore preparation than we thought. And so we give up and everyone draws a picture instead.

With this in mind, here are 2 experiments that the kids will love but require nothing more than a piece of paper, a pair of scissors and a bowl of water. Enjoy!

1. Fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise and draw a picture of the dinosaur with small feet.
	2. Cut out the dinosaur making sure to leave the top fold intact.
3.Try and float this dinosaur on the water, it will sink.
	4. Draw the same dinosaur but this time with big feet – the bigger the better and cut out.
5. Fold the feet outwards, stand it up on a flat surface first to make sure it's standing on all 4 feet and then carefully place on the water.

1. Take a square of paper, fold in half and half again, draw a petal shape starting at the folded corner and cut it out.
	2. Open out the paper, stick, small circles, butterflies, frogs out of contrasting paper and stick in the middle of the flower.
3. Fold the petals back into the middle of the flower. Press the fold well to get a really good crease.
	4. Carefully place the flower in the water and watch what happens. 5. Try making a whole garden with insects and animals too.

 Have fun and don't forget we love to see all your great experiments so send your photos to abbie@lovescience.co.uk

Summer science - turn your garden into a lab.

Whether your school holidays have already started or you still have a few days to go, you will be looking for some ways to entertain the kids pretty soon. Of course, as well as all the brilliant science museums and attractions available, it's also easy (and cheap) to take advantage of the good weather and turn your outside space into your own laboratory.

How about taking advantage of a sunny day by getting the hose out and making rainbows? or you could stand on a particular spot every hour and marking the position of your shadow to show how it moves throughout the day? Summer is, of course, a perfect time to experiment with plant growth, try growing plants in different areas, some in the light and some in the dark, what effect does the amount of light have on how well the plant grows? Cress seeds are really good for these type of experiments as they grow so fast. Another fun summer activity is to investigate the different plants growing in your grass.

It would be impossible to count all the different types of plant life in your whole garden, park or even along a path so instead,  you can use a quadrat to sample random small areas. By analysing every sample, we can get a pretty good idea about how many of each species of plant you have. It's really easy to make your own quadrat, here's how:

So, hopefully that will keep you busy for this week! Have fun and don't forget we love to see all your great experiments so send your photos to abbie@lovescience.co.uk