Simple Saturday: Sandwich a la Liquid

Today's activity couldn't be easier or more fun. You've got the goods, right? The clear bottle, water, funnel, cooking oil, glycerin, and food coloring?

To make a Liquid Sandwich use the funnel to fill the bottle one third full with water. Drip 4 or 5 fat drops of food coloring directly into the water.  Fill the bottle another third of the way with the glycerin and lastly with the cooking oil. That's it! What could be simpler?

Look at the way the liquids separate, will you? Like a liquid sandwich, wouldn't you say? The bottom layer is oh, so glycerin clear. The middle layer is oceanic blue topped of with sunny golden cooking oil. Kind of poetic, isn't it?

A word of warning, though. To keep these distinct layers separate you will need to handle your Liquid Sandwich with care. I wouldn't shake it up, if I were you. When it gets shaken the glycerin mixes with the water. The end result is something like the Ocean in the Bottle we made a few weeks ago. It's cool and still fun to play with, but the clear glycerin layer is gone...or is it? 

Where does it go? Why does this mixing of liquid layers happen, you ask? What is your hypothesis? Something to do with the molecular structure of the  liquids, I'll bet. You think?

You know, my Simple Saturday friend, this activity would make a dynamite project for your school Science Fair. Of course, you would have to do a wee bit of research to explain the scientific reasoning behind the liquid separation. Wouldn't it be fun to study the science behind an activity as fascinating as this one?

Isn't that what the scientific process is all about? To find out more about something that interests us? Don't we state our hypothesis, or our own reason why we think something is happening, and then set out to prove it?

Well, go for it, Einstein. Let me now what you find out!

Simple Saturday Prep: The Liquid Sandwich

A sandwich is all about layers, right? Yummy stuff layered between two or more slices of bread. Something hearty you can sink your teeth into...substantive, scrumptious, splendiferous.

Well, forget about a sandwich like that one. Tomorrow's will be one of the liquid variety. Liquid, you ask? How can that be? Gather up the following materials and I'll show you what I mean. You'll need a clear bottle, water, a funnel, cooking oil, food coloring, and some glycerin (You can buy glycerin at the pharmacy for cheapo. In fact, a while back we used some to make Monster Bubbles, remember? You might have a some left over from that project. I did.).

See you tomorrow! We'll have some simple fun then.

Simple Saturday! Macaroni Gems

Doesn't John look dapper wearing my snazzy macaroni necklace?Did you gather the supplies? The macaroni with big holes, food coloring, rubbing alcohol, plastic lunch bags, string, and paper towels? Now follow these very simple, yet-can-be-a-bit-messy, instructions and you will make beads lovely enough to wear to the prom.

To play it safe, go ahead and spread out the paper towels first. Make them at least two or three ply thick. (If you would rather not use paper towels, newspaper works just as well. While it doesn't absorb as quickly, it serves as a perfectly suitable drying surface. You'll see what I mean in a minute.)

Grab a handful of macaroni and put them in a bag. Squirt 8 or 9 hearty drops of food coloring on the macaroni. Next, put a capful of alcohol in. 

Zip lock the  plastic bag. Squish the macaroni-food coloring-alcohol mixture around until all of the noodles are saturated.

Lay the beads out on the paper towel to dry.

Repeat process with all of the other colors. After, oh...say...15 minutes you'll have some fantastic beads!!!!! 

I like the way my necklace turned out. It has a has a sort of Native American feel to it, don't you think?

Remember, you can dye any type of macaroni. Actually, my favorite shape to use are the pinwheels.

Oh...how I wish I could see what your necklace looks like. I'll bet it is great.

Simple Saturday Prep: Vividly Vibrant Macaroni Jewels

The Austin weekend weather forecast predicts rain, rain, and more rain. Yes! This Simple Saturday activity is perfectly suited for a damp, soggy rainy day.

I rummaged around the house to gather our needed supplies. Here's the list: paper towels, macaroni with big holes in them, food coloring, plastic lunch bags, yarn, and rubbing alcohol. That's all we need to create dazzlingly stunning macaroni beads. Simply divine!

See you tomorrow.

Simple Saturday: Painted Bread!

Get ready to have some tasty fun. Even though you might not like the ingredients or if food coloring makes you feel a bit wiggly inside, I think you'll have fun making Painted Bread. If you don't want to eat it your toast, give yours to your dog. (My dog Tripod loved the piece I gave to him...just joking.)

Here we are back in my kitchen.Do you have everything you need? Millk? Brushes? Food coloring? Toaster? Bread? I used wheat bread this time. For the optimum Painted Bread color contrast, white bread works best. Oooo...those bright colors against that milk-toast white is breath-taking!

Go ahead and put around 7 or 8 drops of food coloring in each glass of milk. Remember we're using red, yellow, and blue. (Those are pretty special colors with their own important name...primary colors.) Stir the food coloring in the milk using your super clean brushes. Now we're ready to really have some simple fun.

Paint your bread. Go ahead. Do it. Fill those bristles with lots of paint and spread it right on your bread. Use all the colors. Make rainbows, or cars, or hearts, or your name, or anything you'd like. Have a blast!

I must caution you to avoid the urge to saturate your bread with the paint. Soggy bread falls apart in the toaster. Trust me. I have had first hand experience in crummy things like this. 

I bordered the crust with red.Now put your bread in the toaster. Wait for it to toast. (The waiting is the hardest part.) Pop! Out it comes! Awesome! Go ahead and spread some butter or maybe a bit of peanut butter on it and you have a delicious simple feast, my friend.  

What do you think about Painted Bread? Post a comment. Tell me. I'd simply love to know.

Simple Saturday Prep: Painted Bread

This activity is fun, fun, fun and super easy to do! Gather up the following items and have them ready tomorrow morning. You just might like to make Painted Bread for breakfast! Yum.

You'll need:

• 3 small paintbrushes (Make sure that they are clean. You might want to buy some brand-new cheapies at the craft store...the most inexpensive ones on the rack!)
• Milk
• Red, yellow, and blue food coloring
• A piece of bread (white or wheat, anything as long as it is light in color)
• A toaster

That's it! See you tomorrow.

Simple Saturday-Color Mixing

As you can tell the procedures below have been done in my kitchen, as most of the Simple Saturday posts will be. Color mixing is easy, simple, and fun to do...just wait and see.

Here are the three glasses half filled with colored water. I used 5 drops of each shade of food coloring in each glass. You might want to experiment with the concentration of color you'd like to use. It has been my experience that if you make the color solution too dark it doesn't work as well and your child's fingertips might get a bit stained (But who cares...right?). 

I filled the eyedropper with a nice blob of blue and then dropped it into the first space in the color mixing tray.

Next I filled the dropper with a tube full of yellow color and mixed with with the blue already in the color tray. Whoa! Wait. What just happened? Did I make green? Wow. (Little ones love this...I'm telling ya'.)

Let's get crazy now. How do you think I was able to make purple, huh? Or how about that orange right there? What colors must combine to make this happen? I wonder how pink is made. Or brown. Or black.

I encourage you to ask the questions and let your young child figure out the color combinations on their own. So what if the shade isn't right. Simply wipe it out and begin again!

Get Ready. Tomorrow is Simple Saturday.

I have made a career out of having a great time with kids utililizing very simple things. In fact, most of the items needed to create a fun little activity can be found right there in your kitchen. Cheap fun. Simple quality time with your kids, hence the theme of my blog, Simple Saturdays. 

Here's the plan: On Friday I will give you a list of items that you might like to gather. On Saturday I'll show you what to do. There will be activities for all aged kids, wee ones to those that tower over us. Games, crafts, pastimes, things that help to develop motor skills and lengthen the concentration span. Laying-on-your-back-gazing-at-the-clouds type of things. Sounds like fun to you? It does to me.

Very young ones will enjoy tomorrow's activity, children from the age of oh...say...2 1/2 to 4 years of age. They will need to have the ability to squeeze the rubber top of an eyedropper. (Oh, how I love to watch those chubby, dimpled hands as they work.)

The supplies needed for Simple Saturday are an eyedropper, a color mixing tray (I bought this one at Jo Ann's for about $1.25), red, yellow, and blue food coloring, water, and 3 small glasses (baby food jars work great!). It might be good to have a sponge nearby.

That's it! I'll see you tomorrow!