It's the most wonderful time of the year and these three Christmas tree experiments will make the season even brighter!

Here in the Sassafras house, Christmas is a big deal! And after our summer-long science-filled adventure, we love to sprinkle a little science into our holiday cheer. Summer is always quick to supply us with great ideas, like these candy cane experiments, and this year was no different!

Let's dig into our three favorite Christmas tree experiments!

Our Top 3 Christmas Tree Experiments 

#3 - Gumdrop Christmas Trees

We loved the holiday twist added to this classic gumdrop engineering experiment!

To build your own festive toothpick-gumdrop tree, you will need:

• A box of toothpicks
• A plate and a bowl
• Red, green, and white gumdrops

To start, set out the gumdrops in a bowl, the box of toothpicks on the table, and a plate for each person to build on. Then, let everyone dig into design, test, and build whatever gumdrop tree they can dream up.

{Spoiler Alert} These gumdrop Christmas trees are a fun way to test the strength of different shapes. You should see that certain shapes, like the cube, are stronger than others. And you should also see that there is a limit to how much height a certain-sized base can hold before the tree will collapse on itself.

#2 - Christmas Tree Cookies

You can’t eat these cookies, but they still make a delicious scientific treat!

To make your own Christmas science cookies, you will need:

• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Green food coloring
• Eyedropper
• A plate and a bowl
• A Christmas tree cookie cutter

Start by mixing several drops of green food coloring with about a quarter of a cup of vinegar in the bowl. Then, place the Christmas tree cookie cutter on the plate and fill it two-thirds of the way with baking soda. And the real fun begins when you use the eyedropper to squirt green-vinegar on the baking soda cookie!

{Spoiler Alert} You should see lots of fizzing where the vinegar meets the baking soda. Summer, let us know that this is because of the gas, carbon dioxide, that is released when an acid, like vinegar, reacts with a base, like baking soda.

#1 - Crystal Christmas Trees

This Christmas tree experiment takes a bit of time, but it is sooooooo worth it!

To grow your own crystal trees, you will need:

• Cereal box cardboard
• Green food coloring
• Shallow dish or plastic bowl
• Water
• Liquid bluing
• Salt

You will begin by cutting out two Christmas trees of the same size from the cereal box cardboard. Cut a slit in the top of one and the bottom of the other. Then, add a bit of green food coloring to the edges of the cardboard tree, fit the two flat trees together via the slits, and place the 3D tree in the shallow dish. Next, mix two TBSP each of water, salt, and liquid bluing and pour the mixture into the shallow dish. Set the dish where it won’t be disturbed, but will still have good air flow. The next day, sprinkle in two more tablespoons of salt. On day three, pour two TBSP each of water, salt, and liquid bluing into the dish, but not directly over the cardboard tree. You should see crystals forming, but if not, then add two TBSP of ammonia to the bowl.

{Spoiler Alert} You Christmas tree will bloom with crystals as the water evaporates. As they form, the crystals will pick up some of the green food coloring, creating a super cool effect! If you needed to add the ammonia, its purpose was to speed up the evaporation going on in your bowl.

Wrapping it up

Well, there you have it, our top three Christmas tree experiments! When you try one out this year, share a pic on Instagram and be sure to tag us, so we can share in the Christmas science fun.

The Sassafras Twins learned on their botany leg that a seed contains the beginnings of a new plant. In other words, seeds reproduce the plant they came from.

There are millions of different kinds of seeds. Blaine and Tracey were amazed at where they find them—like in the kitchen, on hikes, and even in the grocery store.

Did you know that peanuts are really seeds?

After their journey, the Sassafras Twins shot a quick email over to Felipe, their Argentinian friend and pampas expert, to ask him how to dissect a seed.

His response was so cool that they had to share it with you all!

The Ballad of the Seed by Felipe Moreno

Bienvenidos, mis amigos!

So you want to know how to dissect a seed? Well, as a semi-famous gaucho-ballad singer, I thought I would teach you how with a song. Here it goes:

The twins want to see what is inside the seed
I told them a kidney bean is what you need
Start with some water and give it a good soak
Then pinch it very hard to remove the cloak

The small seed in your hand is alive, alive, alive
The baby plant can be found inside, inside, inside

Gently split the white bean embryo in two
Now the inside of the seed you clearly view
Observe the radicle, the soon to be root
And hypocotyl, known as the plant stem shoot

The small seed in your hand is alive, alive, alive
The baby plant can be found inside, inside, inside

At the tip, the epicotyl you may see
As the seed grows, from it the leaves will go free
Only the seed’s food store remains on display
Whose starchy goodness is the new plant's buffet

The small seed in your hand is alive, alive, alive
The baby plant can be found inside, inside, inside

Hope you enjoy! - Felipe

Steps for Dissecting a Seed

Wow—wasn’t that amazing, folks!

After you read or listen to Felipe’s ballad, show your students what they just heard about by dissecting a seed. Here are the steps you need to follow.

1. Get a kidney bean seed.
2. Soak it overnight.
3. Remove the outer covering.
4. Gently split the seed into two.
5. Observe the radicle (which will become the roots of the new plant), hypocotyl (which will be part of the shoot and connect the radicle to the epicotyl), epicotyl (will become the newly formed stem and leaves) and food store (which will feed the new plant as it grows).

You can also wrap another seed in a wet paper towel and placed it in a baggie. Then set the baggie aside for several days until the seed sprouts. Once it does, follow steps 3 to 5 again. The time you should be able to see the parts more clearly.

Wrapping it Up

Our kiddos have loved looking at the inside of a seed and we hope you guys will too! Here are a few programs of our that will help you learn about the seed:

• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 3: Botany
• Science Chunks: Plants
• Biology for the Grammar Stage

In the past, we have shared our top three items to have on hand for fall science experiments and fall leaves was one of those.

Now, we want to share with you all one of our favorite things to do with all those leaves—create a Fall Leaf Book!

How to Make a Fall Leaf Book

Supplies

Here is what you will need:

• Tape
• Fall leaves
• Contact paper
• Crayons and pencils
• Sheets of paper (Or download these free templates)

Directions

Start by heading outside to gather fall leaves. Be sure to bring several sheets (or copies of the templates linked above), some crayons, tape, and a pencil with you.

When you find a leaf you like, create a fall leaf record sheet for it. Begin by writing down on your sheet where you found the leaf. If you know what kind of tree the leaf comes from, write that down, too. You can use crayons to make a rubbing of the bark at this time as well. Then, tape the leaf to the sheet. Repeat this procedure for each of the leaves you find and want to keep.

Once you are back at home, take some time to observe each of the leaves, i.e., what color it is, what shape it is, and what size it is. Add your observations to the fall leaf record sheet you created earlier. If you did not know what type of tree your leaf came from, take some time to identify it using the following:

• vTree App (Android or iTunes)
• What tree is that? from the Arbor Day Foundation

Once your fall leaf record sheet is complete, you can use contact paper to permanently attach the leaf or you can laminate the sheet. Then, staple all the sheets together to make your very own Fall Leaf Book!

Want to do more with those fall leaves?

Check out this:

• Fall Leaf Chromatography

Ulysses and I like to take a daily walk as long as the weather permits. It’s good to get out in the sunshine every once in a while, especially when you spend most of your day in an underground lab!

Anyway, while we are on our walks, we like to pick up and new-to-us rocks. Then, every few months, we add those rocks to our growing collection.

Today, the folks at Elemental Science asked us to come and share with you all our rock-collection-making process as part of our summer science fun series!

5 Simple Steps For Making A Rock Collection

To make your rock collection, you will need:

• An egg carton
• Paint
• Rocks
• White-out
• Permanent Marker

Here's how we get started...

Step 1 - Collect the rocks.

Before we can have a rock collection, we have to have the rocks. So we always start by collecting a few samples. These can be rocks we find on our walks or ones we score at the local general store. Either way, these are rocks we want to keep around to enjoy for a long time!

Step 2 - Paint the container.

We like to use a large egg carton - one with 18 slots. Then, we paint it all over in amazing designs, or with spray paint if we are in a hurry! Then, we will paint a bit of white-out in the section above each slot on the underside of the top cover so that we can write the names of the rocks we include.

Step 3 - Identify the rocks.

After preparing the vessel, we can start the nitty-gritty job of identifying the rocks. We have several field guides we use to do this. Basically, you need a book with a wonderful description and lots of pictures to match your rock with the one you think it is.

Step 4 - Label it all.

Once we know what the rocks are, we can label the rocks and the container. We use a bit of white-out on each rock and give it a number. Then, we place the rock in the correct slot and add the name of the rock to the key we painted on the underside of our egg carton lid in step 2.

Step 5 - Display your collection.

And finally, we set out our collection on display. Sometimes, we like to add a journal with a bit more about each rock and where we found it next to our collection. If you want to do the same, here is a free printable template:

• Rock collection journal sheet {FREE Printable}

Wrapping It Up

So there you have our five simple steps for making a rock collection!

If you are looking for more summer science fun, be sure to check out the other posts in this series:

• How to grow a butterfly {A Zoology Project}
• The Edible Cell Calzone {An Anatomy Project}
• How to grow herbs from cuttings {A Botany Project}
• 3 Stormy Weather Activities-in-a-jar {An Earth Science Project}

Welcome back to the Summer of Science Extravaganza!!!

Ulysses and I (Summer Beach) have been sharing some summer-time science projects for you to enjoy! We shared how to sprout some herbs from cuttings and our edible cell calzone. But we saved the best for last!

Today, we are going to talk about how to grow a butterfly in your very own home!!!!

I need to calm down with a plain white bread and cheese grilled sandwich - this is seriously my favorite science project to do.

Let’s get started with this super fun zoology science project!!

How To Grow A Butterfly

A butterfly lays an egg, and a caterpillar hatches from the egg. The caterpillar eats and grows, shedding its skin several times to accommodate its growing belly!

Once the caterpillar reaches the right size, it sheds its skin for a final time. This reveals the chrysalis, which quickly hardens. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar goes through the metamorphosis, or changes, into a butterfly.

At the right time, the butterfly breaks out! It hangs onto the chrysalis for a bit, just until its wings dry out and harden. Then, it flies off in search of nectar!

The butterfly matures and one day lays eggs of its own so that the cycle can begin again.

OK, so now that we know what happens, let’s get started with how to grow a butterfly of our own at home!

Step 1. Get Your Caterpillar

It all starts with getting the right caterpillar. You can collect one from outdoors and use a field guide to identify it. That way, you know it will become a butterfly and not a moth!

Or you can go the straightforward route and order one online. (Ulysses and I like this one from Insect Lore.)

If you don't buy one that contains the food the caterpillar will need, make sure you collect some leaves it likes to eat. That way, it can chomp, grow, and shed its way to being a butterfly! We also recommend that you line to top with tracing paper to make step 3 easier and poke some tiny holes in the top so that your new friend can breathe!

Step 2. Observe The Changes

Your caterpillar is going to change a lot on its road to becoming a butterfly. It will eat and grow for a week or more. Over this time, it will shed its skin several times to make room for its increasing girth. If you take a picture every day, you will be able to compare and observe that changes!

Then, before you know it, the caterpillar will attach itself to the top of your container. It will look like it is hanging upside down.

When you see this happen, pay careful attention because in the next 12 to 24 hours the caterpillar will shed its skin for the final time!! And when it does, it will reveal its chrysalis home.

Step 3. Transfer The Chrysalis And Wait

You want to wait a day or two to transfer the chrysalis to a mesh container. This is so that the chrysalis has time to fully harden.

Gently remove the paper the chrysalis is attached to and pin it to the top (or bottom) or a butterfly habitat (or wire mesh waste basket.)

You want to do this because the butterfly needs to be able to crawl up the side of the container it is in as its wings dry. And the side of a plastic or glass jar, which is a cake walk for the caterpillar, is like a slip-and-slide for a butterfly!

Once the slightly scary work of transferring the chrysalis is done, you can sit back and wait. It should take about a week, depending upon the species you have.

The day before the butterfly emerges, you will notice that their chrysalis becomes clearer, and you can see some of the butterfly’s wings show through!

Step 4. Watch Them Emerge

The day your butterfly emerges will be super exciting!!! Its body will look super swollen, but all the liquid is quickly pumped into its wings, minus a bit of red gook that it normally expels.

It takes about half a day for the butterflies’ wings to fully expand and harden so that it can fly. Once this happens, you can release it into the wilds of your backyard!

Step 5. Release Your Butterfly

Or you can observe it for a day or so before releasing it. Just make sure you provide it with some nectar in the form of oranges or sugar-water-laced flowers.

In time, the butterfly will find a mate and lay eggs of its own, to begin the cycle again!

Boom!

Zwack!

Fireworks!

It's almost the Fourth of July - one of the Prez's and I's favorite holidays!

Why you ask?

The answer is simple; we love the fireworks!!!

And today, we are going to share how you can make your very own fireworks and explode them right in your kitchen!!

Fireworks In Your Kitchen

Before we get started, let's watch this video to learn a bit more about the science behind fireworks.

Wasn't that fascinating?

Now, that we understand what is going on in the sky. Let's recreate it in the kitchen!!

Kitchen Fireworks Supplies

• Clear glass
• Water
• Oil
• Food coloring

Ok, so by now you have figured out that we are not making the exploding with fire fireworks in your kitchen. It falls under the same rules as when we showed you how to make a rocket at home.

We are making the oil and water kind - not exactly the same, but still super cool!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Elemental Science (@elementalscience)

How To Make Your Kitchen Fireworks

Let's get started!

Step 1. Pour a bit of oil in a bowl and add a few drops of food coloring.

Step 2. Break the drops into tiny droplets with a fork.

Step 3. Slowly add the oil mixture in a jar filled partway with water.

Step 4. Wait a moment and observe your fireworks!

What Happened?

Oil and water don't mix. This is because one (oil) is nonpolar and the other (water) is polar and because molecules like to hang out with other molecules that are just like them. They are kinda exclusive like that.

Anywhoo, it turns out that food coloring is also polar, so it doesn't want to mix with the oil. When gravity takes effect, the food coloring droplets turn tail and head for the hills, a.k.a., the water.

Wrapping It Up

Wasn’t that fantastic?

And the best part about it is that you can do it repeatedly without waking up the sleeping baby!

We’d love to see the fireworks you create—post a pic on Instagram and tag it with @elementalscience and the Prez and I will check it out!

How to make Magnetic Slime

For this science activity, you will need white glue, water, iron filings, some Borax, and a few magnets. 

To make your own magnetic slime, start by mixing the following in a plastic baggie:

• 4oz white glue
• 4oz of water
• about a half teaspoon of iron filings 

Then, in a separate cup, mix:

• a quarter cup of water
• half a teaspoon of Borax 

Next, combine the Borax solution with the baggie and knead until slime forms. Once your slime is ready, pull it out of the baggie, leaving any remaining liquid inside. Put the slime on a plate and let the magnetic fun begin! 

Use the magnets to experiment with the slime and pull it in different directions. You can also test the strength of a magnet by seeing how much of the slime it can pull up.

More Science Activities for Magnets

Have some more fun with magnets using these ideas:

• Make a 3D magnetic field.
• Defy gravity with magnets.
• Study the magnetic force.

Or check out the following programs to learn about magnets:

• Intro to Science (Kindergarten/Early Elementary)
• Physics for the Grammar Stage (Elementary)
• Physics for the Logic Stage (Middle School)

Hi-ya Sassy-Sci students!!

Uncle Cecil is back in the how-ouse with yet another super fun activity from my lab to yours. This time we are going to make cloud collages!!

During my niece’s and nephew’s downtime after their earth science leg, we did this sciency, artsy activity. Partly because it hammers home what clouds look like and partly to take their minds off... well, you will have to read volume 4 to find out what transpired.

Let's get down to business...

How to Make Your Own Cloud Collages

To make these frame-worthy clouds you will need:

• A sheet of blue construction paper
• A handful of cotton balls
• A bottle of white glue

For this collage, we are going to depict stratus, cumulus, and cirrus clouds. But if you want to add more than that, please do!

On to the instructions:

1. Begin by using several full cotton balls for cumulus clouds, which are large, puffy. Glue those suckers together in a clump in the middle of your paper.

2. Then, stretch two or three cotton balls out a bit for stratus clouds, which are long, slightly puffy. Glue them at the bottom over your paper stacked on top of each other like pancakes!

3. Finally, pull one or two cotton balls out until they are somewhat see-through for cirrus clouds, which are thin and wispy. And glue these puppies up at the top of your paper.

4. Finish it up by labeling the cloud types and adding a sentence to describe each one if you are so inclined.

Whew, now that your masterpiece is finished, you can have a bit more cloudy fun with these two links:

• Predict the Weather – Learn how the clouds can help them predict the weather using the information in this post from the Homeschool Scientist!
• Cloud Video – Watch this interesting video about why clouds stay up.

How We Can Help You Learn About Weather

Learn more about weather with the following programs:

• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 4: Earth Science
• Science Chunks: Weather

Hello and welcome students to the Sassafras Science lab!

I’m Cecil Sassafras, your host for this brief excursion. Blaine and Tracey asked me to share a little activity with you guys. So today, we are going to go through how to make a rocket at home.

First, you will need lots of wire, several metal sheets...

Excuse me for one moment, my lab assistant President Lincoln is waving some sort of paper wildly in attempts to get my attention, be back in a skippity-do-da...

Persactly! The Prez has just now reminded me of a memo that I had completely forgotten about.

I’ll share it here with you. This way you’ll see what I see! I just need to move Socrates off this scanner and then it should pop up on your screen...

Ahh... those folks at the Sassafras team know me so well!

How to Build a Rocket at Home {Kid-friendly, Human-powered STEAM rocket}

So, I had better share a kid-friendly, human-powered type of rocket instead. It seems it is not a good idea for me to share how you can build a working rocket in your basement! Maybe one of these days Linc-dog and I can zip you over to the lab to see the real thing.

For now, I’ll amend my list of materials so that now you will need a soda bottle, some rubber cement, paper, pencil, and several sheets of foam. Linc-dog, can you upload the slideshow we used with the twins the other day and we’ll get rolling?

Bravo, another excellent presentation by my amazing lab assistant!

Steps to Complete

In case you missed a step of how to make a rocket at home, here’s the list:

1. Gather supplies.
2. Draw your fin design on a sheet of paper.
3. Cut out the fin shape and use it as a template to make three foam fins. 
4. Use rubber cement to attach the fins to the base of the bottle and let them dry.
5. Use a full sheet of foam to cut out a cone shape for the top of the bottle.
6. Glue the cone together and let it dry. (You may need a bit of tape to hold it in place.)
7. Attach the cone to the bottle with rubber cement and let it dry.
8. Your rocket is ready for human-powered use!

Now you have your very own bottle rocket, just like mine, for your lab desk.

Oh my, your right, Prez, I almost forgot! Here's a template you can use for cutting out your rocket cone and fins:

• How to Make a Rocket at Home Templates

I hope you enjoyed your peek into the Sassafras Science lab. Make sure you come back in two weeks for more from my lovely niece and nephew!

Who is Cecil Sassafras?

He's the twins' crazy, eccentric, forgetful uncle. He is the scientist behind the invisible zip lines found in the Sassafras Science Adventures series. He is also known for creating all kinds of other useful wonders, including the breakfast machine and a filing system based on classification. 

In our neck of the woods, the leaves are just beginning to turn. And when that happens I love to make a fall leaf book and do a bit of fall leaf chromatography with my kiddos!

Fall Leaf Chromatography

Materials

To do this STEAM activity, you will need the following:

• Leaf
• Rubbing alcohol
• Coffee filter cut into strips
• Jar
• Pencil
• Tape or a binder clip

Procedure

Begin this fall science activity, you can watch the following video about why the leaves change their colors.

• Why do fall leaves change their colors?

Then, have the students do the following:

1. Place the leaf on top of one of the coffee filter strips, and use the pencil to gently rub and transfer some of the colors from the leaf. Have them rotate the leaf around until there is a nice dark-colored spot about an inch from the edge of the coffee filter.
2. As they are making the spot, fill the jar about a quarter of the way with rubbing alcohol.
3. Once the students are done, place the strip in the jar so that the bottom is touching the alcohol, but the colored dot is not. Use the tape or binder clip to hold the strip in place.
4. Observe what happens over the next 30 minutes.

Results and Explanation

The students should see that the original colored spot has disappeared, leaving behind a streak spread out colors. The colors that were left behind on the strip are the pigments that are found in that leaf. The alcohol picks up these pigments and sets them down on the paper at different times. Here are the colors you might see and the responsible pigments:

• Green - chlorophyll
• Yellow - carotenoids and flavonoids
• Orange - carotenoids
• Red - anthocyanins

Wrapping it Up

Did you try this activity? Take a picture of the colors you saw and tag us (@elementalscience) so we can see them too!

Then, check out these posts for more fall science fun:

• Fall Science {Homeschool Science Tip}
• Fall Leaf Book {FREE printable}

Balance is key to keeping us upright. And balance helps us walk without falling over. But did you know that forces play a part in balance?

In this simple STEM lesson, we are going to learn a bit about balance and make a balance tower!

Let's dig in...

Your Simple STEM Lesson on Balance

What is balance?

Balance exists when there is an even distribution of weight which allows someone or something to remain upright or steady. Every object has forces, or energies of motion, acting upon it.

A book sitting on a table has the force of gravity pulling it down to the floor and the force of the table strength holding it up. It remains where it is, unless we tilt the table which causes the force of gravity to be greater and the book falls to the floor.

An object is in balance when all the forces that push or pull on it have caused it to remain still.

A Fun Balance Story

There is a popular story about Christopher Columbus and balance. It is said that he was told that discovering the Americas was no great accomplishment. His critics were try to downplay not only his discovery, but his intelligence.

So, Christopher challenged them to make an egg stand on its tip. After much effort, the critics gave up. Columbus stepped in, tapped the egg on the table, which flattened the eggshell on the tip, and the egg was able to stand upright with little effort. 

He cracked the egg in the process, but the story says that he silenced his critics by proving that he was the smarter man!

Balance Sort-of Like Columbus

You too can astound your students by balancing an egg on a table without breaking it. Here’s how:

1.  Make a small mound of salt on a hard, smooth, level surface.
2. Carefully balance the egg on top of the mound of salt.
3. Then, gently blow the excess salt away.

With patience and a steady hand, you should succeed in balancing the egg on its end. It is supported by unseen salt crystals which allow the egg to balance on its end effectively.

A STEM Project for Balance

After you have shared with your students about balance, told them the story, and balanced an egg on the table, you can have them use their knowledge to make a balanced gumdrop castle. In this project, the students will examine how balance effects man-made structures by buildings a castle completely out of toothpicks and gumdrops.

Supplies Needed

• Bag of gumdrops (two, if you really like gumdrops)
• Toothpicks
• Paper plate to build on top of

Steps to complete project

1. Begin by making several shapes out of gumdrops and toothpicks, such as squares, triangles, and octagons.
2. Test the strength of the different shapes by standing the shapes up and pressing on different spots.
3. Have the students create build a gumdrop-toothpick castle using what they have learned from the first two steps.

Once built, have the students evaluate its strength by lightly pushing on it in several areas. Spend some time discussing together ways that the castle could be stronger and make the changes that are possible.

Digging Deeper into Balance

Here are a few activities to take your balance lesson one step further:

• A Balance Robot from Buggy and Buddy
• Balancing Forks from Steve Spangler
• Sinking Ships from Education.com

Wrapping up your Simple STEM Lesson

So now you know how balance and forces work together! I trust that you and your students enjoyed making your own balance tower.

If you want to learn more about forces, check out one of our physics programs:

• Physics for the Grammar Stage (1st to 4th grade)
• Physics for the Logic Stage (5th to 8th grade)
• Physics for the Rhetoric Stage (9th to 12th grade)

Did you know that petrified rock is actually a fossil?

In this simple STEM lesson, we are going to learn a bit about petrified rock and make a petrified sponge!

Let's dig in...

Your Simple STEM Lesson on Petrified Rock

A brief explanation of petrified rock

Petrified rock is a type of fossil known as a replacement fossil. Replacement fossils are replicas of things that were once alive, such as trees, sea creatures, or the bones of an animal.

The living thing dies and is trapped in the ground. As it lays there, it is covered by mineral rich water. The process of decaying begins and as this happens, the organic matter from the living thing is replaced by a hard mineral called silica.

The minerals fill in the spaces and create a replacement, or replica, fossil of the living thing. Pure silica quartz crystals are colorless, but petrified rocks come in array of colors due to the presence of other elements, such as manganese, iron, and copper.

How to make a petrified sponge

You will need the following for this science activity:

• A pot
• An old tin can
• Tongs
• Popsicle stick
• Hot mitts
• Wax (either from a taper candle or a block of wax)
• Foil muffin cup liner (or aluminum foil to line a muffin tin)
• A muffin tin
• A cellulose sponge (a.k.a. a kitchen sponge with lots of holes of differing sizes)

Here are the steps to make your petrified sponge:

1. Fill the pot a little less than halfway with water and set it on the stove to bring the water to a low simmer.
2. Meanwhile, break up the wax into smaller chunks that will fit in the can and cut off a piece of the sponge so that it fits into one of the cups in the muffin tin. Line the muffin tin with the foil muffin cups (or aluminum foil) and set one sponge piece into each cup.
3. {Adults Only} Once the water is simmering, place the wax in the can and use the tongs to set the can into the water in the pot. As the wax melts, make sure that none of the water gets into the can and make sure that there is always water in the pot. You can use the popsicle stick as a stirrer, just make sure you have your hot mitts on when you do this.
4. {Adults Only} Once the wax has melted, put on the hot mitts and use the tongs to remove the can. Gently tip the can so that a bit of wax pours onto the sponge. Do not fully coat the sponge, just a little bit at a time so that the sponge will absorb the wax rather than float in it. To get the best results, take your time to pour the wax over the sponge and use the popsicle stick to press on the sponge, helping to massage the melted wax into the holes. You want the sponge to absorb as much of the melted wax as possible.
5. Wait for the wax to fully cool and harden before taking out your petrified sponge. 

The melted wax seeps into the holes in the sponge, filling up the spaces with liquid. As the wax cools it hardens and the sponge "petrifies," becoming hard as a rock.

In the same way, water rich with minerals seeps in the cracks and spaces found in dead organic matter, like trees. Over time it hardens, and the organic matter becomes a replacement fossil known as petrified rock.

Digging deeper into petrified rocks

Check out the following links to learn more about petrified rocks:

• Petrified wood colors
• A tour of the Petrified National Forest {Video}

Wrapping Up Your Simple STEM Lesson

So now you know that petrified rocks are really replacement fossils! I trust that you and your students enjoyed making your own petrified sponge.

If you want to learn more about fossils, check out one of our earth science programs:

• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage
• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Logic Stage
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 5: Geology
• Lapbooking through Rocks and Fossils

Has spring visited your area yet? Keeping a "Signs of Spring" reference journal can help you anticipate the arrival of the best season of the year! 

How to Make Your Own Signs of Spring Reference Journal 

You see, back when we lived in Virginia, spring was just started to peek out of winter's grip around this time of year. And it was always fun to look back through our spring flower pictures to see if this year's appearance was sooner or later than previous years. 

Now that we are in Florida, spring shows up a whole lot sooner! Even so, we are continuing the tradition of documenting the arrival of spring with our "Signs of Spring" reference journals. 

And I thought that you would enjoy making one, too! 

So in today's post, we are sharing some free printables and directions for keeping your own record of what in my humble opinion is the best season of every year!

Signs of Spring Journal Supplies

What you will need:

• Signs of Spring Journal templates (Download for FREE here)
• Pencil
• Stapler
• Camera or colored pencils

Signs of Spring Journal Directions

You should begin making your journals as soon as you start to notice the appearance of the typical spring flowers.

Look for flowers like:

• Snowdrops
• Crocus
• And other spring blooms.

Once you start to spot these, print out a few pages and start recording! Basically, you will:

• Head outside to look for signs of spring.
• Write down the date, what you have found, where you found it, and a sentence or two about the subject.
• Then, snap a photo to glue on the page later, or draw your own.
• Once, the season is over, you can staple the book together and tuck it away to reference next year.

It's that simple!

More Ways to Explore the Signs of Spring

But if you want to take it a step further, check out the following activities:

• How to dissect a spring bulb
• How to dissect a flower

Or the following programs:

• Biology for the Grammar Stage or Biology for the Logic Stage
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 3: Botany
• Science Chunks: Plants

When you read "grassland" - does it mean a habitat, a biome, or an ecosystem? Well, it depends!

And to muddy the waters just a bit more - these terms are often used interchangeably. But after you read this, you'll be able to better answer the question! 

Is it a Habitat, Biome, or Ecosystem?

Let's chat about the definition of each of these in order to figure it out.

What is a habitat?

A habitat is the natural environment of a plant or an animal or the place that is normal for the life and growth of an animal or a plant.

This habitat is the place that the plant or animal calls home.

A habitat could be as small as a backyard tree or as big as the whole forest. Either way, this habitat provides shelter, water, and food.

What is a biome?

A biome describes the world’s major communities of living things.

Biomes are classified according to the predominant plants that are found there. The animals that live in the biome are uniquely adapted to live in that particular environment. This is because temperature, the type of soil, and the amount of light and water all affect the types of plants and animals that live within a biome.

The five major biomes are aquatic, desert, forest, grasslands, and tundra (or polar).

What is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is an environment where plants and animals interact with each other.

Within the very large, major biomes, there can be several types of the particular environments with different climates. Each of these is known as a different ecosystem. The specific plants and animals may vary, but the general types will be the same.

For example, within the larger forest biome, you have the taiga forest ecosystems, the temperate forest ecosystems, and the tropical forest ecosystems.

So, which one is it?

So, let’s take a look at how this works for a specific animal - the elephant.

This lumbering mammal could make its home, or habitat, in the grassy plains of Botswana, which is part of a larger savannah grassland ecosystem in the Africa, which is part of the larger grassland biome on planet Earth.

A Simple STEAM activity for Biomes

My favorite way to study this topic is by making a diorama!

I love it because the student digs deep into one biome (or ecosystem or habitat), learning all about it from various science encyclopedias or from the internet. Then, they create their own version.

Since the process of making a diorama engages both the left and right side of the brain, the likelihood that the student will remember what they have studied is very high.

Here’s a look at two different dioramas we have made in the past:

Supplies

• a shoebox or other small shallow box
• paint
• markers
• construction paper
• pictures of animals, clay, or figurines

What to do:

1. Have the students choose which habitat, ecosystem, or biome they would like to create.
2. Then, have them create that environment inside of a shoe-box using construction paper and markers.
3. Have the students add animals using pictures, clay, or figurines.
4. (Optional) Have them present their diorama and tell about why they chose what they did and what they learned about the habitat, ecosystem, or biome.

If you do make a diorama, we would love to see it! You can send us an email or tag us on Instagram with @elementalscience.

Learn More

If you want to dig into the specific biomes, we offer the following programs:

• Science Chunks: Major Biomes
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 3: Botany
• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage

Valentine's Day is almost here! And we here at Elemental Science want to help you pack your Valentine's Day celebrations with some science fun. 

So, we asked Blaine and Tracey, of Sassafras Science, to share fourteen of their favorite, super-fun Valentine's science activities. We promise that these will give you the googly eyes!

Okay, Sassafras Twins, take it away...

14 Valentines Science Activities You and Your Kiddos Are Sure To Love

We are going to share our favorite Valentine's science activity with you first and then, we'll let a few of our internet-science-blogger friends share the rest!

1. Send a Valentine's note with Science.

Now, we will warn you - Uncle Cecil has activated the smoke alarms more than a few times with the typical version of this activity. You know the one with lemon juice or milk and a candle.

It's all too easy to see your secret note go up in flames, so we are going to share a different spin on this one. One that we learned from the Kitchen Pantry Scientist. This one uses acid and base action instead.

Here's what you will need:

• Baking soda
• Water
• Q-tip
• Small bowl
• Paper
• Cranberry juice
• 9 by 12 pan

Mix a tablespoon and warm water in the small bowl. Dip the q-tip into the solution and use it to write a message on the paper. Let the paper dry.

Once your message dries, hand the paper to your friend. Have your friend fill the 9 by 12 pan with cranberry juice. Then, have your friend set the paper you gave them in the pan and wait for the message to be revealed!

And once you send a Valentine's note with science, check out these fourteen more Valentine's science activities you are sure to love!

Science Activities with Candy Hearts

2. Make a few candy hearts dance.

3. Test to see if candy hearts float or sink.

4. See how candy hearts react.

5. Design a candy heart rainbow.

Valentines-themed Science Activities

6. Mix up a batch of Valentine's slime.

7. Watch a few hearts bubble with baking soda and vinegar.

8. Make a crystal heart with Borax.

9. Play with frozen vinegar hearts.

10. Whip up some love potions.

11. Test to see which type of chocolate melts faster.

Valentine's Science Fun to Share

12. Give a scientific Valentine card.

13. Recycle some paper while creating Valentine's heart paper.

14. Make a fingerprint Valentine.

Wrapping It Up

We hope you have a blast playing with these Valentine's science activities.  If you need a few more be sure to check out these 4 DIY Valentines ideas!

In this simple STEM lesson, you will find the tools you  need to share about the different types of fossils with your students!

Scientists categorize fossils into three main groups -  impression fossils, trace fossils, and replacement fossils. Amber is also often looked at as the fourth type of fossil but, even though a chunk of amber can contain insects that were trapped in resin long ago, technically it is still categorized as a gemstone.

Let's dig into the three main types of fossils, uncover what they are, and get our hands dirty with an activity!

Your Simple STEM Lesson on Fossils

A Brief Explanation of the 3 Types of Fossils 

Fossils are bits of plants and animals preserved from the past. They are several different kinds of fossils based on how they are formed.

Here are the three most common:

1. Impressions fossils

These fossils contain prints, or impressions, of plants or animals from long ago. The plant or animal lands in mud, silt, or sand and makes an impression.

Over time, it disappears, but the impression remains. The mud, silt, or sand hardens into rock, and an impression fossil remains.

2. Trace fossils

These types of fossils capture the activities of ancient animals. These animals leave their footprints or scat, which makes an impression in the soft mud, silt, or sand.

Just like impression fossils, the soil hardens to form rock, preserving a trace of the animal.

3. Replacement fossils

These fossils are replicas of things that were once alive, such as trees or sea creatures. These living things are trapped, die, and are covered by mineral-rich water.

As they rot, the organic parts are replaced by a hard mineral called silica. The minerals fill in the spaces and create a replacement, or replica, fossil of the living thing.

3 Simple STEM Fossil Activities

Simple Fossil Observation

To learn more about fossils, have the students do a simple fossil observation.

For this science activity, you will need:

• A fossil
• A magnifying glass
• A notebook or piece of paper

Have the students examine the fossil using their eyes, fingers, and the magnifying glass. As they observe, ask them the following questions:

• What type of fossil do you have?
• Is your fossil from a plant or animal?
• What similarities are there to something you would find today?
• What differences are there to something you would find today?

Once they are done their observations, have the students write down several things that they learned about the living thing it preserved and sketch what they see. 

2 More Fossil Activities

After they have observed the fossil sample, you can have the students make their own fossil.

Check out the following two articles for ideas:

• Replacement fossils - Have the students make their own replica of a replacement fossil, just like petrified wood, using the linked activity from the Utah Education Network.
• Impression fossils - Have the students make their own impression fossil using a shell or plant from your home with the directions found in the linked article from the Crafty Classroom.

Digging Deeper Into Fossils

A little fun fact that you may not know - every state has its own fossil!

Have the students research and learn about their state’s fossil. You can use these two websites below to help you get started:

• State Symbols USA
• List of US State Fossils from Wikipedia

You can also check out the following books for more information on fossils:

• Digging Up Dinosaurs (Let’s-Read-and-Find... Science 2) by Aliki
• Archaeologists Dig for Clues (Let’s-Read-and-Find... Science 2) by Kate Duke
• Learning from Fossils (Exploring Earth’s Resources) by Sharon Katz Cooper

Wrapping Up Your Simple STEM Lesson

Impression, trace, and replacement fossils are the three main categories of fossils. Your students can learn so much about these preservation pieces by observing and recreating the fossils!

I trust that you and your students will enjoy this simple STEM lesson the three main types of fossils. If you want to learn more, check out our earth science programs:

• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage
• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Logic Stage
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 5: Geology
• Lapbooking through Rocks and Fossils

3 Beautiful Christmas ornaments you can easily make with science

Before Christmas is here, you can use these three science experiments to add a few beautiful ornaments to your tree!

#1 - Chromatography balls

To make your own chromatography ornaments, you will need:

• Coffee filters and Rubbing alcohol
• A wide-mouthed jar or bowl
• Permanent markers in a variety of colors
• Laminating sheet or contact paper
• String and a hole punch

Draw a design with different colored dots in the center of the absorbent material you have chosen. (Note - The designs will spread out, so keep it close to the center.)

Next, pour a thin layer of rubbing alcohol into the bottom of a jar. Fold the coffee filter into quarters and place the tip in the rubbing alcohol. Watch the design spread out. Remove the filter when it reaches the desired effect.

Let the creation dry, cut out the design, laminate it, and hang the ornament on the tree!

#2 - Crystal Candy Canes

To make your crystal candy canes, you will need:

• A wide-mouthed jar
• A pencil
• 2 Pipe cleaners, one red and one white
• String
• Borax Laundry Booster

Take the red and white pipe cleaners and fold them in half. Then, twist and shape the two pipe cleaners into a candy cane shape. Tie a string to your candy cane and attach the string to the pencil so that the pencil rests on the edge of your jar without having your candy cane touch the sides or bottom of the jar.

Now, add hot water until it almost fills the jar, noting how many cups of water it takes to fill the jar. Then, add the Borax, one tablespoon at a time, taking care each time to stir until the Borax is dissolved. You want to add about three tablespoons of Borax for every cup of water you have added. Finally, hang your candy cane in the jar so that it is completely covered by the liquid.

Allow the jar to sit undisturbed overnight. The next morning, you should see your design covered in beautiful crystals. 

#3 - Nature viewers

To make your nature viewers, you will need: 

• Objects from nature, such as air plants, berries, small nuts, leaves, or lichen
• Clear, plastic ball ornaments with removable tops

Head outside to collect objects from nature that will fit into the hole at the top of your ornament. Things like air plants, berries, small nuts, leaves, pine needles, and lichens are all good options.

Open up the top of the clear, plastic ball ornament and add the objects that were collected. You can shake or swirl the ornament around to get the nature objects into the places you want. 

Afterwards, carefully put the tops back on and hang the ornaments on the tree.

Additional Resources

Check out the following posts for more help with adding holiday science to your homeschool!

• 25 Activities for Christmas Science
• How to Handle Homeschool Science During the Holidays
• Top 10 Christmas Science Experiments
• {Podcast} How to easily add a sprinkle of holiday science cheer

Thanksgiving is almost upon us!

Bring on the turkey, the sweet potato casserole, the pumpkin pie, and . . . the science!

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I wanted to share with you all three Thanksgiving science activities that you can enjoy after the clean-up is done.

On to the thanksgiving science activities...

3 Thanksgiving Science Ideas 

#1 – Take a post-meal nature walk.

Let’s face it, we all eat too much at Thanksgiving. I don’t know about you, but my weakness is sweet potato casserole. It’s like eating dessert as your vegetable, which is just awesome!

So, after you have consumed a day’s worth of calories in one sitting, you can definitely use a walk. Why not take that walk in a local park or nearby woods? That way you can sprinkle some science into the moment.

As you walk, you can look for and discuss the different fall leaves, acorns, cones, and squirrels, which are all great nature study subjects for fall.

#2 – Debunk the Tryptophan Myth.

Have you heard before that the tryptophan in turkey is the cause of the traditional post-meal nap? This is actually a myth!

In fact, the chicken you eat on a more regular basis has more tryptophan in it than turkey does. The more likely cause of the Thanksgiving post-meal sleepiness is the abundance of food that you just consumed. Your body diverts blood to your digestive system to handle the food, which causes you to be sleepy.

Mythbusters explored this very myth in episode 196: Food Fables. You can sit down and watch the episode together, just make sure you keep pinching one another so you can stay awake!

Or you can watch the following video that busts the tryptophan myth:

#3 – Do some seasonal science experiments.

If a walk in not in the cards because of weather or {ahem} other reasons and you already know all about the tryptophan myth, you can choose to do a few seasonal science experiments

Here are a few of our favorites:

• Pumpkin Investigations
• Fall Leaf Chromatography
• Learn about Acorns
• Erupting Apples
• Dissolve Candy Pumpkins

IN A NUTSHELL

Whether you take a nature walk, debunk the tryptophan myth, or do a few seasonal science experiments, I trust that you will enjoy these thanksgiving science ideas for years to come!

Need a few more? Here you go...

• 5 {More} Fun and Amazing Thanksgiving Science Activities
• 18 Thanksgiving Science Activities

Leave a comment below to share your experiences with these activities or to ask any questions you have. 

Lichens are perfect to study in the fall and winter. As the trees are shedding their leaves and the plants are starting to die off, the lichens in the area begin to stand out.

Plus, lichens can be found all over the world, including in the desert!

Typically, you will find lichens on the bark of a tree or on a rock. Many lichens are about the size of a human fist, but they can grow to be as large as dinner plates and even larger.

As you study lichens using the information and activity below, you can download the following notebooking page to document it all:

• FREE Lichen Notebooking Page

Let’s take a closer look at the amazing lichen!

What are lichens?

Lichens are the result of a symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, partnership between a fungus and an alga plant or a bacterium. In other words, they are technically not plants, but rather a living partnership.

In the lichen partnership, the fungi protect the algae or bacteria that live below. In turn, the algae or bacteria provide the fungi with the sugars they need to grow.

Lichens reproduce using diaspores, which are released into the air. The diaspore is simply a spore with some additional tissue. Lichen diaspores contain spores from the fungus plus a few cells from the alga or bacterium. Once the diaspora lands in a suitable place, it grows and develops into another lichen.

As I said before lichens are found through the world, growing on tree trunks and rocks. Lichens can be found in some of the harshest environments, such as the Arctic tundra.

3 Types of Lichens

There are three main types of lichens:

• Fruticose – These lichens are shrub-like. (pictured above on the left)
• Foliose – These lichens are more leaf-like. (pictured above in the center)
• Crustose – These lichens are flat and crusty. (pictured above on the right)

The crustose lichen is generally the most recognized type. But the three different types of lichens can all be found in most environments.

How to go on a Lichen Hunt

So now that your students understand a bit more about the amazing lichen, it is time to take them on a lichen hunt!

What you need

You will need:

• a magnifying glass
• a putty knife

What to do

Begin by taking the students for a walk around your house or in your local woods to look for examples of lichens on trees and rocks.

After they find a lichen, ask them these questions to help their observations:

• Where do the lichens grow (i.e. full sun, partial shade, or dark)?
• What do the lichens grow on (i.e. rocks, ground, or glass)?
• What type of lichens did you find?

Have the students observe the lichen with their magnifying glass to see how it is different or it is similar to other plants they have observed.

Once they have looked at the lichen up close, scrape off a tiny bit of the lichen with the putty knife. Have the students turn it over and examine the underside of the sample.

If possible, have the students look for all three types of lichens. Have them observe each one in the same way, noting any similarities and/or differences.

Wrapping it Up

Lichens are the result of an amazing biological partnership. They are a fascinating living example of symbiosis, perfect for a fall study.

If you want to learn more about plant life, check out the following:

• Science Chunks: Plants
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 3: Botany

Halloween is perfect for a few crazy, and scary, science activities! So this week, we are sharing a crazy color-change activity, plus a few other Halloween science activity round-ups to give you a few ideas.

Part color-change, part stink-up-the-kitchen—this Halloween science activity requires a bit of preparation, but it is totally worth it. Plus, you can teach your kids about acids and bases.

Let's dig in...

Crazy Colors {A Halloween Science Activity}

Materials Needed

• A head of red cabbage
• Knife
• Pot
• Water
• Strainer
• Clear glass or plastic container
• Ammonia

Steps to Complete

1. Chop up a third of the red cabbage head. Place it in the pot and cover it with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it boil for 10 to 15 minutes—basically until the water is a deep purple color.
2. Let cool the red cabbage juice before straining about a cup of the liquid into the clear glass or plastic container.
3. In front of the peeps, you want to fool, add a tablespoon or so of ammonia. (You should see the liquid go from deep purple to bright neon green! If you don’t, add more ammonia.)
4. If you want to add a bit more, you can always add some white vinegar to change things back to purple and then pink, which is really fun too!

Results and Explanation

Red cabbage juice acts as an indicator of pH, which is a fancy way of saying that it changes color—in the presence of an acid the juice can turn pink. In the presence of a base, it can turn bright green. Ammonia is a base, vinegar is an acid.

Additional Halloween Science Activities

Need a few more ideas for adding some science to your Halloween festivities? Here are two Halloween science activities round-up:

• Top 10 Science Experiments for Halloween
• 20 Must-try Halloween Science Activities

And when the holiday is done, you can use science to get rid of some of that candy!

Thanks to an experiment with peas, we can now use a bunch of letters to guess about how tall your kiddos will be using the Punnett Square!

This little box is a foundational genetic principle that helps scientists predict which traits an offspring can have.

Keep reading to glean a few tools to introduce this concept to your students, including a free printable!

Peas, the ABC's, and the Punnett Square...

DNA, Genes, and the Punnett Square

Let's start out with a bit about the genetic players - DNA and genes!

Coded within the DNA of an organism are thousands of genes. Each of these genes contains the code for certain characteristics. (Check out this LEGO DNA tower to understand how this coding works.)

These genes are passed down from the parents to the offspring. They come in pairs, called alleles, which are either dominant or recessive. The combination of these alleles determines which characteristic will be displayed.

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, discovered this principle as he conducted an experiment with peas in the 1860s. He observed that his pea plants had different traits – tall or short plants, wrinkled or smooth pods, green or yellow peas, and white or purple flowers.

He conducted an experiment in which he controlled the breeding of the plants through pollination. Through this experiment, he discovered that some traits appeared more often than others.

We now know that those traits are dominant. The other traits that appear less frequently are known as a recessive.

We also know that hybrid offspring result from a combination of a dominant trait and a recessive trait. That said, typically the dominant trait masks or covers the appearance of the recessive trait.

Several years later and a lot more thought into the basics of genetics, Reginald Punnett gave us a graphic representation of what Mendel discovered.

We know this as the Punnett Square. And we can predict the potential offspring of a set of parents using this basic tool.

A Sample Punnett Square

Let’s look at a Punnett Square!

In our sample, we will see the tall/short allele genes - T = tall gene (dominant), t = short gene (recessive). The possible combinations you could get would be:

• dominant tall (TT),
• hybrid tall (Tt),
• and recessive short (tt).

So let's say we create Punnett Square for a dominantly tall (TT) parent and a hybridly tall (Tt) parent. Here is what their possible offspring could look like:

This Punnett square shows us that these parents have:

• a 50% chance of producing a dominant tall offspring,
• a 50% chance of producing a hybrid tall offspring,
• and a 0% chance of producing a recessive short offspring.

And this is how geneticists can use the Punnett square to predict what traits an offspring will have.

Books and Science Activities to Explore the Punnett Square

Want to learn more? Here are a few books and activities to continue the science-fun!

Books to Read

• Gregor Mendel the friar who grew peas
• Gene Machines (Enjoy Your Cells)
• Genetics: Breaking the Code of Your DNA

Punnett Square Science Activities (Including a FREE Printable)

• Lego Punnett Squares - Have the students use a full brick for the dominant trait and a half brick for the recessive trait. Then, have them create several different Punnett Squares using the different options for parents (dominant - 2 full bricks, hybrid - one full brick and one-half brick, and recessive - 2 half bricks).
• Punnett Square Worksheet - Click the link to download a free worksheet to use with your students as you work through this material, including a few sample problems.

I trust that these suggestions will help you teach the Punnett Square to your children! If you have questions along the way, please don't hesitate to share them below.

What can LEGO® bricks teach us about DNA? These colorful bricks can help us understand how sequencing works in the genetic code!

Let's dig into the basics of DNA and then we'll get to how to build your a simple LEGO DNA tower out of the bricks you already have lying around your home.

What is DNA? 

DNA is the material that carries all the information about how a living thing will look and function. It is found in the nucleus of each of our cells and is unique to every individual. Its full name is deoxyribonucleic acid, which can be complicated to say, so we usually refer to it as DNA for short.

DNA is so tiny that it can not be seen unless we use a very powerful microscope. If we could see it we would see that it looks like a twisted ladder, which scientists refer to as the double helix.

The DNA ladder is composed of rungs that are made from two letters of the DNA alphabet. This alphabet consists of only 4 letters — A, T, G, and C. Each letter has a unique puzzle-like shape, which means that A and T fit with each other to form a rung on the ladder and G and C fit with each other to form a rung on the ladder.

As we read the DNA ladder, the letters combine to form 3-letter words called codons. Then, these codons combine to form sentences that we call genes. These genes are the basis for your chromosomes, which give your body a blueprint set of instructions for life.

Every human has 23 pairs of these DNA chromosomes that tell our body what to look like and what to do. We get one set of chromosomes from our mother and one set from our father. They determine whether your eyes will be blue or brown, what color your skin and hair will be, whether you will be a boy or girl and so much more.

How to make DNA tower with LEGO bricks

You will need:

• 2 different colors of LEGO bricks with 6 studs (at least 6 bricks of each color)
• 2 different colors of LEGO bricks with 4 studs (at least 6 bricks of each color)

In this activity, you are going to build a tower that is twelve rows high with the four different colors to see how different combinations you can make. Use the process as you build:

1. Collect the LEGO bricks. You will need at least 2 different colors of bricks different with 4 studs, such as yellow and green, and 2 different colors of bricks with 6 studs, such as red and blue.
2. Assign each color one of the 4 DNA-letters. In other words, if you have red, yellow, green, and blue. You can choose that red and yellow will go together, just like the A and T in DNA, and green and blue will go together, just like the G and C in DNA.
3. Make a tower that has twelve rows. As you build, remember that a certain color can only pair with the other color you have chosen and that each row can only have two bricks. (Note - You should be able to come up with many different combinations, just like DNA.)
4. Now that you have created a DNA ladder, use it to write a gene sentence. Do this by writing down your codons, or 3 letter words, from top to bottom and left to right.  As you work your way through the tower, you will create a unique gene-like sentence.

The sentence for the tower pictured above would be:

RYG BYR BGG BYR BGR YYR BGG BRY

More Genetics Activities

Here is another activity you can use to study DNA:

• DNA extraction activity - Join Uncle Cecil from Sassafras Science as he shares how you can extract DNA from a piece of fruit.

Here is another activity you can use to learn about the Punnett Square:

• Punnett Square - Learn about this fundamental concept in genetics and put that knowledge into practice with a free printable.

I hope that you find the explanation and activities in this post useful as you seek to share about DNA with your students! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

So, we didn't actually visit a black hole on our astronomy leg. As you will see in a few moments, that would have been a bit too dangerous, even for a Sassafras.

But we did learn about them and . . . we'll we don't want to spoil the whole story. You'll have to read our astronomy leg to see how it all came about, but for today, we wanted to have one of our local experts, Arty Stone, come by and share a bit about black holes along with a super fun activity!

Let's dig in...

A bit about black holes

Hi, folks! I'm Arty Stone, tech-gamer and science-lover. Blaine and Tracey asked me to come by and share a bit about black holes along with a STEAM activity I share with kiddos all the time.

Black holes are a bit of a mystery, but we do know that these are regions of space
where the gravity is so strong that it sucks in everything, including light. Think of them as space whirlpools, not space vacuums.

Black holes are invisible, but we can spot them based on what goes on around them. You see everything around them swirls and gets sucked in. This creates a disc of particles that collects around the black hole. Black holes also have a quasar, which is a jet of super-hot gas that shoots out above and below the black hole.

Albert Einstein initially predicted the existence of black holes with his theory of relativity, but it was Stephen Hawking who eventually used math to prove their existence.

So now that we all understand a bit more about black holes, let's make one, or rather let's make an artistic version of one!

How to create an artistic version of a black hole

You will need:

• 1 Plastic cup
• Sharpie markers  (Note—Using colors like black, purple, and shades of blue give a nice finished product.)
• A pan
• Spray oil
• Foil
• Access to an oven 

To make your version of a black hole, here's what you do:

1. Have the students color concentric rings around the cup in Sharpie marker in different colors. Have them color the bottom of the cup completely black as this will be the center of their black hole.
2. As they work, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line the pan with foil. Then, spray a bit of oil on the foil so the cups won't stick.
3. Once the students are done coloring the entire cup, have them place the colored cups on the foil-lined pan upside down. In other words, the top will be on the foil and the black bottom will be facing up.
4. Put the pan in the oven for 3 to 4 minutes until the cups melt and collapse.
5. Remove the pan and then using a heat resistant glove or a spatula, gently pat the black holes down to make sure they are almost completely flattened.

Let the black holes cool before the students touch them.

Wrapping it up

We have made these you guys and you need to try it out! It's so much fun, you'll want to do this STEAM activity over and over again.

Hi-ya, Blaine and Tracey Sassafras here!! Today we are super excited to have one of our astronomy local experts visit the blog to share with you a bit about the moon.

We are counting down the days till volume 6 launches into the world in April of 2020, but until then, we hope you enjoy a peek inside what we learned on our astronomical adventures!

Paul Sims, a museum curator, a friend of Summer, and an all-around-interesting guy turned out to know quite a lot about space. There was more to him than meant the eye, but we can't share about that without revealing a spoiler.

So without further ado, here is Paul Sims...

A bit about the moon with Curator Paul Simms from Sassafras Science

Hello, children! Welcome!

I am quite glad to be joining Blaine and Tracey in their corner of the cybersphere for this moment. If we were in my museum I would have loads of amazing displays to share with you as I spoke about the moon, but alas, our imaginations will have to do. 

The moon is our closest space neighbor. It orbits the Earth in the same way that the Earth orbits the Sun.

The moon does have an atmosphere, but it is composed of very different gases, such as sodium and potassium. So, there is no air that humans can breathe on the moon without the use of a special suit.

The moon takes about 27 days to go around the Earth and it takes about a month to spin. Because of this, on Earth, we only see one side of the moon.

As the moon moves, parts of it are “lit” by the sun, which makes it look like the moon is changing shape. We call these different shapes, phases, and the pattern they follow, the lunar cycle.

• Full Moon – During this phase, it appears as if the entire moon is lit.
• Gibbous Moon – During this phase, it appears as if about ¾ of the moon is lit.
• Last Quarter – During this phase, it appears as if half the moon is lit.
• Crescent Moon – During this phase, it appears as if ¼ of the moon is lit.
• New Moon – During this phase, it appears as if none of the moon is lit.

The moon is said to be waxing if it is appearing to grow larger, i.e., moving from a waxing gibbous moon to a full moon, and waning if it is appearing to grow smaller, i.e., moving from the last quarter moon to a waning crescent.

So now that you understand more about the moon, I want you to pick up the moon diary sheets to take home and create your own journal of the phases of the moon. Err, well, since you can't pick those off the table in the gallery, I'll just have Blaine and Tracey come back to share how you can download a version of these sheets.

How to make your own moon diary {Free Templates Included}

See didn't we tell you Mr. Sims was super knowledgeable! He emailed over a copy of that moon diary and we Sassy-Sci'd it for you guys. You can download it here:

• Moon Diary Templates

We recommend that you have your students observe and record the shape of the Moon for the next 27 days.

Have them record the phases of the moon each night on the by drawing the part of the moon that they see on the moon diary sheets. (Note - If you cannot see the moon each night, you can look it up here.)

Well, that's all we've got - stay tuned for more out-of-this-world fun coming at you!

The trees are trimmed, the icicle lights adorn the porch, and the gifts are wrapped – well maybe not quite yet. . .

I don’t know about you and your kids, but at our house, we love Christmas morning. We have a big breakfast full of once-a-year treats. We open presents and enjoy time together. Our kiddos really look forward to it and the anticipation is quite distracting!

This year you may find yourself needing a little something to entertain the kiddos in between now and the buzz of Christmas morning. Here are three winter science activities to add a little bit of science to your celebration.

3 Winter Science Activities

#1 – Snowy Observations

What would winter be without a little snow?

If you are lucky enough to have a pile of the white stuff outdoors, take some time to engineer the best snow fort ever. Or you can examine snowflakes with a magnifying glass or a microscope.

If you don’t have any snow, mix up a batch of your own snow inside. Simple mix equal portions of shaving cream and cornstarch. I know it sounds strange, but it really works. Plus the mixture is slightly cool to the touch, so it feels like you just might be playing with snow!

Indoor snow is a bit messy though, so be sure you do it somewhere you don’t mind a slight snowstorm in your house.

Here are a few more ideas for observing snow:

• 10 Snow Science Activities

#2 – Cookie Science

Have you ever wondering why cookies turn a lovely shade a brown? And why the smell so delicious when they are ready to pull out of the oven?

Before you make your cookies for the holidays, watch this video the learn more about the science behind cookies:

Now that you know the answers to your cookie science questions, you can bake another batch with your children!

And when you are done learning about the chemistry of cookies, make a few science cookies you can't eat:

• Christmas Science Cookies

#3 – Evergreen Walk

Evergreens are one of the bright spots in the winter landscape. Their greenish hues pop out of the brown/grey landscape, which makes them a perfect winter nature study subject.

You can work off the gift-opening buzz by taking a walk around your neighborhood looking for evergreens, like pine trees, spruce trees, and holly bushes.

Pause for a moment at one of them and examine their leaves. The leaves of an evergreen tree are covered with a waxy coating that helps to protect them in the winter.

If you want to take it a step further, pick up one of the cones that have fallen to the ground to examine up close when you get home using the following directions:

• Inside the Cone {Homeschool Science Corner}

Wrapping it up...

Add a little science to your winter plans by looking at evergreens, by finding out why cookies brown, or by playing with snow.

Whatever you choose to do, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season with your friends and family!

Want a few Christmas science ideas? Check out the following:

• 25 Activities for Christmas Science, plus 6 Winter Nature Study Ideas
• Holiday Science {TOM December 2017}

And pin this post for later using the infographic below!

Today, I thought we'd share how you can make your very own fall tree sculpture. This project is more art than science, but it's still a fantastic one to weave into your fall science (or plant science) plans!

Let's dig in...

How to make a seasonal tree sculpture for fall science

What you will need

Here are the supplies you need to gather...

• A small bit of air-dry clay for the base
• Materials for the trunk and branches (brown pipe cleaners, cardboard, or brown paper bags)
• Materials for the leaves (felt, tissue paper, or buttons in orange, red, and yellow)
• Glue

You can also gather materials to recreate for other additions you see in fall trees, such as fruit, seedpods, or nests.

What to do

Once you have got everything together, here's how to put together your seasonal tree sculpture.

Step 1: Prepare the base

To begin, roll the air-dry clay into a ball and flatten it a bit on the bottom so that it will sit on a table or shelf.

Step 2: Form the tree.

Once you have your base in place use the pipe cleaners, sticks, or paper bag to twist and form into a trunk that you press firmly into the base. Then, use more of the same materials to form the branches of your tree sculpture.  

Step 3: Add the leaves.

If you are using felt or tissue paper, start this step by cutting out enough fall leaves for the tree. Then glue the felt leaves, paper leaves, or button leaves onto the tree sculpture.

Step 4: Decorate the tree.

Finally, if your students desire, have them use the additional materials to decorate the tree with fruit, seeds, or bird's nests! 

Wrapping it up

I hope you enjoy this project as much as Ulysses and I do! You can certainly change the colors and additions to make a tree for winter, spring, or summer.

If you create seasonal tree sculpture, let us know by sharing a picture and tagging us (@sassafrassci) on Instagram.

So grab some index cards, a pencil, a flashlight, some marshmallows, a pack of toothpicks, a blanket, and binoculars or a telescope and let's dig in...

3 Simple Science Activities to Learn About Constellations

What are constellations?

We learned about constellations on the sixth leg of our fantastical summer-science journey. But we thought we'd review what constellations are before we dig into the science fun.

Constellations are a collection of stars that have been named. They are all visible from Earth, but what constellations you see and when you see them depends upon where you live on Earth.

There are 88 internationally recognized constellations. All the constellations have a Latin name, some have a local nickname, but all have a story behind their name. Many constellations were named after the characters found in ancient Greek myths.

Now that you know a bit of the science behind the fun, let's get to the activities...

#1 - Marshmallow Constellations

First, we like to make marshmallow constellations because this helps us to see the shape of a constellation.

• We start by looking up the constellation in a book and learning more about it. We love Glow-in-the-dark Constellations for this!
• Then, we grab toothpicks and a bag of mini-marshmallows.
• Using a picture of the constellation as a reference, we recreate it using marshmallows for the stars and toothpicks to connect them together, forming the shape.

We promise we only eat a few marshmallows, maybe a handful, in this process.

#2 - Constellation Cards

Next, we like to make constellation cards because these allow us to become familiar with a new constellation. Here's how this works:

• We grab an index card and a pencil to sketch the constellation.
• Next, we use the tip of the pencil to poke a hole in all the stars that form the constellation.
• Then, we head into a darkened room and use a flashlight behind the card to make the constellation appear on the wall. This way, we know what we are looking for in the night sky!

But, lucky for you, the peeps at Elemental Science have made a free printable for y'all with constellation cards for 8 of the most common constellations. (Just click on the link to download those.)

#3 - Night Sky Spotting

And finally, now that we have a good idea of what the constellation looks like, we head outside to find it in the night sky.

• Once outside, we spread out our blanket and lie down. Unless we are using a telescope, then we stand up or sit down, depending on how tired we are.
• Then, we use our binoculars (or telescope) to start scanning. Sometimes we use an app, like Google Sky, to help us find the constellation, sometimes we just wing it.

Here are a few night sky spotting tips to help you out!

Wrapping it up

And that's our favorite three simple science activities you can use to learn about constellations. Let us know if you tried any of these out! And if you share a pic of what you did on Instagram, tag us @sassafrassci so we can enjoy it, too!!

Crush summer science with these yummy sedimentary rock cookies

Before we share the recipe for the rock cookies, let's review a bit about sedimentary rocks.

Sedimentary Rock Science

Rocks are the hard objects that make up the Earth's surface. We can literally find them everywhere! 

Rocks can be broken into three main categories based on how they were formed. There are igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.

Sedimentary rocks are made from various layers of crushed minerals and the decayed remains of plants or animals. The layers can easily be seen and sedimentary rock tends to be very weak.

These rocks make up about 75% of the Earth's surface! Sandstone, limestone, coal, and gypsum are all examples of sedimentary rocks.

So now that we know what these rocks are, let's get to the yummy science!

Sedimentary Rock Cookie Recipe

These sedimentary rock cookies are made layer by layer, just like sedimentary rocks. You will need the following ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1 cup of peanut butter chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Here's how to make the cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and use this heat to melt the butter in a 9” by 13” baking pan.
2. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the butter. (If you want, you can use whole graham crackers when making these.)
3. Next, spread the chocolate chips over the crumbs, followed by the nuts and then the peanut butter chips.
4. Then, press down gently and pour the condensed milk evenly on top.
5. Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Let the cookies cool a bit before cutting them into squares. After they cool completely, you can eat and enjoy your sedimentary rock treats!

Wrapping it up

Want to learn more about rocks, here are a few ways we can help with that:

• Lapbooking through Rocks and Fossils
• The Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 5: Geology
• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar Stage
• Earth Science & Astronomy for the Logic Stage

If you follow us on Instagram, you know that we recently stepped out of the office to make a  video for you guys! We hope you enjoy traveling with us and don't miss the free hermit crab lesson download at the end of the post!

Tour Crab Island in Destin and learn a bit about hermit crabs

Watch the Video

Read the Transcript

Hey, this is Paige Hudson from Elemental Science. Come join us as we make our way to Crab Island!

Crab Island in Destin is a popular tourist attraction for the panhandle of Florida. It’s a sandbar in the middle of the pass between the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay near the Destin Harbor.

Many say that back in the 60’s it actually was an island, but nowadays the depth ranges from 1 to 4 feet, which means it’s a perfect place to anchor the boat and hang out in the water. You can only get to crab island via boat, jet ski, kayak, or paddleboard – swimming over is way too dangerous.

But once you are there you will find lots to do and visit, such as floating restaurants, an inflatable waterpark, and even a few snack boats that travel around – hello, ice cream while floating in the crystal waters. People come here from all over the world to soak up the sun and play in the water, but we don’t want you to miss the main science attraction – the hermit crabs!

Most hermit crabs can live in the water, but there are a few who can live on the land. All hermit crabs find shells to live in because they have a soft abdomen that they need to protect from predators. They move into shells that have been abandoned by snails or other marine animals. When they grow, they will move to a bigger shell!

Let us know what you know about these crustaceans in the comments below. And once you are done, you can learn even more about hermit crabs by heading on over to elementalscience.com/hermit-crab to download a free hermit crab unit study complete with notebooking pages!

Hey guys, you’ve just been traveling with Elemental Science. If you enjoyed this journey, go ahead and hit that like button and then be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss a single destination!

Get the Hermit Crab Lesson

Let us know what you know about these crustaceans in the comments below. And once you are done, you can learn even more about hermit crabs by downloading a free hermit crab lesson complete with notebooking pages!

The bumblebee pollinates the morning glory in the cool beginnings of a new day.

And a gentle breeze is responsible for spreading the pollen of the spruce tree.

Tracey and I have learned that the moth, bee, and wind all act as pollinators for these plants. They are responsible for getting the pollen from the male part of the flower to the female part so that pollination can occur and a seed will form.

Although there are many different types of pollinators, there are just two main types of pollination—self-pollination and cross-pollination.

And today, we are having Summer come back to share a bit about pollination along with a summer science activity for you to enjoy!

The two types of pollination

Hi-ya, peeps! Ulysses and I are super excited to be back sharing another summer science activity with you guys!!

But before we share about self-pollination and cross-pollination, we want to share a bit about what happens when a flower is pollinated.

In pollination, the pollen lands on the pistil of a flower. Then, the pollen sprouts a tube down to the ovule, where the pollen and the ovule meet and join.

This eventually leads to the formation of the seed, which can grow into a new plant.

Self-pollination

In self-pollination, the pollen from the anther of a flower is transferred to the stigma of the same flower or the stigma of a different flower on the same plant. Then, pollination occurs and a seed is able to form.

This transfer can happen when the pollen grains literally spill onto the stigma, or the transfer can occur with the aid of a pollinator, like an insect, wind, or water.

The flowers of plants that use self-pollination to reproduce are generally much smaller.

Cross-pollination

In cross-pollination, the pollen from the anther of a flower on one plant is transferred to the stigma of the flower on another plant of the same species. Then, pollination occurs and a seed is able to form.

This transfer happens when the pollen is moved by an insect, by water, or by the wind. This type of pollination requires that there are two plants of the same variety in the area.

The flowers of plants that use cross-pollination are generally larger. The blooms also usually have a stigma that is taller than the stamens, which gives more of a chance for the pollen to spread to other flowers.

Pollination Activity

(Note – Ulysses and I have adapted the following from this F is for First-grade post.)

You will need the following:

• Several large paper flowers (Ones printed on 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper will work.)
• Several different colors of powdered cake mix, such as yellow, chocolate, and strawberry
• Several small printed bees
• Several craft sticks
• Several cotton balls
• Glue

Here is what you need to do:

1. Have the students each cut out and decorate a flower and a bee.
2. Next, have them glue their bees to a craft stick. After stretching out the cotton balls a bit, have the students glue one to the underside of their bees.
3. Sprinkle a bit of the yellow cake mix on the center of one of the printed flower, a bit of chocolate cake mix on another flower, and a bit of strawberry cake mix on another flower. This will act as the pollen from the flower.
4. Now, have the students use their bees to go from one flower to another to pollinate each one.
5. Afterward, have the students observe what has happened to the cotton balls on their bees and the centers of their flowers.

Here is what should happen:

The students should see that their bees have picked up each type of pollen from the flowers. They should also see that the pollen on their flowers has been spread out and mixed up. The same happens in insect-driven cross-pollination.

In a Nutshell

Here is what we have learned from Summer:

• Self-pollination is simple, as it only requires one plant of a given species for reproduction.
• Cross-pollination is a bit more complicated, but it allows for a greater variety within a species.

And here are a few books you can read about pollination:

• What If There Were No Bees?: A Book About the Grassland Ecosystem by Suzanne Slade and Carol Schwartz
• What is Pollination? (Big Science Ideas) by Bobbie Kalman
• From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Now go outside and see some pollination in action!!