Weird Science

Lately I've been catching Charlie and Michael in the act of doing a lot of science experiments. What that means is that I find them quietly hiding out somewhere in the house with a bowl full of water, mixing in whatever ingredients they can find (steal) from around the house. These might be torn up bits of paper, some shampoo from their bath, food they've nicked from the pantry, and the like. I'm ashamed to admit that because I hate finding stuff like this spilled all over the rugs, my reaction to these healthy expressions of natural childhood curiosity are often less than encouraging. After school the other day, I realized that I needed to adopt more of a can't-beat-'em-so-join-em kind of attitude, and set them up with supervised science stations in the kitchen while I started making dinner.

In addition to a big bowl of water, I gave them each an egg carton with several different ingredients, and let them do their thing. Above, clockwise from top left are little pots of rice, lentils, sesame seeds, flour, coffee, and baking soda.

As they started to mix things into the water, I asked them to notice how the different ingredients behaved once they got mixed into the bowls. Did they sink (like coffee)? Or float (like sesame seeds)? What colors did they see in the water? Charlie noticed a shiny coating on the water's surface, and I told them about the oil from the coffee beans, and how it floats on top and shines.

The coffee made the water so dark, that soon they wanted to start with fresh bowls, so they each got one, to which we added some food coloring. I was SO happy the other day in the grocery store when I found this food coloring, which is made from plant and flower extracts, rather than the petroleum based chemicals that I still can't believe are in so many foods in the U.S. (In fact, so much of the candy and dyed foods I found over here use natural dyes, and I'm really baffled as to why American manufacturers haven't followed suit.)

After making basic observations about which primary colors blend to make which secondary colors, we started to add other ingredients to the water. Some vegetable oil was first, which made pretty patterns of blobs and bubbles. Next we added a few drops of soap, which made the bubbles run and hide, or cling to each other as if they were afraid of the soap.

I particularly loved this mossy green color that Michael got by mixing yellow and blue. 

As the days grow shorter (its getting dark by 4:15 here now), I'm looking for more moments and ideas like these to occupy my boys in the hours after school, when trips to the playground aren't so feasible anymore. As we've yet to break down and buy a t.v. since we've moved here, (but maybe after Christmas, so we can watch movies together), I'm needing to remind myself that the space for play with my kids needs more attention and inspiration than it used to. And that to get the ideas I need for creative interaction, I only need to follow their lead. 

Bombs Away!

Nothing jazzes up a plain old tub of water like a colorful, fizzy, smelly bath bomb. I used to buy them every once in a while from Lush, as a treat for my boys. They love the cheap thrill that comes from watching the baking soda/citric acid combo bubble up in the water; to them it looks like some kind of chemistry experiment gone awry-one that might impart upon the bather amazing and unexpected super powers. In reality they just make the boys smell like they spent the night trapped in a brothel, which I always found to be an unfortunate side effect of the bath bomb experience.

Fortunately, bath bombs are very easy to make, and most of the ingredients required can be purchased in your local grocery and/or drugstore. Citric acid might be the exception. I bought mine online from Brambleberry, which is also where I buy my supplies for making cold process soap. My challenge in making the batch shown here was finding a natural colorant. Every recipe I've seen for bath bombs calls for regular food coloring, but my family recently started the Feingold diet, which excludes (among other things) artificial colors of any kind. So I decided to try using beet juice as my colorant, which resulted in the bombs you see above.

With my ingredients at the ready, I adapted the "Water Softening Fizzy" recipe from the Teachsoap website, substituting the beet juice for the water. I used avocado oil where the author used grapeseed and almond oils, and I used just one teaspoon of lavender oil rather than the two teaspoons the recipe called for.

First I thoroughly mixed my dry ingredients (1 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup citric acid, 1/2 cup corn starch) together. Be sure to mix them slowly and carefully to avoid kicking up a lot of dust.

I put my remaining ingredients (2 1/2 tablespoons of avocado oil, 3/4 tablespoon beet juice, 1 teaspoon lavender oil, 1/2 teaspoon of Borax) into another bowl.

I mixed these together well til they created a nice emulsion.

I don't have a photo of the next step because it required two hands, and Henry is never around with my camera when you need him. While pouring the liquid into the dry ingredients with one hand, I used the other to squish everything together. I knew I was done when the mixture was uniformly pink.

For a mold I just used my 1/3 measuring cup, which yielded exactly five bombs. I packed the mixture into the cup tightly, then turned it upside down onto a lined cookie sheet and tapped it out.

Lastly, I spritzed the bombs with a light but all around misting of witch hazel. I'll leave them to dry overnight, and tomorrow I'll flip them and spritz the other side. The witch hazel somehow forms a protective seal that prevents the bombs from cracking or crumbling. I'm glad I cut the amount of essential oil in half, because, as much as I love lavender, the scent is plenty strong.

And here they are once more, looking like delicious confections. Which means I better stick them high up on a shelf to dry, where little candy thieves won't be able to find them.